A photo of Robert S. Kahn.

Associate Chair of Community Health, UC Department of Pediatrics

Executive Lead, Population and Community Health

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

513-636-4369

513-636-7247

Board Certified

My Biography & Research

Biography

My research interests are population health, child health disparities and constructing comprehensive community networks of support to boost child health outcomes. The goal of my research lab is to decrease disparities in pediatric health outcomes. Our focus is to enhance these outcomes at the population level by concentrating on race and household income disparities.

I was drawn to this type of research by a deep awareness of the historical disadvantages my own family faced and the significant privilege and luck I currently experience.

Our team achieved a significant, sustained reduction in admissions from several low-income minority neighborhoods. In other work, we achieved an unprecedented reduction in extreme preterm births.

I have achieved several different recognitions throughout my career, including:

  • Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency Bridge Builder Award (2016)
  • Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Epidemiology and Council on Community Pediatrics (2014)
  • Outstanding Medical-Legal Partnership Award from the National Center for Medical Legal Partnership to Child Health Law Partnership (2016)
  • Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Community Award in which I was a finalist and lead applicant for the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and United Way of Greater Cincinnati (2018)

I have more than 20 years’ experience in the field of community and population health and started working at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 1999. My research and findings have been published in multiple journals, including Annals of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, Evolutionary Anthropology, Hospital Pediatrics, Annals of the American Thoracic Society and Journal of Community Health.

Research Interests

Parental health as a mediator of poverty's effects on children; social and economic disparities in children's health; interaction of genes and environment in common childhood diseases

Academic Affiliation

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Clinical Divisions

General and Community Pediatrics

Research Divisions

General and Community Pediatrics



Blog Posts

My Education

BA: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1986.

MD: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, 1992.

Residency: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 1995.

Fellowship: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 1997.

MPH: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 1997.

Certification: Pediatrics, 1995, 2002.

My Publications

Selected Publication

Poverty, Transportation Access, and Medication Nonadherence. Hensley, C; Heaton, PC; Kahn, RS; Luder, HR; Frede, SM; Beck, AF. Pediatrics. 2018; 141.

Characteristics of Pediatric Emergency Revisits After an Asthma-Related Hospitalization. Johnson, LH; Beck, AF; Kahn, RS; Huang, B; Ryan, PH; Olano, KK; Auger, KA. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2017; 70:277-287.

Timely and Appropriate Healthcare Access for Newborns: A Neighborhood‐Based, Improvement Science Approach. Brown, CM; Kahn, RS; Goyal, NK. New Directions for Evaluation. 2017; 2017:35-50.

Care Coordination Associated with Improved Timing of Newborn Primary Care Visits. Goyal, NK; Hall, ES; Kahn, RS; Wexelblatt, SL; Greenberg, JM; Samaan, ZM; Brown, CM. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 2016; 20:1923-1932.

Medical and Social Determinants of Health Associated with Intensive Care Admission for Asthma in Children. McDowell, KM; Kercsmar, CM; Huang, B; Guilbert, TW; Kahn, RS. Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2016; 13:1081-1088.

Pediatric asthma medication therapy management through community pharmacy and primary care collaboration. Bradley, CL; Luder, HR; Beck, AF; Bowen, R; Heaton, PC; Kahn, RS; Mansour, M; Obszarski, S; Frede, SM. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : JAPhA. 2016; 56:455-460.

Allergen sensitization profiles in a population-based cohort of children hospitalized for asthma. Beck, AF; Huang, B; Kercsmar, CM; Guilbert, TW; McLinden, DJ; Lierl, MB; Kahn, RS. Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2015; 12:376-384.

Routinely sleeping away from home and the association with child asthma readmission. Moncrief, T; Beck, AF; Olano, K; Huang, B; Kahn, RS. Journal of Community Health. 2014; 39:1209-1215.

Increasing recruitment rates in an inpatient clinical research study using quality improvement methods. Sauers, HS; Beck, AF; Kahn, RS; Simmons, JM. Hospital pediatrics. 2014; 4:335-341.

Traffic-related air pollution and asthma hospital readmission in children: a longitudinal cohort study. Newman, NC; Ryan, PH; Huang, B; Beck, AF; Sauers, HS; Kahn, RS. Journal of Pediatrics. 2014; 164:1396-1402.e1.