PAUL ESTABROOKS

Dr. Paul Estabrooks is Associate Dean of Community Engagement in the College of Health and professor in the Department of Health & Kinesiology. He is also currently a principal investigator and Director of the Mountain West Prevention Research Center.  His current work includes applying behavior and dissemination & implementation science to (1) increasing access and utilization of health promotion and lifestyle interventions in clinical and community settings, (2) promoting health through the U Health Wellness Bus, (3) and support rural community capacity development to address healthy weights in families. Paul also continues to work and develop projects related to addressing inequities in physical activity, healthful eating, diabetes prevention, and family & adult obesity.

Dr. Estabrooks began his research career as a graduate student in Canada focused on group dynamics and physical activity with a goal to understand how best to design effective interventions and the mechanisms by which those interventions were successful. After his doctorate, Paul took a job at Kansas State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and as a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Office of Community Health. During this time he developed, with his colleagues and community partners, a systems-based approach to better integrate research and practice resources. This model led to Walk Kansas, a group dynamics-based intervention that successfully engaged primarily rural participants and increased physical activity for nearly 70,000 Kansans over its first 5 years of delivery.

In 2002, Paul collaborated with Drs. Russ Glasgow, Marcia Ory, Lisa Kleges, and David Dzewaltowski in the development of the National RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) workgroup. The workgroup's mission is to implement a robust and evolving conceptual, implementation research framework to advance science, enhance practice, and influence policy through collaboration and training. From Kansas, Paul moved to work at the Kaiser Permanente Clinical Research Unit in Denver where he led the Prevention Rapid Cycle Research Team that developed successful and sustained interventions for physical activity promotion, diabetes prevention, and childhood obesity treatment.

Subsequent to Kaiser Permanente, Paul took a job as an associate professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech (2007-2015). While in Virginia, he developed the Translational Obesity Research Center with Dr. Kevin Davy and served as the Senior Director of Research at Carilion Clinic. Paul focused on research capacity building for community and clinical partners, the role of financial incentives in weight loss, and community-engaged approaches to address childhood obesity in medically underserved communities. 

Directly, prior to coming to the University of Utah, Paul served as the Chair of the Department of Health Promotion at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (2016-2021). He continued his work on physical activity promotion, diabetes prevention, and weight management with a focus on digitally delivered interventions and community engagement. He was also co-director of the Great Plains Institutional Development Award Clinical and Translational Research Network and director of the Community Engagement Core. In January, 2022 Paul joined the University of Utah.