Biography

Rajni Banthia, PhD is a public health scientist who conducts research on obesity, tobacco, and chronic illness prevention through environmental, behavioral, and public policy initiatives that aim to reduce health disparities and promote healthy living. Much of her work is focused upon access to healthy foods, opportunities for physical activity, tobacco control, and other social determinants of health in lower income communities of color. Dr. Banthia has extensive experience with directing large qualitative and quantitative studies, with a passion for building, training, and supervising multi-disciplinary project teams. She manages evaluation and research projects through all phases from study conceptualization, grant proposal development, instrument design, multi-modal data collection, statistical analyses, scientific writing, to presentation of findings. Over her career, she has forged collaborative partnerships with stakeholders in governmental, community, and academic settings with the intent of creating bridges between scientific and policy applications. Based on conclusions from empirical studies, she develops manuscripts, briefs, and reports to inform public and institutional policy. Dr. Banthia earned a BA in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley with a minor in South Asian Studies, and a PhD in Behavioral Medicine from the University of California San Diego/San Diego State University joint doctoral program. She completed her clinical internship at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and her postdoctoral fellowship in Public Health Policy at the University of California, San Francisco with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Scholars in Health Disparities program. Previously, Banthia worked at Samuels & Associates, a public health research and evaluation firm, and PolicyLink, a non-profit research and advocacy organization promoting social justice and equity.