Vicki Collie-Akers, P.h.D., MPH

Professional Background

Dr. Vicki Collie-Akers, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center. In 2020, she was named the Professor of Public Health Practice for KUMC-Kansas City. Dr. Collie-Akers completed her M.P.H. at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. She completed her Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology at the University of Kansas.
Dr. Collie-Akers’ work focuses on creating and examining the impact of cross- or multi-sector partnerships to improve health. A focus of this work has been establishing partnerships between academic and governmental public health to strengthen public health practice, provide learning and training opportunities for faculty, staff, and students, and develop applied collaborative research and evaluation opportunities. In 2013, she led the establishment of the first academic health department in Kansas with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. In addition, Dr. Collie-Akers has an extensive history of research and evaluation projects aimed at understanding the impact of community-based initiatives on chronic disease and health equity. For example, she served as co-principal investigator for a 10-year+ community-based participatory research partnership addressing health equity among Latinos in Kansas City, Kansas.

• PhD, Applied Behavioral Science, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Research

Overview

Dr. Collie-Akers work focuses on creating and examining the impact of cross- or multi-sector partnerships to improve health. Currently, she is leading a Sunflower Foundation initiative aimed at increasing innovation in public health practice through academic and local health department partnerships. In addition, she has extensive experience in research and evaluation examining the extent to which communities bring about change to address health outcomes related to chronic disease and health equity. For 10 years, she served as co-principal investigator for a 10-year+ community-based participatory research partnership addressing health equity among Latinos in Kansas City, Kansas. This included serving as principal investigator for the four-year, CDC-funded Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH 2014-18) initiative. She has conducted considerable research examining the role of community programs, policies, and environmental changes across community sectors in preventing childhood obesity through the National Healthy Communities study and the Missouri Healthy Schools Health Communities Initiative. Dr. Collie-Akers also serves as lead evaluator for the Equity Institute in Birth Outcomes led by CityMatCH.

Research areas of interest: community-based participatory research, health equity, governmental public health, multi-sector collaborations, childhood obesity.