Genevieve Dunton, PhD, MPH

Genevieve Dunton, Ph.D, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California. She earned a doctorate in Health Psychology from the University of California, Irvine and a Master of Public Health from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Dunton received post-doctoral training in physical activity, nutrition, and cancer prevention from the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at the National Cancer Institution, where she worked in the Health Promotion Research Branch.

The objectives of her research are to explain and promote participation in physical activity and healthy dietary behaviors in children, adults, and families. This work is guided by a social-ecological perspective of behavior change, which takes into account the interplay between environmental, social, and individual variables. Her research considers how policy, community, neighborhood, and school contexts can influence physical activity either independently or through their impact on more proximal social and psychological factors.

Dr. Dunton uses real-time data capture strategies such as Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and Ecological Momentary Intervention (EMI) to investigate and influence activity and healthy eating. Mobile phones or PDA devices provide feedback or elicit responses through electronic texts accompanied by auditory signals that are programmed to occur at predetermined intervals throughout the day. She is currently the Principal Investigator on a study funded by the Active Living Research program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to examine the effects of the built environment on children’s physical activity contexts using EMA.

She is also a co-investigator on a 5-year study funded by the National Cancer Institute to determine the effects of a smart growth community on family obesity risk.

• Methodological Training for Social and Behavioral Research in Cancer Control
  NIH · T32CA298969 · May 1, 2026 – Apr 30, 2031 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Using real-time data capture to examine implicit attitudes as mediators of physical activity adherence in interventions
  NIH · R03CA292977 · Jul 3, 2024 – Jun 30, 2026 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Using real-time data capture to examine affective mechanisms as mediators of physical activity adherence in interventions
  NIH · R01CA272933 · Jul 8, 2022 – Jun 30, 2027 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Novel Statistical Models for Intensive Longitudinal Analyses of Cancer Control Behaviors
  NIH · R01CA240713 · Jul 1, 2019 – Aug 31, 2028 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Microtemporal Processes Underlying Health Behavior Adoption and Maintenance
  NIH · U01HL146327 · Aug 15, 2018 – Jul 31, 2023 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Novel Statistical Models for EMA Studies of Physical Activity
  NIH · R01HL121330 · May 1, 2014 – Apr 30, 2019 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Maternal Stress and Children's Obesity Risk
  NIH · R01HL119255 · Aug 8, 2013 – Jun 30, 2020 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Using Mobile Phones to Reduce Missing Data in Youth Activity Monitoring Studies
  NIH · R21HL108018 · Feb 24, 2012 – Jan 31, 2015 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator

• Leventhal, Adam
• Goran, Michael
• Unger, Jennifer
• Peters, Anne
• Huh, Jimi
• Page, Kathleen