Robert Atkins is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He completed a B.A. at Brown University and a B.S.N at the University of Pennsylvania. While working as a school nurse in the city of Camden, Atkins earned an M.S.N. at Rutgers University. In 2004 he completed a Ph.D. in the Department of Public Health at Temple University.

Dr. Atkins' research with nationally representative longitudinal survey data and qualitative data collected in Camden explores the effects of urban poverty on child and adolescent health and development. Atkins' current work explores three questions about the health and development of youth living in high-poverty neighborhoods: 1) What social and institutional processes mediate the relationship of high-poverty neighborhoods to the health and well-being of youth living in those neighborhoods? 2) How does childhood personality influence the emergence of health-damaging behaviors in adolescence? 3) What do youth in high-poverty neighborhoods do to promote, maintain, or restore their own health?

Dr. Atkins is the co-founder and president of the Camden STARR Program, a non-profit youth development program which seeks to improve the life chances of youth living in Camden.