Ai Kubo

Ai Kubo, PhD, MPH, is a Research Scientist and Epidemiologist at the Division of Research (DOR), Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC). She received her PhD in cancer epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in 2007 and has been conducting research at the DOR since 2005. Dr. Kubo’s research portfolio reflects her strong interest in life course epidemiology and health disparities. She has extensive experience examining perinatal biological and psychosocial determinants of adolescent health including early puberty and mental health as well as conducting mindfulness-based intervention studies targeting pregnant women. Currently she is the PI of two NIH funded R01s: “Sex and Race/Ethnicity-specific Multilevel Factors Influencing Pubertal Trajectories: a Population-based Study (NICHD)” and “mHealth Mindfulness Intervention for Pregnant Black and Latina Women at Risk of Postpartum Depression (NIMH)”. Originally from Japan, she is interested in understanding subgroup-specific incidences and risk factors of chronic conditions, and her first study examined the differences in the timing of pubertal onset among Asian and Pacific Islander adolescents using a large cohort of KPNC members.