Research Faculty Spotlight: Abbey Masonbrink, MD, MPH

The path to a medical research career was not necessarily a straight line for preventive medicine and public health physician Abbey Masonbrink, MD, MPH, CHLA’s Research Director in Hospital Medicine. “I took somewhat of a circuitous route to my research career because I did all my medical training and completed my Pediatrics residency, focusing on medical education, and then I trained in public health and preventive medicine,” Dr. Masonbrink explains.

Dr. Masonbrink’s passion for public health came from her interest in both solving health-related problems and serving those who lacked access to education and health care.

While she worked on obtaining her master’s degree in public health at Columbia University, Dr. Masonbrink took part in several projects with the City Health Department in New York City. “I worked on a tobacco cessation program and also went to three different public high schools to participate in a program that offered free contraception to youth, all of which was a really immersive and eye-opening public health experience,” she explains.

This experience of working on multiple public health projects at once and leading efforts to support youth from a diverse array of backgrounds who may not have had regular access to a pediatrician or primary care physician informed Dr. Masonbrink’s decision to pursue a research career.

Following her time in New York City, Dr. Masonbrink spent 10 years working in Kansas City, Missouri, before learning about an available position at CHLA, meeting and interviewing with the team at the hospital, and moving to Los Angeles to start her current role. “I never planned to live in L.A., but the people here are awesome and the dedication to the patient population at CHLA is incredibly palpable,” she says.

Dr. Masonbrink’s research at CHLA is focused on adolescent behavioral health. “Right now, my work is primarily focused on treating substance use, specifically e-cigarette use and nicotine addiction,” she explains. “I am developing a behavioral intervention for youth who use e-cigarettes, which combines in-person counseling and health education sessions with technology-based assistance to help them to quit.” She is also working on starting new research projects related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

Outside of work, Dr. Masonbrink enjoys playing banjo, writing songs, and long-distance running. She even wrote one of her most cited research papers after a series of runs with a close friend and fellow runner who is a qualitative researcher.