Ken Resnicow is the Irwin Rosenstock Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at University of Michigan School of Public Health and Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine, the Associate Director for Community Engagement and Health Disparities Research at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, and Chief Scientific Lead at the University’s Center for Health Communications Research. Over the past 35 years, he has been PI or Co-Investigator on over 80 NIH and other externally funded grants. His work has focused on designing and evaluating behavior change programs for a wide range of health behaviors including smoking cessation, cancer treatment and survivorship, genetic testing, COVID-19 vaccination, cancer screening, genetic testing, firearm and car safety, weight control, diet and physical activity, effective parenting, medical adherence, organ donation, substance use, youth violence and risk behaviors and accrual into clinical trials. Much of his work has involved ethnic/racial and underserved populations particularly African Americans, Native Alaskans, Latinx/Hispanic, and Middle Eastern North Africans. Examples of current and prior studies include: an NCI Moonshot Study to increase cancer genetic testing through Motivational Interviewing and an eHealth application, an NIMHD study to reduce Covid-19 vaccine hesitance among African Americans, Eat for Life, an NCI-funded church-based intervention to increase fruit and vegetable intake using Motivational Interviewing and culturally-tailored print/video; Healthy Body Healthy Spirit, an NHLBI-funded intervention to increase physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake among African Americans recruited through Black churches using MI and culturally-tailored print/video; GO GIRLS, an NHLBI-funded study to develop an obesity prevention program for overweight teens using MI; an NIH-funded study to prevent cigarette smoking among South African youth, an NIH-funded study, BMI²,  to treat pediatric obesity using Motivational Interviewing working with the American Academy of Pediatrics; BMI³, an NIH study to disseminate the BMI² program in pediatric practices; and DOT-funded studies in hair salons, churches, and Greek organizations to increase organ donation among African Americans. Much of his work is based on Motivational Interviewing and is influenced by Chaos Theory and Self-Determination Theory.

He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has served on numerous advisory panels and review groups, including beginning in 2019, the National Council for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH-NIMHD).

In recent years, his work has increasingly entailed novel behavioral tailoring and the incorporation of e-Health technology to enhance the impact of health messages. Examples include; an SMS-based smoking cessation program for Middle Eastern and North African adults (Yallah! Quit), a tailored messaging systems to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, a tailored web-based intervention to encourage update of cancer genetic testing, a culturally-tailored fruit and vegetable intervention for African Americans, a tailored colorectal cancer screening intervention for African Americans, a violence prevention App for high risk youth in Flint Michigan, weight loss and disease management Apps for members of Aetna Inc, and a dyadic support smoking cessation App for pregnant smokers in Romania.  He has also worked on several studies using community health workers, including current work in faith-based organizations domestically, and Cape Town South Africa and Sao Paulo, Brazil globally.

He has collaborated with researchers in over 25 countries including; South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Romania, Israel, Qatar, Turkey, Finland, Tunisia, Ukraine, and the Netherlands and has trained over 1000 health professionals in Motivational Interviewing in both academic and health care delivery settings.

He is also founder and president of Academic Assistance, a health care consulting company, that specializes in providing Motivational Interviewing training and e-Health programs. His clients include  many of the leading Fortune 500 health care companies.  Recent/current clients include Aetna Inc., Active Health, AmeriHealth Caritas, Centria Healthcare, Molina Health, Kaiser Permanente, Michigan Primary Care Association, Principal Financial, Nationwide, the Veterans Administration, numerous US and international universities, and the National Health Group of Singapore.  This work has focused on designing and implementing health coaching and e-Health programs ranging from behavioral and mental health to prevention and management of chronic diseases.