New faculty spotlight: Julie Petersen, PhD

Julie Petersen, PhD, is a new faculty member at UNMC.

• Name: Julie Petersen, PhD
• Title and department at UNMC: Assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology, UNMC College of Public Health; full member, Child Health Research Institute
• Hometown: Greater Boston metro area

Research/professional interests:

• Maternal and child health
• Health disparities
• Nutrition
• Epidemiologic methods
• Data science

How I fell in love with maternal and child public health and epidemiology:

My first exposures to public health research were working on a study that recruited pregnant women in the Dakotas and focused on identifying causes of stillbirth and sudden infant death syndrome. Witnessing the heartbreak from the loss of one’s child, in conjunction with the extreme living conditions of some participants and intergenerational trauma experienced by the Indigenous women, made me want to commit my life’s work to improving maternal and child health at the population level. Why epidemiology specifically? I’ve always been a “math person.” After I took my first epi course, I was hooked.

Education:

• Postdoctoral training, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston University
• PhD in epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health
• MPH dual concentrations in biostatistics and epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health

Memberships:

• Society for Epidemiologic Research
• Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research
• American Public Health Association
• American Society for Nutrition
• Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention
• National Birth Defects Prevention Network
• Sigma Xi
• Phi Beta Kappa

Three things people may not know about me:

• I started undergrad as a voice performance major and ended up minoring in music.
• My grandfather was a codebreaker for the U.S. during World War II.
• After I had my second daughter, for whatever reason, I developed a taste for spicy food and now love to put hot sauce on everything.