— College of Public Health — Departments — Epidemiology — Faculty & Staff — Julie Petersen, PhD, MPH

Julie M Petersen, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Full member, Child Health Research Institute

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Julie M. Petersen, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the UNMC College of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology.

Previously, she served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health with focus in birth defects research and at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health with focus in nutritional epidemiology, perinatal epidemiology, and machine learning. From 2019 to 2021, Dr. Petersen served as co-Chair of Education for the Student-Postdoc Committee of the Society for Epidemiologic Research. In addition, Dr. Petersen has served as a project director, statistical analyst, and consultant for several multi-center government-sponsored clinical research projects focused in maternal and child health and sexual health.

Education

2021, PhD in Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health
2016, MPH with Dual Concentrations in Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health
2008, BA in Psychology with Distinction, Boston University

Research Interests

Maternal and Child Health
Health Disparities
Nutrition
Epidemiologic Methods
Data Science

Selected Publications

Petersen JM, Kahrs JC, Adrien N, Wood ME, Olshan AF, Smith LH, Olshan A, Howley MM, Ailes EC, Romitti PA, Herring AH, Parker SE, Shaw GM, Politis MD. Bias Analyses to Investigate the Impact of Differential Participation: Application to a Birth Defects Case-Control Study. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2023 Dec 15. doi: 10.1111/ppe.13026. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38102868
Petersen JM, Smith-Webb RS, Shaw GM, Carmichael SL, Desrosiers TA, Nestoridi E, Darling AM, Parker SE, Politis MD, Yazdy MM, Werler MM, National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Periconceptional intakes of methyl donors and other micronutrients involved in one-carbon metabolism may further reduce risk of neural tube defects in offspring: A United States population-based case-control study of women meeting the folic acid recommendations. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023;118(3):720-8. PMID: 37661108
Petersen JM, Naimi AI, Bodnar LM. Does heterogeneity underly differences in treatment effects estimated from SuperLearner versus logistic regression? An application in nutritional epidemiology. Ann Epidemiol. 2023 Apr 28;S1047-2797(23)00082-0. doi: 10.1016/j.annepiem.2023.04.017. PMID: 37121376
Petersen JM, Hutcheon JA, Bodnar LM, Parker SE, Ahrens KA, Werler MM. Weight Gain Patterns Among Pregnancies with Obesity and Small- and Large-for-Gestational Age Births. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023;31(4):1133-45. doi: 10.1002/oby.23693. PMID: 36942419
Petersen JM, Parker SE, Dukes KA, Hutcheon JA, Ahrens KA, Werler MM. Machine learning-based placental clusters and their associations with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2023 May;37(4):350-361. doi: 10.1111/ppe.12938. Epub 2022 Nov 28. PMID: 36441121
Petersen JM, Barrett M, Ahrens KA, Murray EJ, Bryant AS, Hogue CJ, Mumford SL, Gadupudi S, Fox MP, Trinquart L. Confounder Matrix: A Tool to Assess Confounding Bias in Systematic Reviews of Observational Studies. Res Synth Methods. 2022 Mar;13(2):242-254. doi: 10.1002/jrsm.1544. Epub 2022 Jan 5. PMID: 34954912
Odendaal HJ, Dukes KA, Elliott AJ, Willinger M, Sullivan LM, Tripp T, Groenewald C, Myers M, Angal J, Boyd TK, Burd L, Cotton J, Fifer WP, Folkerth RD, Hankins GDV, Haynes RL, Hereld D, Hoffman HJ, Jacobs P, Petersen J, Pini N, Randall BB, Roberts DJ, Robinson F, Sens MA, Van Eerden P, Wright C, Holm I, Kinney HC for the PASS Network. Association of Concomitant Maternal Alcohol and Cigarette Use during Pregnancy with Risk of Stillbirth. JAMA Network Open. 2021 Aug 2;4(8):e2121726. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.21726. PMID: 34424306
Petersen JM, Ranker LR, Fox MP. A Systematic Review of Quantitative Bias Analysis Applied to Epidemiological Research. Int J Epidemiol. 2021 Nov 10;50(5):1708-1730. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyab061. PMID: 33880532
Petersen JM, Yazdy MM, Getz KD, Anderka MT, Werler MM, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Short Interpregnancy Intervals and Risks for Birth Defects: Support for the Nutritional Depletion Hypothesis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021 Jun 1;113(6):1688-1699. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa436. PMID: 33668063
Petersen JM, Parker SE, Tinker S, Crider K, Mitchell A, Werler MM. One-Carbon Cofactor Intake and Neural Tube Defect Risk Among Women Meeting Folic Acid Recommendations: A Multi-Center Case-Control Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2019 Jun 1;188(6):1136-1143. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwz040. PMID: 30976786

Professional Affiliations

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
MidWest SAS® Users Group

Awards and Honors

2024 Sigma Xi, Full Membership

2022 Tyroler Student Prize Paper Award, Society for Epidemiologic Research

2021, 2016 Delta Omega Honors Society

2016 Theodore Colton Prize for Excellence in Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health

2008 Phi Beta Kappa

2008 National Society of Collegiate Scholars

Teaching Philosophy

I believe my role as an educator is to create a respectful and engaging environment that sets-up students from varied backgrounds for success in the classroom and in their professional careers. I do not believe in making learning material unnecessarily complex. I accompany compulsory technical content with tangible, real-life examples in a variety of public health topics. I expose students to on-going debates and developments in the field, and for those who wish to learn more, I direct them to readings, additional trainings, and professional networking opportunities.