Julie M Petersen, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, UNMC College of Public Health
Affiliate Faculty, Water, Climate and Health Program
Faculty Fellow, Daughtery Water for Food Global Institute
Julie M. Petersen, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor for the Department of Epidemiology at the UNMC College of Public Health. In addition to her teaching duties, she is a full member of the Child Health Research Institute, the Nebraska Center for Women’s Health Research and the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.
Dr. Petersen is a perinatal epidemiologist and educator, with more than 20 years of experience in clinical and public health research. Her work aims to inform health guidelines and policy to prevent adverse outcomes, address health disparities and identify higher risk communities for targeted intervention. Since joining UNMC in 2024, her focus has largely been on identifying opportunities to improve health before pregnancy, such as nutrition, physical activity, chronic disease prevention and understanding environmental exposure risks, as this has potential lifelong implications for women, their families and future generations. She also engages in epidemiologic research of adverse outcomes of pregnancy and childhood, including birth defects and pediatric cancers.
Dr. Petersen has methodological expertise in epidemiology, causal inference, machine learning, biostatistics, quantitative bias analysis and simulation. She was the recipient of the prestigious Tyroler student prize, which recognizes an emerging scientist who has already made exceptional contributions to the practice of epidemiology, awarded by the Society for Epidemiologic Research (the largest and oldest general epidemiology society in North America), and currently serves an Associate Editor for AJE Advances: Research in Epidemiology, an open-access sister journal to the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Prior to receiving her doctoral degree, Dr. Petersen served in a variety of roles for multi-center government- and industry-sponsored human subjects research projects in maternal and child health and sexual health, including project director, statistical analyst, clinical study coordinator and regulatory consultant.
- Postdoctoral Researcher: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2024
- Postdoctoral Associate: University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, 2023
- PhD: Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, 2021
- MPH: Dual Concentrations in Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, 2016
- BA: Psychology with Distinction, Boston University, 2008
- Maternal and Child Health
- Birth Defects
- Nutrition and Obesity
- Preconception Health
- Epidemiologic Methods
- Causal Inference
- Machine Learning
Dr. Petersen is the instructor for the core epidemiologic methods courses required for the PhD in Epidemiology program, although they are open to other trainees with pre-requisite training in epidemiology. These courses cover topics including causal inference, advanced epidemiologic concepts, study design, analysis and interpretation of epidemiologic data, methods to reduce likelihood of bias and random errors, study critique and oral and written summary of epidemiologic research. Dr. Petersen also chairs the committee for the PhD in Epidemiology qualifying exam, which students must pass before attempting their dissertation comprehensive exam. Dr. Petersen advises and mentors trainees from the Masters through the postdoctoral level.
Dr. Petersen believes her role as an educator and mentor is to create a respectful, engaging and tailored environment that sets up trainees from varied backgrounds for success in the classroom and in their professional careers. She does not believe in making learning material unnecessarily complex. She accompanies compulsory technical content with tangible, real-life examples in a variety of public health topics. Dr. Petersen exposes trainees to on-going debates and developments in the field, and for those who wish to learn more, she directs them to readings, additional trainings and professional networking opportunities.
- Bias analyses to investigate the impact of differential participation: Application to a birth defects case-control study
- Periconceptional intakes of methyl donors and other micronutrients involved in one-carbon metabolism may further reduce the risk of neural tube defects in offspring: a United States population-based case-control study of women meeting the folic acid recommendations
- Does heterogeneity underlie differences in treatment effects estimated from SuperLearner versus logistic regression? An application in nutritional epidemiology
- Weight gain patterns among pregnancies with obesity and small- and large-for-gestational-age births
- Machine learning-based placental clusters and their associations with adverse pregnancy outcomes
- International Society for Environmental Epidemiology
- Great Plains IDeA Clinical and Translational Research
- Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention
- American Society for Nutrition
- National Birth Defects Prevention Network
- Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research
- American Public Health Association
- Society for Epidemiologic Research
- 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
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.