Julie Kirsch

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I completed my Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Supported by pre-doctoral fellowships through the Institute on Aging and the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, my program of research focused on the interplay between psychosocial factors and the economic impacts of the 2008 Great Recession in relation to health inequities in the Midlife in the US Study (MIDUS). During my Primary Care Research Fellowship, I worked with the University of Wisconsin Center of Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI) to address inequities in smoking. Following a team-science approach, I studied the effectiveness of community and primary care-based interventions in reducing barriers to quitting smoking and inequities in COVID-19 using multi-site electronic health records data. At my current position with the Midlife in the US study, I am excited to return as part of the admin team to facilitate data linkages with Medicare/Medicaid data, in addition to continuing my work on understanding and addressing inequities in the impacts of major societal events, such as COVID-19. Outside of research, I enjoy engaging in science communication and outreach, including debunking wellness fads that have both obvious and hidden harms to health and well-being.