About Julia
I got my B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame and my M.A. from UNC last spring. Before starting at UNC, I worked as a labor doula in the Columbus, Ohio area, which sparked my interest in how the birth experience and birth process affects birth outcomes.
Research Interests
Maternal-infant health, birth experience, birth outcomes
Research Background
My previous work examined how the birth experience impacted mothers’ breastfeeding outcomes in a population of non-Hispanic Black women in North Carolina. My current research centers around both the psychosocial and physiological factors that contribute to birth outcomes such as maternal and infant HPA axis dysregulation, maternal-infant bonding, and maternal mental health postpartum. I am also a biosocial predoctoral trainee at the Carolina Population Center, where I am working on analyzing interviews from a population of new mothers in North Carolina on their experiences with the common birth intervention, labor induction.
Education
MA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2023; BA, University of Notre Dame, 2019