Julia Acker, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Health Care Delivery and Policy Section at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. A social and life-course epidemiologist, she studies how social and developmental processes shape health and health inequities during adolescence and emerging adulthood, critical periods when interventions can have lasting effects.
Dr. Acker brings a developmental and health equity perspective to research on youth-onset type 2 diabetes, with a focus on identifying opportunities to prevent the condition and improve care and outcomes. Her doctoral research examined trends and disparities in pubertal timing and how neighborhood socioeconomic conditions relate to puberty and adolescent mental health.
She earned her PhD and MS in Epidemiology from University of California, Berkeley and her BS in Applied Psychology and Global Public Health from New York University. She previously worked at the UCSF Center for Health Equity, where she coauthored a series of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reports on the root causes of health inequities and strategies to address them. Her long-term goal is to lead policy-relevant research in partnership with young people and communities.
Current Position
- Research Fellow
Section Affiliation
Primary Research Interests
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Adolescent and young adult health and development
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Social determinants of health and health disparities
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Youth cardiometabolic health
