Julie K. Johnson, PhD, MSPH

EMAIL: jkjohnson@med.unc.edu

PERSONAL WEBSITE: https://www.med.unc.edu/surgery/surgonc/directory/julie-johnson-msph-phd/

PUBLICATIONS: Publications Link

I am currently a Professor of Surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC). During the past two decades, I have led several studies in the US, Europe, and Australia to improve quality and safety of patient care within clinical microsystems. My faculty positions at UNC and previously at Northwestern University have given me the opportunity to align my experience and expertise related to implementation science, improvement science, and qualitative research methodologies. I have experience working with multi-site trials, for example, I evaluated a 56-hospital learning collaborative designed to improve surgical outcomes in Illinois. In addition, I have worked with the frontline clinical teams to design, implement, and evaluate activities to improve venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis and Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) protocols, to assess local quality improvement (QI) readiness and local contextual adaptations, create patient and provider tools to facilitate implementation, and coordinate data collection for rapid cycle learning. Furthermore, I have extensive experience coaching collaborative participants in quality improvement methodologies such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Leading and Learning Collaborative on Transition to Lung Transplant. As a member of the faculty at UNC, I provide ongoing mentorship and support to faculty and trainees on qualitative methods to assess and improve quality and safety within the clinical microsystems and the design and execution of qualitative evaluation activities. As co-director of the UNC Surgical Health Services Research (USHER) group, I run a monthly research conference, Strategies for Qualitative Research in Surgery (SQUARES), that brings together faculty, trainees, and students to learn about qualitative research.