{"id":8140,"date":"2025-08-01T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/?p=8140"},"modified":"2025-08-05T12:52:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T16:52:25","slug":"meet-dr-danielle-stevens-a-curious-mind-at-the-intersection-of-imaging-environment-and-early-life-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/2025\/08\/meet-dr-danielle-stevens-a-curious-mind-at-the-intersection-of-imaging-environment-and-early-life-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Dr. Danielle Stevens: A Curious Mind at the Intersection of Imaging, Environment, and Early Life Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dr. Danielle Stevens, the newest Assistant Professor in UNC’s Department of Radiology, didn\u2019t start her journey as the classic “mad scientist”\u2014though she did dress up as one for Halloween as a kid. Instead, her path into research was shaped by a deep-rooted belief in prevention over treatment, a passion for public health, and an unwavering curiosity about how the earliest moments of life shape our long-term well-being.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Danielle\u2019s research sits at the intersection of fetal development, environmental exposures, and imaging. Her current project\u2014supported by a prestigious K99\/R00 grant\u2014investigates how children\u2019s hearts and livers develop under different chemical exposures, with imaging tools like ultrasound providing crucial insight. What drew her to Radiology was precisely this ability to merge clinical images with deep analytical tools. \u201cI had the environmental health background,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I was excited by the opportunity to learn from people who are experts in imaging\u2014who know how to extract meaningful features from images and interpret them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Her journey to radiology began long before she arrived at UNC. It started at Furman University, where she pivoted from a pre-med track toward public health research. \u201cOnce people are sick, you\u2019re managing disease. But if we could divert resources to prevention, we could really change lives,\u201d she explains. This perspective led her to study pediatric obesity, then to a PhD focused on early-life risk factors, and postdoctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health, where she explored how the prenatal environment affects fetal growth and maternal outcomes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At UNC Radiology, Danielle is not only launching her own lab but also looking forward to mentoring students and trainees\u2014something she explicitly sought out in her faculty role. \u201cMentoring is one of the parts of my job I love most,\u201d she says. She already mentors students at the Gillings School of Global Public Health and plans to continue collaborating across disciplines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Danielle describes herself in one word:\u00a0<\/span>curious<\/em>. It\u2019s a trait that\u2019s not only guided her research career but also shaped how she engages with the world around her. Whether it\u2019s diving into DIY home projects, hiking, or gardening, her personal life mirrors the thoughtfulness she brings to her work. She\u2019s quick to laugh, reflect, and share the quirks that make her human\u2014like her newfound vigilance with food after a recent celiac disease diagnosis or the joy of gifting her husband their newborn daughter\u2019s first baseball glove.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When asked what advice she\u2019d offer aspiring researchers, she answers without hesitation: \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to ask questions\u2014even the ones that seem silly. Every research journey starts with a question, and sometimes the most impactful ones evolve from the ones we almost didn\u2019t ask.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Above all, Danielle embraces the twists and turns that brought her to UNC. \u201cMy journey might sound meandering,\u201d she admits, \u201cbut I think that\u2019s what makes it beautiful. Every step adds up to a life full of purpose, wonder, and discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We\u2019re thrilled to welcome Dr. Stevens to UNC Radiology\u2014a researcher, mentor, and compassionate scientist who reminds us that great work starts with great questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Danielle Stevens, the newest Assistant Professor in UNC’s Department of Radiology, didn\u2019t start her journey as the classic “mad scientist”\u2014though she did dress up as one for Halloween as a kid. Instead, her path into research was shaped by a deep-rooted belief in prevention over treatment, a passion for public health, and an unwavering … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83776,"featured_media":8141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[83,91,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-news","category-homepage-news","category-in-the-news","odd"],"acf":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/08\/Headshot_1.jpg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/08\/Headshot_1-252x300.jpg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/08\/Headshot_1-768x914.jpg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/08\/Headshot_1-860x1024.jpg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/08\/Headshot_1-150x150.jpg","featured_image_alt":"A female with long brown hair and brown eyes smiling at the camera. She is wearing a black jacket and a red blouse. She is standing against a cream background.","category_details":[{"name":"Department News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/category\/department-news\/"},{"name":"Homepage News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/category\/homepage-news\/"},{"name":"IN THE NEWS","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/category\/department-news\/in-the-news\/"}],"tag_details":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83776"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8142,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140\/revisions\/8142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}