Executive Leadership and Expert Bios

Captain Julie Gilchrist, MD

Medical Epidemiologist, Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention

Areas of Expertise

• Drowning prevention/water safety promotion
• Falls in older adults (clinical prevention program)
• Sports and recreation-related injury prevention
• Children′s Injuries
  • Choking
  • Suffocation
  • Ingestions
  • Playground injuries

Captain Julie Gilchrist, MD, is a pediatrician and medical epidemiologist with the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention (DUIP) at the Injury Center. She is responsible for research and programs in drowning prevention and water safety promotion, sports and recreation-related injury prevention, and other issues that primarily affect children, including choking, suffocation, ingestions and playground injuries. Additionally, she leads the effort to educate clinicians regarding effective strategies to prevent falls among older adults (i.e., CDC’s STEADI program).

Dr. Gilchrist began her career at CDC in 1997 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer at the Injury Center. She has been in her current role as medical epidemiologist since 1999. Dr. Gilchrist is a Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service.

Dr. Gilchrist graduated from Rice University with degrees in Human Physiology and Sports Medicine before attending the University of Texas- Southwestern Medical School. She completed a pediatrics residency at the University of Pennsylvania′s Children′s Hospital of Philadelphia and an epidemiology fellowship at CDC.