Julia Kagunda, PhD, MA, BA

Julia Kagunda’s global health focus centers on the intersection of trauma, mental health, and community resilience among populations facing compounding adversities, including climate change, poverty, infectious and zoonotic disease, gender-based violence, and displacement. Her work generates evidence from communities often overlooked by global health systems and translates that evidence into trauma-informed mental health and psychosocial approaches that communities can own and sustain. Her interests in global health equity align with the Center’s themes of empowering women, strengthening systems for health, and addressing social and environmental determinants of health. Kagunda’s research focuses on trauma, mental health, climate change, infectious and zoonotic disease, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence in climate-vulnerable and resource-insecure communities across East Africa. She develops and tests trauma-informed mental health and psychosocial approaches that address the overlapping effects of poverty, displacement, limited healthcare access, and gender inequality, generating evidence to inform policy and support community-owned solutions.