Julia J. Lund
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About Julia
Lund is interested in mixed methods and community-driven approaches to understanding and addressing violence and creating holistic safety outside the traditional law enforcement paradigm. She aims for her research to be policy-relevant, turning the lens away from individual behaviors onto the structures and systems that perpetuate inequities. She received her MPH in epidemiology at UW, where her thesis work examined the role of employment quality as a social determinant of health.
Contributions
In the News
Publications
Explores the experiences of Community Violence Prevention Specialists (CVPS) in Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Sacramento to understand how community-based violence intervention (CVI) helps communities heal after a homicide. Emphasizes the specialists' deep personal and community ties, the challenges they face in implementing CVI, and their critical role in shaping effective violence prevention and recovery strategies.
Emphasizes the unequal impact of community firearm violence across different sociodemographic groups in the U.S., driven by unjust and discriminatory systems of power and privilege. Illustrates the necessity of adopting a "social and structural determinants" perspective to improve public health research and responses to violence.
Critiques dominant violence prevention narratives for neglecting the interconnectedness of structural violence—systems, policies, and practices that deprive marginalized groups of basic needs—with interpersonal firearm violence. Calls for an expanding of narratives, guided by those most impacted, to create holistic community safety and health.
Examines changes in suicide counts and rates across sociodemographic groups in California during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that suicides decreased during the pandemic overall, but rates rose among Black Californians and young people, with increased firearm use in suicides among certain groups. Findings underscore the need for targeted public health interventions.