Julia Kim

Biographical Information
"Julia is a researcher and Senior Health Policy Advisor with an interest in international health and development initiatives that address the linkages between equity, health, and sustainable development. She has worked across a range of sectors, collaborating with NGO, academic, government, private sector, and UN agency partners.

"She has held dual appointments with the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and the Department of Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). While in South Africa, she worked with Anglo Platinum mines to expand microfinance and education as an entry point for unlocking the leadership capacity of rural women to address a range of inter-related challenges, including poverty, water and sanitation, gender-based violence, alcohol abuse, HIV, and local governance.

"As Cluster Leader for MDGs and Universal Access at UNDP she convened an Expert Consultation on Addressing Cross-Cutting Development Challenges: Poverty, Gender Inequality, Health and Climate Change (2010 MDG Summit) and worked with countries to strengthen capacity for planning, financing, and scaling up multi-sectoral health and development initiatives, including through UNDP’s Leadership Development and Community Capacity Enhancement programs. Recent work within UNICEF has focused on equity, wellbeing, and sustainable development, including participation in the 2012 UN High-Level Meeting, led by the Government of Bhutan, on “Happiness and Wellbeing: Defining a New Economic Paradigm,” and the related Columbia University workshop on Well-being and Sustainability.

"Julia is excited by the potential of stories, video-documentation, and research for encouraging innovation and influencing policy, and has published in the Lancet, British Medical Journal, American Journal of Public Health, AIDS, WHO Bulletin, Social Science and Medicine, New York Review of Books, and Oprah Magazine. She is a meditation practitioner in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and as a musician (acoustic and electric violin), records and performs with a range of artists in southern Africa and New York, where she is currently based. She is a graduate of Cornell University, holds a MSc. degree in Public Health (LSHTM) and is a Specialist in Internal Medicine and Community-Oriented Primary Care (Tufts University School of Medicine)."

Affiliations

 * Presencing Institute