Julie Kafka, PhD, MPH

Recognitions

• Dean's Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences, University of North Carolina (2023)
• Travel Award, National Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention (2022)
• Lyndon Haviland Scholarship, American Public Health Association (2020)
• Jamie Kimble Scholarship for Courage, Jamie Kimble Foundation (2019)
• Honoree, inductee, Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health (2018)

Research Interests

My research is dedicated to the prevention of violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV), firearm violence, and suicide. The goal of my work is to conduct applied research that can help support victim-survivors while also addressing problematic behaviors by the people who perpetrate harm. I utilize mixed methods approaches including integration of qualitative methods, text mining, natural language processing, quasi-experimental research designs, and epidemiological surveillance approaches.

Publications

• Kafka JM, Fliss MD, Trangenstein PJ, McNaughton Reyes L, Pence BW, Moracco KE. Detecting intimate partner violence circumstance for suicide: development and validation of a tool using natural language processing and supervised machine learning in the National Violent Death Reporting System. Inj Prev. 2023 Apr;29(2):134-141. PubMed PMID: 36600568
• Graham LM, Kafka JM, AbiNader MA, Lawler SM, Gover-Chamlou AN, Messing JT, Moracco KE. Intimate Partner Violence-Related Fatalities Among U.S. Youth Aged 0-24 Years, 2014-2018. Am J Prev Med. 2022 Apr;62(4):529-537. PubMed PMID: 34876319
• Boggs JM, Kafka JM. A Critical Review of Text Mining Applications for Suicide Research. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2022;9(3):126-134. PubMed PMID: 35911089
• Houang ST, Kafka JM, Choi SK, Meanley SP, Muessig KE, Bauermeister JA, Hightow-Weidman LB. Co-occurring Epidemic Conditions Among Southern U.S. Black Men Who Have Sex with Men in an Online eHealth Intervention. AIDS Behav. 2023 Feb;27(2):641-650. PubMed PMID: 35986818
• Kafka, J.M., Schleimer, J.P., Toomet, O., Chen., K, Ellyson, A.M. & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. “Measuring interpersonal firearm violence: Natural language processing (NLP) methods to address limitations in criminal charge data.” Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocae082
• Kafka, J.M., Rivara, F., Ross, R., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2024). “Research needs related to firearm rights restoration.” Injury Epidemiology, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-023-00482-1
• Kafka, J. M., Moracco, K.E., Pence, B.W., Trangenstein, P.J., Fliss, M.D. & McNaughton Reyes, L. (2023). “Intimate partner violence and suicide mortality: A cross-sectional study using machine learning and natural language processing of suicide data from 43 states.” Injury Prevention. dx.doi.org/10.1136/ip-2023-044976
• Kafka, J. M., Moracco, K.E., Graham, L., AbiNader, M.A., Fliss, M.D. & Rowhani-Rahbar. (2023). “Intimate partner violence circumstances for fatal violence in the US.” JAMA Network Open. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.12768