Faculty Q&A: Dr. Janine Jurkowski

Janine M. Jurkowski is a professor in social behavior and community health and the Associate Dean for Public Health Practice. She is passionate about improving health inequities and the diversity of the public health workforce.

How did you become interested in public health?

When I was in 8th grade, I wanted to be a fighter pilot in the Navy— flying F18 Hornets— and then go to medical school after that. I joined the Civil Air Patrol in high school, but I realized I was not cut out for a military lifestyle. I loved science, so I focused on medical school.

At the University of Rochester, I took pre-med and behavioral medicine courses. I realized I wanted to focus on preventing disease. My college advisor often published in the American Journal of Public Health and introduced me to public health. I ended up creating a health and nutrition major and conducted traffic safety research for a professor in the medical school. I was sold!

Your work is heavily focused on engaging communities. How did you become interested in community-engaged research?

After undergrad, I spent a year doing AmeriCorps VISTA, which helped me realize I like working in communities. I worked full time as a research assistant while completing my MPH in Boston and that solidified my passion for conducting community-engaged research. From there, I went for my PhD in Chicago, a city with a long history of community organizing.

What is the most eye-opening experience you’ve had while employing a community-based participatory research approach?

I learn a lot about people's lived experiences every time I spend time with and listen to community members. These experiences help me to understand unique and specific social determinants that affect marginalized individuals and communities.

My earliest experience in marginalized communities was working as graduate student on a Latino diabetes prevention project. I would attend community advisory board meetings and listen to stories of people who had family members disappear during the civil war in Guatemala and others who experienced immigrating to Chicago from Mexico by a "coyote"— these experiences were so much bigger than a disease they were having a hard time managing.

What research projects are you currently working on?

I am a co-Investigator on Communities for Healthy Living Boston, a CBPR childhood obesity prevention intervention research project that is collaborating with Head Start. I am the lead on the CBPR-specific aim and am overseeing the incorporation of Empowerment Theory into the intervention components and evaluation.

I am also in the writing phase on a completed project in which I was evaluating a food pantry policy intervention with Schenectady County Public Health Services.

Do you have any advice for students who are interested in community health?

Be self-reflective. Accept that you will make mistakes and apologize for them. Listen and validate all forms of knowledge and experiences.