Julie Berrett-Abebe

Julie Berrett-Abebe is an Assistant Professor at the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing at UMass Chan Medical School, with a clinical appointment at Mass General Hospital in Boston. Her interdisciplinary work bridges social work, nursing, and healthcare delivery systems to address complex patient needs across cancer survivorship, mental health, and health disparities.

Education:

• BA in Psychology & English from University of Notre Dame
• MA in Pastoral Ministry from Boston College
• MSW in Social Work from Boston College
• PhD in Philosophy in Social Work from Simmons College

Dr. Berrett-Abebe's research program demonstrates a consistent trajectory from clinical practice to systems-level healthcare integration. Her early work focused on fear of cancer recurrence and its impact on survivorship care, evolving into broader investigations of social determinants of health including food insecurity among individuals with serious mental illness. Recent publications reveal an expanding emphasis on antiracist frameworks in social work education and practice, alongside continued work in interprofessional supervision models. Her publication history shows steady productivity across high-impact journals in social work, oncology, and healthcare policy.

Analysis of her 13 publications from 2015-2025 reveals three interconnected research strands: cancer survivorship (particularly fear of recurrence and social needs assessment), mental health integration in primary care, and antiracist approaches to social work education. The interdisciplinary nature of her work is evident through collaborations with oncologists, nurses, psychologists, and primary care physicians across multiple institutions.

Key Contributions:

• Pioneering research on fear of cancer recurrence and its clinical implications
• Development of interprofessional training models for healthcare providers
• Advocacy for addressing social determinants of health in clinical practice
• Leadership in integrating social work perspectives into cancer survivorship care
• Advancement of antiracist frameworks in social work education

Dr. Berrett-Abebe actively collaborates with interdisciplinary teams across healthcare settings, with particular focus on improving care for cancer survivors, individuals with serious mental illness, and older adults. Her work often employs mixed-methods approaches that bridge clinical practice with social work theory to develop practical interventions for complex healthcare challenges.