Julie Ellis

Julie Ellis serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where her research focuses on geriatric nursing, community health, and self-management interventions. She maintains an active clinical research profile through faculty appointments in Geriatric Health, Local to Global Community Health, and Self-Management research groups, conducting community-engaged studies primarily with vulnerable older adult populations in Milwaukee.

Education:

• PhD in Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI

Dr. Ellis's research program centers on medication self-management behaviors among African American older women, examining intersections of medical mistrust, caregiver strain, and chronic disease management. Her work extends to dementia care, pain management in long-term settings, and church-based community health initiatives, consistently addressing health disparities through qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. Recent scholarship demonstrates growing emphasis on digital health tools for self-care support and social determinants of health.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications (2022-2025) reveals three dominant research trajectories: 1) Application of self-management theory to chronic conditions in aging populations, 2) Investigation of social isolation's physical and cognitive impacts using NHATS data, and 3) Development of culturally tailored digital interventions for dementia and pain management. Her methodological approach increasingly incorporates systematic reviews and secondary data analysis alongside primary qualitative work.

Scientific Awards:

• No awards documented in available information

Dr. Ellis leads community-based research projects including a current study of 120 low-income African American women with chronic diseases, examining medication adherence mediators like self-efficacy and goal congruence. She collaborates extensively with Christine Kovach on secondary analyses of community nursing center data and with Murad Taani on qualitative investigations of medication self-management experiences. Her church-based partnerships for senior health support represent a distinctive community-engagement model.

She contributes to UWM's Geriatric Health research collective through multi-site interventions addressing falls prevention and nonpharmacologic pain management, utilizing technology-enhanced approaches like tablet-based systems in hospital settings. Her work with community nursing centers demonstrates practical translation of research into clinical practice for underserved populations.