Associate Professor
University of Utah School of Medicine
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
Julia E. Szymczak, PhD is an Associate Professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where she Co-Directs the Utah Quality Advancement Laboratory. Dr. Szymczak is a medical sociologist and ethnographer with expertise in cultures of decision-making in healthcare organizations. She conducts federally funded research on patient safety and healthcare quality improvement, with a specific focus on infectious diseases. Her current work examines the social determinants of antimicrobial prescribing, developing novel interventions and policies to improve the use of these drugs to preserve their long-term effectiveness. Dr. Szymczak serves on the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and is an Associate Editor at BMJ Quality & Safety. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in sociology, summa cum laude, from Brandeis University.