Julia Kim-Cohen, PhD
Senior Lecturer
General and Applied Programs
Contact
Building & Room:
2056B BSB
Address:
1007 W Harrison Street
Office Phone:
Email:
About
Julia Kim-Cohen is an award-winning educator with two decades of teaching experience at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and previously at Yale University. Since 2019, she has been a Teaching Sustainability Initiative Fellow at UIC, educating undergraduates about the mental health consequences of climate change and evidence-based strategies for building psychological resilience. She serves on the Transformative Scholarship Subcommittee of the UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy. In addition to her role as a faculty fellow with the Center for Climate Literacy at the University of Minnesota, Julia is a Climate Wayfinding Facilitator and key advisor with The All We Can Save Project.
Before turning to the environmental crisis as a focus, Julia’s research utilized longitudinal and behavioral genetic approaches to investigate developmental processes in mental health. Her research has been presented nationally and internationally at conferences and invited colloquia with publications that have been cited over 12,000 times. She serves on the editorial board of the journal, Development & Psychopathology.
Her clinical practice concentrated on using attachment theory-based interventions to support young children and families involved in foster care. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rochester. She was a predoctoral intern at the Institute of Juvenile Research at UIC, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London.
Selected Publications
Kim-Cohen, J. & Turkewitz, R. (2012). Resilience and measured gene-environment interactions. Development & Psychopathology, 24, 1297-1306.
Kim-Cohen, J. & Gold, A. L. (2009). Measured gene-environment interactions and mechanisms promoting resilient development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 138-142.
Caspi, A., Williams, B., Kim-Cohen, J., Craig, I. W., Milne, B. J., Poulton, R., Schalkwyk, L. C., Taylor, A., Werts, H., & Moffitt, T. E. (2007). Moderation of breastfeeding effects on cognitive development by genetic variation in fatty acid metabolism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 104, 18860-18865.
Kim-Cohen, J., Caspi, A., Taylor, A., Williams, B., Newcombe, R., Craig, I., & Moffitt, T. E. (2006). MAOA, maltreatment, and gene-environment interaction predicting children’s mental health: New evidence and a meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry, 11, 903-913.
Kim-Cohen, J., Moffitt, T. E., Taylor, A., Pawlby, S. J., & Caspi, A. (2005). Maternal depression and child antisocial behavior: Nature and nurture effects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 173-181.
Kim-Cohen, J., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., & Taylor, A. (2004). Genetic and environmental processes in young children’s resilience to socioeconomic deprivation. Child Development, 75, 651-668.
Kim-Cohen, J., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Harrington, H. L., Milne, B., & Poulton, R. (2003). Prior juvenile diagnoses in adults with mental disorder: Developmental follow-back of a prospective-longitudinal cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 709-717.
Notable Honors
2024, Silver Circle Award for Teaching Excellence, UIC
2023, HOPE (Honoring Our Professors’ Excellence) Award, UIC
2022, Silver Circle Award for Teaching Excellence, UIC
2019, Teaching Recognition Program Award, UIC
2019, Sustainability Teaching Fellow, UIC Office of Sustainability
2017, Teaching Scholar, UIC Center for the Advancement of Teaching-Learning Communities
2016, Teaching Scholar, UIC Center for the Advancement of Teaching-Learning Communities
Education
BA, Stanford University
PhD, University of Rochester