Julie Gilbertsen is a research analyst in the youth development program area. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in human development and minors in inequality studies and policy analysis and management. Julie is primarily interested in collaborating with youth, families, and communities to design and implement research studies and develop policy recommendations to transform youth- and family-serving systems and institutions. She is particularly passionate about positive youth development, adolescent and young adult mental health, youth mentorship, and violence prevention. Currently, Julie contributes to several projects focused on evaluating juvenile justice and child welfare system policies and practices. Further, she is the project manager for an evaluation of a gender-transformative, trauma-informed sexual health program for Black and Latino adolescents ages 15 to 19 in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Julie is experienced in qualitative data collection and analysis, project management, and synthesizing findings into a variety of dissemination products. 

Prior to her time at Child Trends, Julie was a research assistant for two human development labs at Cornell—the Purpose and Identity Processes Lab and the Child Witness and Cognition Lab—where she contributed to projects related to the intersection of children, psychology, and the law. Aside from her research, Julie is a dedicated volunteer for the BRIDGES program at CASA for Children of DC, which supports youth who have current or previous involvement in the juvenile legal system with the goal of preventing multi-system involvement and recidivism through strength-based and trauma-informed mentorship and advocacy.