When Julie Lee, assistant professor of health management and policy in the College of Public Health and CSSI researcher affiliate, entered her role two years ago, she had questions about how public health fits within the broader healthcare system. Today, that initial curiosity has inspired her to survey the public about their understanding and support of the field.

With an undergraduate degree in business and a PhD in organizational behavior, Lee had focused her earlier work on employee caregiving and motivation. She came to the University of Iowa to apply that expertise to the health-sector workforce.

“As a public health person now, I hear colleagues saying that we need more support for public health,” Lee said. “But I wondered, ‘Do we know what's related to support and awareness for public health?’”

Last year, Lee was an awardee of CSSI’s inaugural Surveying the Social World initiative, which provides researchers with funding and support to administer one survey to 1,000 U.S. adults and to advance research projects addressing some of today’s most pressing social concerns. Her survey explores how public perceptions of healthcare affordability and quality impact support for public health initiatives, such as vaccination programs and quitting smoking campaigns, and how individual health attitudes and behaviors shape those views. 

“I think the biggest strength CSSI has is that it is about social impact and values the interdisciplinary approach,” Lee said. “It is great to have a group of people who believe that research can make a difference in society.”

Investigating connections between health access and trust 

To help public health professionals connect, Lee sought to understand how and if their circumstances affected their awareness and understanding of important public health initiatives.

“I was thinking that maybe people’s view on public health is related not only to their political identification, but also to their socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, and experiences with the healthcare system,” she said.

Lee’s survey examines how a person’s ability to find, understand, and act on health information influences their trust in public health. She hopes to learn which individuals or groups the public health and healthcare sectors should engage with to build trust and support.

“Maybe those who have low access to healthcare have already lost their trust in health systems, so they do not really trust public health as well,” Lee said. “That's worth asking because public health plays a crucial role in the health of the whole community. We are there to ensure that everyone gets at least a certain level of care.”

Lee said polls can show how many people struggle to access healthcare, but not why.

“The unique part of Surveying the Social World is that it allows me to ask questions about how people understand healthcare and public health at the national level,” she said. “I can look more closely at people’s experiences that shape their views in ways that polls cannot.”

As next steps, Lee is analyzing her survey results and plans to submit a manuscript about her work.

Healthcare workforce research

In 2025, Lee received a College of Public Health New Faculty Research Award to study paid dementia care workers who also have unpaid family care responsibilities at home – and how this “double-duty” caregiving affects workforce capacity, well-being, and patient care outcomes. 

Recently, she has been collaborating with researchers at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics to investigate AI adoption within healthcare. 

Lee said, “This has been something that's really new, but talking to CSSI people and attending their events and getting the encouragement for this interdisciplinary work, I've been fortunate to have their support.”