Center for Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i)
Julie C. Weitlauf, PhD
Dr. Weitlauf is a licensed clinical psychologist at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System where she serves as the Director of the Women’s Mental Health and Aging Core of the Sierra Pacific MIRECC, the Director of the Women’s Interpersonal Abuse, Sexual Assault and Health (WISH) laboratory, as well as an Investigator at the Center for Innovation to Implementation (CI2I). Dr. Weitlauf is an alumnus of the VA HSR&D Career Development Award Program and currently serves as a co-investigator for the Career Development Award Enhancements Initiative (CDAei) at CI2I.
Dr. Weitlauf’s primary research focus centers on the intersection of women’s mental and physical health and mortality risk across the lifespan. She has particular expertise with respect to the association of interpersonal abuse exposure on women’s health and functioning at critical reproductive life phases: pregnancy, menopause, post-menopause. Dr. Weitlauf’s recent work examines the intersection of trauma exposure and sexual dysfunction in women. Dr. Weitlauf has served on numerous working groups focused on the prevention of violence against women within and beyond VA. She has received competitive research funding from the National Cancer Institute, VA Health Services Research and Development, and the National Institute of Aging and competitive internal research funding from the Stanford Teaching and Mentoring Academy, the Stanford Society for Physician Scholars, the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Dermatology at Stanford, and the VA HSR&D SUD QUERI. Dr. Weitlauf is currently co-leading a large research study examining the validity of an observational screening tool designed to detect abuse exposure among community dwelling elders and collaborating with Women’s Health Initiative investigators to examine the risk for maltreatment among older, post-menopausal women serving as caregivers to partners and spouses with cognitive impairments.
In addition to research, Dr. Weitlauf has an active clinic at Stanford (Sexual Dysfunction Clinic within Women’s Wellness), treats physicians-in-distress through Stanford’s WellConnect Program, and is actively involved in teaching and mentoring at VA locally and nationally, as well as at Stanford. She has created unique interdisciplinary coursework for graduate education and resident education pertinent to the assessment and treatment of sexual dysfunction in women, and actively collaborates with the Dermatology department at Stanford (research and training collaborations) around matters of community based participatory research on behavioral strategies (e.g., sunscreen use) for the reduction of UVR exposure in young children. Dr. Weitlauf serves actively as a peer reviewer for many top research journals, has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, and has served as a grant reviewer for national and international funders. She is a commonly invited speaker at national and international conferences and training seminars focused on women’s health/mental health research
University Profile | Publications
