SLU Women’s Commission Spotlight: Katherine Stamatakis Ph.D., M.P.H.
03/27/2025
Katherine (Katie) Stamatakis is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Saint Louis University College of Public Health and Social Justice, where she also serves as the interim director of the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) program. Stamatakis’ research includes chronic disease epidemiology, implementation science, sleep and metabolic determinants of chronic disease.
Question: Could you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in epidemiology?
Answer: I “discovered” epidemiology as an undergraduate student when my advisor recommended me for an internship in the state health department. My first assignment was working with the state cancer registry. I was struck by the amount of effort it took a team of professionals to collect accurate and up-to-date data on cancer and equally struck by the powerful impact of the data itself.
I saw firsthand how data were used to improve understanding of why some groups of people were more likely to die of cancer. And how this knowledge helps target treatments, support research to develop new and more effective interventions, and is crucial for resource planning in public health and health care. I loved it so much I stayed for over two years until I decided to go back to school for a graduate degree!
Question: You juggle multiple roles — program director, researcher, teacher and more. What does each role entail?
Juggle is the right word on some days, though when things align my job really feels like the right balance between teaching, research, and serving as program director. As a teacher, my job is to train students to be skillful in using data to guide efforts in public health and health care systems, and to expand their research toolkit. My research is at the intersection of implementation science and chronic disease prevention and is grounded in studying ways to translate evidence into practice settings.
One of the things I love most about my job is working with students in research, through mentoring and by using examples from my research to give them a behind-the-scenes look at the process of producing, interpreting and translating data.
As program director, I think a big part of my role is connecting the dots between lots of moving parts, and emphasizing the value added to our students by faculty whose work extends outside the classroom.
Question: Who or what has had the most profound impact on your professional growth?
It’s hard to point to one person, I’ve had so many amazing mentors, collaborators and colleagues over the years that have all contributed to my professional growth in different and impactful ways.
If there was one person I can say had the most profound impact, it would be Dr. Jeannette Jackson Thompson. She was my first boss in public health, and chief of research and evaluation in the chronic disease prevention unit of the state health department. She was also amazingly stylish. It sounds flippant but it’s not. At a time when almost all of the powerful people and decision-makers in the room were rubbing elbows in dark suits, she would arrive in all of her stylish splendor and take charge of a meeting. She had an unmatchable grasp of data and ability to translate it to people from many backgrounds.
I learned so much about the importance of adhering to the highest standards when collecting and analyzing data from her. I also learned that it's OK to be the different one in the room. People will still listen to you if you bring expertise. Obviously, things don’t always work that way, but being in the room with a living example opened my eyes to the possibility.
College for Public Health and Social Justice
The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities. It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States. Guided by a mission of social justice and focus on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the college offers nationally recognized programs in public health and health administration.