Biography
Julie Willems Van Dijk is a nurse who has served the people of Wisconsin for 40 years. She began her career in Wausau as a staff nurse at Wausau Hospital and later joined the Marathon County Health Department first as a public health nurse and later as the department’s Director. In 2009, Julie joined the University of Wisconsin (UW) Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings & Roadmaps team, a collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Over the next decade, she worked with community leaders across the nation to address the multiple factors that drive health. In 2019, she accepted Governor Tony Evers’ invitation to join his team as the Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Julie served on the Unified Command team for Wisconsin’s response until her retirement in September 2021. She currently is an adjunct assistant professor at the 91ɫƵ. Julie is a graduate of UW-Eau Claire (BSN), UW-Oshkosh (MSN), and UW-Milwaukee (PhD). Julie was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 2016.