Biography

Education, Training, & Research: 

PhD in Public Health from the University of South Florida

MPP (Master’s in Public Policy) from the University of California, Los Angeles

BA in English Literature from University of California, Berkeley

Specialties: 

Maternal and Child Health

Research Interests: 

Health and healthy behavior of children age 0-5

Early education environments

Early childhood systems

Family caregiving

Biography: 

Dr. Joanna Mackie joined UCF in 2024 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences, College of Medicine. Her research focuses on the health and healthy behaviors of young children and their families and caregivers across systems, with a specific interest in early education environments. Additional early childhood systems include child welfare, infant mental health, home visiting programs, family caregiving, and environmental health, including the impact of climate change on young children’s health. Her methodological interests include community-engaged research, qualitative analysis and interdisciplinary collaboration. Current areas of focus include health and safety needs in local early education environments, healthy mealtimes for young children, fatherhood engagement with home visiting programs, and immunizations in Early Head Start.

Dr. Mackie received her PhD in Public Health from the University of South Florida, specializing in Maternal and Child Health. She also received a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from UCLA and a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley. During her doctoral training, she focused on healthy mealtimes in early education programs in Florida, was part of several evaluations of the Florida Early Childhood Court program, and a statewide needs assessment of Infant Mental Health services for children age 0-3. Previous research experiences include developing a pilot healthy meals program for early education centers (together with Second Harvest Foodbank of Central Florida), and a statewide evaluation of public health nurse consultants for early education centers at UCSF. During her post-doctoral training at UC Merced, she assessed the impact of family caregiving on educational trajectories across the lifecourse. Dr. Mackie also brings professional experiences from working in various non-profit and public agencies in Florida and California.

Dr. Mackie is an active member of the American Public Health Association and serves as co-chair of the Child Care Committee, and she is also co-chair of the joint Environment and Maternal and Child Health Workgroup on Climate Change and Young Children’s Health.

Recent Publications: 

Mackie, J.F., Yusuf, B., Darna, S., Marshall, J. (2024). Safe sleep, safe caregivers, and coping with crying: A mixed-methods assessment of the Safe Baby Program in Hillsborough County, Florida. Journal of Public Health. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-024-02250-x. 

Vamenta, C., Mackie, J.F. (2024). Analyzing Emotional Boundaries of Adolescents Caring for Siblings With Autism. American Journal of Qualitative Research. 8(4), 214-236.https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/15638.

Forney, S., Mackie, J.F. (2023). ‘All American Boys’ in the time of George Floyd: How multicultural literature can address racism’s effect on community health. Journal of Public Health, 45;4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdad128.

Foti, T., Cragun, D., Mackie, J.F., Agu, N., Bell, M., Marshall, J. (2023). Personas of pregnant and parenting women with substance use and their barriers and pathways to system engagement. Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12703.

Mackie, J.F., Marshall, J., Alkon, A., Gray, H., Himmelgreen, D., Kirby, R.S. (2022) Mixed-methods assessment of caregiver feeding practices in early care and education centers during COVID-19. Public Health Nutrition. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980022002452

Mackie, J.F., Duarte, C., Shim, J., Reame, R., Yen, I. (2022) How family caregiving responsibilities influence educational trajectories in the United States. American Journal of Qualitative Research. 6(3), 1-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12438.