Episode 002: Researching Menstrual Health with Dr. Julie Hennegan

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Dr. Julie Hennegan (she/her/hers) is a mixed-methods researcher specializing in global adolescence and women’s health. She is passionate about exploring the social and environmental determinants of health, as well as the design and evaluation elements of complex social interventions. Julie’s work focuses on menstrual health, sexual and reproductive health, and the gendered dimensions of water, sanitation and hygiene services.

In this episode, we dive into Julie’s research on the effectiveness of different menstrual health solutions – and unpack why more research is critical to meeting the needs of menstruators around the world.

Follow Dr. Hennegan on Twitter @julie_hennegan | Connect with her on LinkedIn 

Resources Mentioned in the Show: 

www.menstrualpracticemeasures.org 

Highlights from this episode:

  • Dr. Hennegan’s experiences and stories from the field
  • How she got started in this work and why it matters to her
  • Why more research is needed to uplift menstruators on a global scale

Bio:

Dr Julie Hennegan is a mixed-methods researcher specializing in global adolescent and women’s health. She explores the social and environmental determinants of health, and the design and evaluation of complex social interventions.

Julie’s work focuses on menstrual health, sexual and reproductive health including rights, and gender dimensions of water, sanitation, and hygiene services. She has led and contributed to research across high- middle- and low-income country settings, with a focus on East Africa.

Building the evidence base to understand and improve menstrual health, Julie led the development of new measures to capture menstrual health needs. She has advanced the ongoing development of national indicators and measures to monitor menstrual health, and the application of evidence synthesis methods to progress theory and research.

Julie joined the Burnet Institute in 2020, following a postdoctoral fellowship and faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA). She completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford (UK) in 2017.


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