A seminar led to environmental research and dual degree
Julia Froese has spent her time at Carolina in labs, shadowing doctors, promoting health equity, singing and more.
A First-Year Seminar at Carolina kick-started Julia Froese’s focus on environmental health research and strengthened her plan to attend medical school.
Froese will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in public health from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health with minors in chemistry and entrepreneurship. She will continue in the dual BSPH-MPH program and graduate with a master’s in 2027.
“I really appreciated the wide variety of disciplines that I could pursue. After high school, I didn’t 100% know what I wanted to do in college or in a career. I was interested in a lot of different things,” said Froese, who is from Wantagh, New York, a Long Island hamlet of about 18,000 people.
Then she took that seminar, designing and conducting research on a local environmental health issue. The seminar was taught by Amanda Northcross, associate professor in the Gillings environmental sciences and engineering department and leader of the Environmentally Engaged Communities and Undergraduate Students Investigating for Public Health Protection lab.
“The First-Year Seminar was a great way for me to learn more about a topic that I was interested in and apply my knowledge to make a difference,” Froese said. “It shaped everything for me.”
After the course, Froese volunteered with the lab.
Froese soon took ECON 125 to fulfill a general education requirement in Carolina’s IDEAs in Action curriculum. She and classmates collaborated on ways to reduce waste from residence hall move-outs.
“I realized that I liked looking at a community need and developing creative solutions to meet it,” she said. “That aligned really well with what I was learning in public health and encouraged me to pursue the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship.”
Her chemistry minor complements Froese’s goal of medical school. Her interest in medicine aligns with her longstanding commitment to making a difference in her community. In high school, Froese’s Girl Scout Gold Award project focused on building confidence through music. A lifelong singer, she designed programming to help people feel more comfortable performing and expressing themselves.
“Translating this to medicine, I found an interest in supporting patients to feel empowered in making informed decisions about their health,” she said.
Froese shadowed physicians, including Dr. Erin Carey, a UNC School of Medicine associate professor specializing in gynecologic conditions. Observing surgeries and patient care reinforced Froese’s commitment to women’s health and to medicine.
As a sophomore, she became a policy associate with FlowForward, a student-led nonprofit that provides free menstrual products in 20 locations across campus. She is now co-president.
Froese is also a volunteer assistant in the lab of Rebecca Fry, director of the Institute for Environmental Health Solutions and the Carol Remmer Angle Distinguished Professor at Gillings. There, she’s researched how microplastics affect placental cells, measuring cell growth, gene expression and wound-healing responses.
Her latest project uses longitudinal data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. She’s examining how mixtures of environmental toxicants influence hormone levels in women.
Outside the classroom and lab, Froese performed for three years as a soprano and beatboxer in Cadence, one of Carolina’s a cappella groups. She is a 2025 Phi Beta Kappa inductee.
“The best part about college is the opportunity to explore what is unexplored,” Froese said. “At UNC, there is always the chance to learn something new, challenge ideas and hear different perspectives. The key is to be constantly curious and open-minded.”
This summer, she’ll travel to the Philippines to complete a practicum in reproductive health with the nonprofit Roots of Health. Carolina’s Unks Travel Fellowship is supporting her trip, which includes stops in the U.K., Thailand and Vietnam.
