Natalie P. Joseph, MD, MPH

Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatrics

Natalie Joseph
850 Harrison Ave

Biography

I am an award-winning Clinical Associate Professor in Pediatrics at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine specializing in Adolescent Medicine at Boston Medical Center. I am devoted to developing and championing multi-generational and dyadic strategies for both population-based prevention and patient-centered care

I am an expert in the area of adolescent parenting, as well as in primary and secondary HPV-related cancer prevention, especially cervical cancer prevention.

My career is dedicated to improving health outcomes for our underserved, high-risk, immigrant, low-income, and vulnerable populations, particularly reducing health disparities in:

1) HPV-related cancer, especially in cervical cancer, and in
2) Adolescent prenatal care, birth, maternal and child health outcomes, trauma and adverse events.

My research focuses on HPV vaccine initiation among low-income and minority population in public healthcare settings. My work to address racial/ethnic disparities in HPV vaccination rates in children, adolescents and mid-adults and in cervical cancer screenings in adult women has made me a world leader in HPV-related cancer prevention among minority communities.

Presently I am the Principal Investigators on 2 HPV vaccine studies funded by Merck MISP entitled: 1: An exploratory open-label clinical trial evaluating the immunogenicity and safety of the 9vHPV 2-dose vaccine regimen in children aged 4-8 years. This is the only study presently in the US: (https://www.bmc.org/hpv-vaccine-4-8-year-olds); 2) An Open-label Clinical Trial Evaluating the Immunogenicity of the 9vHPV Vaccination Regiment over 6 months Among Women Aged 16 to 45 years (https://www.bmc.org/research/open-label-clinical-trial-evaluating-immunogenicity-9vhpv-vaccination-regimen-over-6-months-amon.

I am presently a Co-Investigator on an HPV vaccine study adapting the Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) technology to produce English and Spanish smartphone ECAs for HPV vaccination (ECA-HPV) to provide vaccine recommendations and motivational interviewing to parents/guardians and vaccine-eligible adolescents and facilitate communication with clinic staff. We will evaluate ECA-HPV in a randomized controlled trial for HPV-vaccine eligible adolescents aged 9-12 to evaluate ECA-HPV, comparing usual care versus usual care plus four design variants of the ECA-HPV.

My leadership work on HPV-related cancer prevention has led to dissemination of 25 publications, supported by eight grants (2 NIH, 5 foundation, 1 industry) on this topic since 2007.

As of July 2022, I transition to being the former Medical Director of the Teen and Tot clinic, a comprehensive case management program serving nearly 400 mother (ages 23 and under) and child dyads yearly. I started as Medical director of the Teen and Tot program in 2001 and we have had sustained funding by the Boston Public Health Commission since 2005.

I founded the Teen Centering Parenting Initiative at Teen and Tot in 2016. Teen Centering Parenting is an innovative, family-centered well-child medical group that has the potential to impact both adolescent mothers and fathers, and their children across many physical, psychosocial, health and healthcare conditions.

Following the success of Teen and Tot Clinic, I facilitated the founding of the Teen and tot student run clinic for medical students in 2018. This program provides adolescent mother and child health at Boston Medical Center, by medical students. Medical students actively engage in patient-centered medical care under my supervision.

My work with medical students have led to my selection of Boston University School of Medicine June’s 2022 Distinguished faculty of the month https://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/2022/06/01/natalie-pierre-joseph-md-mph-named-junes-distinguished-faculty-of-the-month/

I have recently been involved in a COVID-19 Community Engagement Alliance research related work targeting our vulnerable populations in Boston, as well as exploring COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes and Message Preferences (CAMP) to generate strategies tailored to different groups, sites addressing the stark disparities in pediatric COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Boston among our communities of color, identifying ways we can approach and tailor COVID-19 vaccination messaging while changing the narrative around vaccine confidence.

Since July 2022 I have been working with the Boston Public Health Commission’s (BPHC) Bureau of Infectious Diseases, Division of Education and Community Engagement as a vaccine Promoter to strengthen BPHC’s internal capacity and support of community and clinical partners to increase the uptake of the pediatric COVID-19 and flu vaccine among communities of color in Boston.

Overall, I am a proven cross-functional team leader, researcher and mentor who has sought to advance medical care and equity, as well as maximize students’ learning potential. I think critically and pursue innovative approaches to maximize the health of my patients and their families and that of vulnerable population in our community.

Other Positions

  • Boston Medical Center

Education

  • New York Medical College, MD
  • New York Medical College, MPH
  • Wesleyan University, BA

Publications

  • Published on 5/18/2023

    Zimmerman M, Zapata LP, Bachiller K, Devera JL, Hall TA, Casey SM, Pierre-Joseph N, Perkins RB. Comparison of attitudes toward routine maternal vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines among pregnant patients in an urban safety-net setting. J Natl Med Assoc. 2023 Aug; 115(4):362-376. PMID: 37210252.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 3/13/2023

    Merriman B, Jarmoc G, van der Rijn M, Pierre-Joseph N. Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Resiliency of Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents and Young Adults: A Qualitative Study. J Pediatr Health Care. 2023; 37(5):484-491. PMID: 36973102.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 12/25/2022

    Burrowes SAB, Casey SM, Dobbins S, Hall T, Ma M, Bano R, Drainoni ML, Schechter-Perkins EM, Garofalo C, Perkins RB, Pierre-Joseph N. Healthcare workers' perspectives on the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters for themselves, their patients, and their communities: a mixed methods study. Z Gesundh Wiss. 2022 Dec 25; 1-14. PMID: 36588660.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 11/21/2022

    Casey SM, Burrowes SAB, Hall T, Dobbins S, Ma M, Bano R, Yarrington C, Schechter-Perkins EM, Garofalo C, Drainoni ML, Perkins RB, Pierre-Joseph N. Healthcare workers' attitudes on mandates, incentives, and strategies to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake: A mixed methods study. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2022 Nov 30; 18(6):2144048. PMID: 36411988.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 9/16/2022

    Allan-Blitz LT, Samad A, Homsley K, Ferguson S, Vais S, Nagin P, Joseph N. A pilot study: the impact of clinic-provided transportation on missed clinic visits and system costs among teenage mother-child dyads. Humanit Soc Sci Commun. 2022; 9(1):319. PMID: 36159709.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 10/9/2021

    Fuss TL, Devera JL, Pierre-Joseph N, Perkins RB. Attitudes and Communication Preferences for Vaccines among Pregnant Women Receiving Care at a Safety-net Hospital. Womens Health Issues. 2022 Jan-Feb; 32(1):67-73. PMID: 34635378.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 7/1/2021

    Drainoni ML, Biancarelli D, Jansen E, Bernstein J, Joseph N, Eun TJ, Fenton AHTR, Clark JA, Hanchate A, Legler A, Schuch TJ, Leschly K, Perkins RB. Provider and Practice Experience Integrating the Dose-HPV Intervention into Clinical Practice. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2021 07 01; 41(3):195-201. PMID: 33973928.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 6/15/2020

    Perkins RB, Legler A, Jansen E, Bernstein J, Pierre-Joseph N, Eun TJ, Biancarelli DL, Schuch TJ, Leschly K, Fenton ATHR, Adams WG, Clark JA, Drainoni ML, Hanchate A. Improving HPV Vaccination Rates: A Stepped-Wedge Randomized Trial. Pediatrics. 2020 07; 146(1). PMID: 32540986.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 5/13/2020

    Perkins RB, Banigbe B, Fenton AT, O'Grady AK, Jansen EM, Bernstein JL, Joseph NP, Eun TJ, Biancarelli DL, Drainoni ML. Effect of a multi-component intervention on providers' HPV vaccine communication. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2020 11 01; 16(11):2736-2743. PMID: 32401592.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 2/1/2019

    Natalie Pierre-Joseph, MD, MPH Paula Gardiner, MD, MPH Maria De Ornelas, BS Lance Laird, ThD Breanna Chachere, MPH Nicole Minogue, BS Stephen McDonough, BS. 181. Reducing The Physical And Emotional Burdens of HPV Infection Through An Integrated Primary And Secondary Cervical Cancer Prevention Texting System Initiative In A Primary Care Setting, A Pilot Study. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2019; Supplement(2):S92-S93.

    Read at: Custom

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