Cara Krulewitch an Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical Research and Leadership, and am returning to GWU as I have taught in the MPH program years ago. I am an epidemiologist and nurse-midwife executive with over 40 years of clinical experience, 30 years of epidemiology, surveillance and data analytic experience, and 20 years of federal government experience across HHS (FDA, CDC, NIH) and DoD. I am a retired civil servant who loves to teach, continue scientific consulting, and serve my midwifery community—currently as its elected treasurer to the Board of Directors.
After a total of 13 years across the Department of Health and Human Services, I took a leap of faith to accept a position at the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. I had followed my own rule of walking through doors that open, and it turned into a dream job where I could serve those who risk their lives to protect our country and ensure that they received optimal health care, especially our female active-duty members. I have many stories to tell as my portfolio included not only women’s health, but medical ethics, and patient advocacy too. So, follow my advice—follow your passion and walk through doors that open.
I am a data geek and love to crunch numbers as well as conduct research. My research areas include women’s health, military women’s health, maternal mortality and disparities in maternal and infant mortality, and intimate partner homicide-suicide (and homicide) and perinatal health. I am blessed with a clinical background (yes, I have attended births and welcomed many babies into the world) coupled with a PhD in epidemiology. My trajectory was unconventional, earning my PhD prior to a post-master’s certificate in midwifery. I believe that midwifery and its core values that honor physiologic processes, including birth (we are primary care providers too), has always applied an integrative medicine approach to health care.
While many scholars follow a trajectory that is single-focused, mine has been a series of scientific experiences with many different foci and positions, even in my doctoral program at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. There I began with a world renown policy expert (Dr. Ada Jacox) and ended my program with a nurse epidemiologist, world renown philosopher (Dr. Frederick Suppe) and a senior visiting fellow at the NIH (Dr. Allen Herman). My professional career seemed to follow a reverse path from my education and training, from epidemiologist to statistician and researcher to professor (teaching midwives in a new program) to regulatory affairs at FDA and then back to policy at DoD.
My FDA expertise and the public meetings that I presented at while as a Branch Chief in the Division of Epidemiology, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, led a law firm in Australia to find me and contract me as their epidemiologic expert for the injury caused by urogynecologic surgical mesh used to treat stress urinary incontinence in women. I testified in the Federal Court of Australia—a daunting experience. The plaintiff won, but even bigger than that was to see the country issue a ban of the device in both Australia and New Zealand, something I had hoped to see since I worked as a Branch Chief at FDA.
Outside of class, I love to garden, especially vegetables and herbs. I grow the hottest of peppers with names like Amnesia, Thor’s Hammer, Dragon Breath and CP115, along with tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, asparagus, onions and whatever else catches my eye. I also serve as the Secretary of the Board of Pregnancy Aid Center in Greenbelt Maryland. That clinic provides reproductive healthcare to underserved women in Prince Georges County, Maryland. It was the first place I practiced as a midwife and holds a special place in my heart.
I am excited to return to GWU and look forward to a great semester. My message to all my students, including all of you, is that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. The world truly is your oyster.