Dr. Julie Gary is the inaugural Behavioral Health Bureau Chief for the City of St. Louis Department of

Health. Dr. Gary holds a Bachelor of Science in Pre-Medicine from the University of Notre Dame where

she was awarded the Daughters of the American Revolution Award. She also holds a Master’s in Public

Health in Environmental and Occupational Health and Epidemiology and a Doctorate in Philosophy with

an emphasis on Public Health Studies/Epidemiology from Saint Louis University School of Public Health

where she was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Nu Public Health Honor Society. During her time at Notre

Dame, Dr. Gary enrolled in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). She served on active duty

in air defense artillery for 13 years where she was deployed for 2 years to 8 countries in the Middle East,

serving as battery commander of a PATRIOT Missile unit. She finished her military service working at the

St. Louis John Cochran VA hospital studying liver disease, in particular following Vietnam veterans who

suffered from Hepatitis. She received awards including the Distinguished Military Graduate and Iron

Soldier at both her Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the

German Armed Forces Efficiency Badge, the Meritorious Service Medal, and 3 Army Commendation

Medals.

Following her military service, Dr. Gary has spent 20 years in public health positions in the St. Louis area

including 7 years with the Veterans Health Administration and 13 years as a professor at Washington

University where she currently teaches Introduction to Public Health. In 2012, she was awarded Saint

Louis University’s Mary Gumble Levy Award for her commitment to service, research, and teaching

dedicated to the health of the St. Louis community. In her previous role as Epidemiologist, Behavioral

Health and Health Equity, Dr. Gary wrote the city’s first behavioral health report focused on the opioid

epidemic and authored the city’s first comprehensive health equity plan which will be implemented

later this year. She heads the Department of Health’s Quality Improvement Project on Internal

Communication, the Strategic Planning Committee on Health Equity, and is the Co-Chair for the

Intersection of Health and Economic Mobility Action Team for the City’s Community Health

Improvement Plan. She serves on the Missouri Health Disparities Council and the St. Louis Equity

Community Engagement Council. She was recently awarded Equitable Trust for Healthy Societies

funding from the Centre for Public Impact & the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to join 12 other cities

from across the world in equity work for the City of St. Louis. In her Bureau's overlap with the City of St.

Louis Criminal Justice System, Dr. Gary serves on the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the

Alternatives to Incarceration Committee and the Office of Violence Prevention's Crisis Response

Leadership Team.

In her free time, Dr. Gary loves watching and coaching sports, cooking, road trips, playing guitar,

attending concerts, reading, serving her church and her community, and anything in the great outdoors.

She is a widow to the late Dr. Louis A. Gary (2020) and has 3 biracial children: 2 sons Isaiah, 26, and

Elijah, 22; and Jordan, an 18 year old daughter, who plays soccer and studies at Saint Louis University..