In Memoriam: Julia Blanche Anderson, 1951-2017

Julia B. Anderson, the founding director of the Institute for Racial and Ethnic Health Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, died late last month at her home in Pikesville, Maryland. She was 66 years old and suffered from lymphedema.

Dr. Anderson was a native of Baltimore and served as student body president at Edmondson High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree at what is now Coppin State University and taught briefly in the Baltimore public schools.

After earning a master’s degree in education community development and planning and a master of social work degree at the University of Michigan, Dr. Anderson was appointed associate director of development at Talladega College in Alabama. She returned to Baltimore in the early 1980s and held several positions in health care. Dr. Anderson earned a Ph.D. in policy studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 1995.

Upon receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Anderson became research director for the university’s Center for Health Program Development and Management and later became the first director of  the Institute for Racial and Ethnic Health Studies. In 2009, Dr. Anderson was appointed special assistant to the deputy director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She retired from that post in 2011.