Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Adversity

Dr. Julie Croff is a Professor at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences and a nationally recognized leader in substance use research, with a focus on prenatal exposures and early life adversity. She is Principal Investigator of the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Adversity (CIRCA) and serves as the contact PI for the Oklahoma site of the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a landmark national study examining how early environments and experiences shape child development.

Dr. Croff has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2014 and has secured more than $43 million in extramural funding. Her research spans observational studies, clinical trials, and implementation science to advance evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery systems, with a focus on translating science into real-world impact across rural and underserved communities. Her work is particularly focused on understanding how experiences during pregnancy and early childhood influence health and development and on building systems that improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities.

In addition her leadership at the OSU HBCD site, Dr. Croff serves in national leadership roles within the HBCD consortium, including as co-chair of the Biospecimen Working Group and previously as co-chair of the Rural and Sovereign Nations Working Group. These roles reflect her broader commitment to ensuring that large-scale research is scientifically rigorous while representing the experiences of rural and tribal communities.

Dr. Croff has contributed to state-level policy and legal efforts addressing substance use and is a member of Leadership Oklahoma Class 39. She is a Fellow and Past President of the American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB) and previously served as a Governing Councilor of the American Public Health Association (APHA), contributing to national efforts to advance public health research and practice.

Outside of work, Dr. Croff enjoys volunteering with local organizations, cycling, and swimming. She and her husband, Ben, are raising two teenage children and share their home with an opinionated wirehaired dachshund.