Project Management Advisor
Rockford Health Physicians
Rockford, IL
Julia Norem received her BSN and MSN from Northern Illinois University. She spent 10 years as Director of Nursing Services at the Boone County Health Department in Illinois. During that time she helped to establish a Federally Qualified Health Center and secured over $600,000 in grant funding for community-based health education programs. She developed and implemented a school-based nutrition and exercise program for overweight adolescent girls which has now been adopted by the State of Illinois Department of Human Services as a Model Program. Her RWJENF fellowship took her to Ethiopia where she worked for the President Carter Center assessing public health clinics. She also traveled to Cuba during the fellowship to observe the public health system there. Currently she is the project management advisor for a large integrated health system where she is implementing the patient-centered medical home care model in 9 ambulatory sites. She has been an elected official to her local Board of Education since 1993 and just retired having served 20 years. She served as President of the Board for 10 years. The school district has doubled in size and has passed 6 successful referendum during her tenure. She served as Secretary to the RWJENF Alumni Board for 3 years. Awards include: Distinguished Alumni (NIU), Professional Woman of the Year (Belvidere Chamber of Commerce), Humanitarian Award (Winnebago County Medical Society Alliance), Award of Excellence (Illinois Association of School Boards), and March of Dimes teaching award. She resides in Rockford, IL with her husband Dennis and enjoys riding her horses, gardening, exercise and spending time with her family.