Brief Bio

Christine M. Forke, PhD, MSN, CRNP is part of the core faculty in the Master of Public Health Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), leading the Introductory Biostatistics and Capstone II courses. She is affiliated with the Center for Injury Research and Prevention and the Center for Violence Prevention at CHOP. Dr. Forke serves as a Steering Committee member and the Research Workgroup Co-Chair for the Philadelphia Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Task Force housed at the Health Federation of Philadelphia. Her work focuses on vulnerable populations and centers largely on behavioral and health outcomes related to reproductive health, adolescent relationship violence, childhood trauma, and access to care. She has expertise in a range of methods, including quantitative design and population-based analyses as well as qualitative and mixed-methods approaches, and she has received foundation and federal funding for her work. Dr. Forke’s current research focuses on delineating individual, family, and neighborhood stressors and protective factors that impact well-being, particularly in marginalized communities, and identifying low-cost, evidence-based, and sustainable approaches that may improve health outcomes by mitigating risks associated with childhood adversity. To improve access and care outcomes through clinician training, Dr. Forke is collaborating with colleagues in the School of Nursing on a HRSA-funded project to better integrate content on childhood trauma and trauma-informed practices across the existing curricula. Dr. Forke received her master’s in nursing and her PhD in Epidemiology from Penn. She is a licensed and nationally-certified pediatric primary care nurse practitioner who specializes in adolescent health.