Teaching Areas of Interest
Medical Humanities, Professional Identity Formation, Gerontology
Research Interests
Moral Dimensions of Health-Care, Religious Features of American Medicine, Illness Narratives,
Humanistic and Narrative Gerontology
Biography
Julie E. Kutac, MA, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Instruction, Director of PA Assessment and Interim Vice Chair for Community Engagement in the Department of Physician Assistant School of Medicine. Dr. Kutac received her BS in Molecular
Biology from Texas Lutheran University, her MA in Religious Studies from Rice University, and her PhD in Medical Humanities from UTMB. While a PhD student, Dr. Kutac completed a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Minority Aging from the National Institute
on Aging.
Prior to joining the UTMB faculty, Dr. Kutac worked as Professional Education and Research Specialist at the Alzheimer’s Association Houston and Southeast Texas Chapter. There, she prepared and delivered engaging, evidence-informed education programs
to health care providers across the state of Texas. During her time at the Alzheimer’s Association, she educated well over one thousand professional and lay caregivers in sound, humanistic dementia care practices.
As a faculty member, Dr. Kutac teaches and guides PA students as they cultivate their professional identities and work to become compassionate, courageous caregivers. Using creative, active teaching methods and an accessible communication style, she brings
the scholarship of the medical humanities to her students in order to create spaces for moral reflection and intellectual inquiry. The fundamental questions that drive her teaching require the articulation of both personal and civic values. She asks,
“What makes a life good?” and follows that question with “How can the practice of medicine help us promote human flourishing?”
With Dr. Beach, Dr. Kutac has initiated a Humanism in Clinical Care elective for PA students at UTMB. She is a member of the Physician Assistant Education Association and the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.