Julie B. Perry, DNP

Julie Perry is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) who earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Kentucky College of Nursing in 2013 For more than 20 years, she has practiced in the areas of mental health and integrated care. Dr. Perry began her medical career in 1995 as a psychiatric nurse at Eastern State Hospital. She returned to school to further her education at the University of Kentucky when she became interested in community mental health and the need for integrating medical and psychiatric care needs for individuals in the primary care setting. Her doctoral research focused on the use of assertive community treatment to add medical services and treat co-occurring physical health problems such as diabetics living with chronic mental illness. Dr. Perry transitioned to community-based services in 2013 to be able to provide further integrated care as a dual certified nurse practitioner for underserved populations. She accomplishes this at Bluegrass Community Health Center (BCHC) which is a Federally Qualified Health Center and Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home. She also continued inpatient work at Eastern State Hospital intermittently. In 2017, Dr. Perry became the Director of Medical and Clinical Services at BCHC and continues to serve there as both a medical provider and clinic administrator. Since becoming DATA Waiver-trained at BCHC to provide medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opiate use disorder (OUD), she has attended multiple additional trainings including an Opioid Addiction Treatment ECHO program through the University of Washington. As a certified practitioner, Dr. Perry is knowledgeable in and provides various forms of MAT for OUD including buprenorphine and long-acting naltrexone combined with psychosocial counseling. She with her colleagues has become a trailblazer in the treatment and management of substance use disorders using an interprofessional approach in the primary care setting. In addition to her provision of MAT, she continues with the provision of routine primary and preventative care services and other specialty services such as Hepatitis C prevention, screening, and management. Leading her multidisciplinary team, Dr. Perry continues to share her expertise and experiences in an effort to help other primary care clinics and providers begin the rewarding practice of treating community needs.