Julia Hotz

Full biography

Julia Hotz is an author and journalist specializing in evidence-based solutions to loneliness, depression, anxiety, political polarization, economic insecurity, and other forms of social disconnection.
She is the author of The Connection Cure, published by Simon & Schuster, the first book to explore the science and stories of social prescribing. Drawing on examples ranging from art, nature, and physical activity to volunteering and economic support, the book shows how access to non-medical resources can help make healthcare more effective, equitable, and sustainable. It was selected as a Next Big Idea Club Must-Read and named one of the Best Public Health Books of 2024 by Harvard Public Health Magazine.
As an independent journalist, she has written for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, MIT Technology Review, WIRED, TIME, Bloomberg, Scientific American, and other publications. She was also selected as a Carter Center Mental Health Reporting Fellow and has discussed her work on more than 100 podcasts and talk shows. She has delivered keynote speeches at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, TEDx, Yale University, and other institutions.

Since 2018, she has served as Fellowships Manager at Solutions Journalism Network in New York, where she helps develop and train an international network of more than 5,000 journalists. She has supported 80 journalism entrepreneurs across several countries and helped secure and manage two million-dollar grants for solutions journalism fellowships.
Julia Hotz holds an MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge, where she completed a dissertation on the lived experience of loneliness. She was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Athens and graduated summa cum laude in Philosophy and Political Science from Union College.