Mary O'Loughlin

Dr Mary O’Loughlin BN (Distinction), MPH, PhD, is a public health teaching academic at James Cook University (JCU). Her teaching includes health and the health care system in Australia; health promotion; and, qualitative and mixed methods research approaches. 

Mary is Chair of the Public Health and Tropical Medicine Learning and Teaching Committee and the co-convenor of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) primary health care special interest group. In addition, she coordinates the postgraduate public health placement program, and is the academic lead on the Dentistry oral health promotion schools program.

Mary's PhD project focused on the Health Care Homes model of primary health care, exploring the model implementation from the consumer perspective. Her Master's research project explored the health of Australian hairdressers. Using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches to research, Mary has experience in a range of research projects including literature reviews, surveys, large-scale data linkages, interviews and focus groups. Areas of research interest include: consumer health; health service delivery and models of care; oral health and health promotion; program evaluation; and approaches to learning and teaching.