Cath Quinn

Dr Cath Quinn is a Senior Research Fellow at Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth, affiliated with the Primary Care department since 2008. Her research centers on the mental health and emotional wellbeing of socially marginalized populations, with a focus on offenders. She co-leads the Offender Health research stream with Professor Richard Byng and is active in applied health research using qualitative and mixed methods within realistic evaluation frameworks.

• University: University of Plymouth
• School: Peninsula Medical School
• Department: Primary Care
• Position: Senior Research Fellow

Cath Quinn’s research interests lie in qualitative methodologies, mixed methods, and realistic evaluation, particularly as applied to mental health, offender health, and health inequalities. She is committed to shifting focus from treating mental illness to promoting emotional wellbeing in deprived populations. Her work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health equity and reduced inequalities.

The most recent articles highlight her engagement with collaborative care models, realist evaluation of dementia care, challenges in prison-based clinical trials, and equity-driven research prioritization in oral health. These works reflect a consistent trajectory in applied health research addressing structural and social determinants of health.

Dr Quinn serves as a PhD supervisor and has been involved in training and educational initiatives such as PUPSMD: Research in Action SSU on Health Inequalities. She is a member of the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) and the British Sociological Association (BSA). She has contributed as a reviewer for SAPC conferences and NIHR funding applications, particularly in offender health and qualitative methods.

She has supervised PhD student Alexandors Georgiadis on a project examining mental health among offenders. Her research has been supported by programs such as PenCLAHRC. She is actively involved in multi-institutional collaborations and contributes to national and international discourse on health equity and methodological rigor in complex settings.

Dr Quinn is embedded in research networks focusing on offender health, mental health interventions, and health services research. She collaborates extensively with academic and clinical teams, including those led by Professor Richard Byng, and contributes to large-scale applied research programs such as the Engager research programme and D-PACT intervention study.