Catherine Mac Phail

Dr. Catherine Mac Phail is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Research) at the School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong. She holds a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand and has extensive academic appointments, including roles at the Centre for Social Research in Health and the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit. Her research focuses on social determinants of health, with special attention to gender, poverty, and education. She is internationally recognized for studies on adolescent health in South Africa and Australia, including HIV prevention, gender violence, and migrant health.

Teaching & Supervision: Mac Phail supervises doctoral students on topics such as mHealth interventions for HIV prevention, intimate partner violence, and compassionate communities approaches to end-of-life care. She has led projects like a cross-faculty initiative to support international students and a food pedagogy framework for urban health.

Leadership: She serves on committees like the PRISM Partnership for HIV prevention and chairs the Postgraduate Public Health program at UOW. Her research outputs span over 197 publications, emphasizing gender equity, HIV/AIDS, and social policy.

Funding: Grants include studies on PrEP access for Australian women and community mobilization for gender equality. Her work bridges global and local health challenges, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to address systemic inequities.