Lorna McWilliams

Lorna McWilliams is a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester’s Division of Psychology & Mental Health, affiliated with the Manchester Centre for Health Psychology. She holds honorary roles at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust’s CPCR group and was previously at institutions including the University of Nottingham and City University of New York. Her research focuses on behavior change, implementation science, healthcare decision-making, cancer prevention, and health equity.

Education includes a BA (Hons) in Psychology (University of Strathclyde, 2009), MRes in Research Methods in Psychology (2010), and a PhD in Psychology (University of Nottingham, 2013). She is a member of the Women in Cancer Network and the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine.

Lorna’s work addresses barriers to cancer screening for vulnerable populations (e.g., autistic individuals, ethnic minorities) and evaluates risk-stratified screening programs’ feasibility. She has led projects funded by Breast Cancer Now, NIHR, and Cancer Research UK. Her 2024 award recognized contributions to inclusive research design.

Teaching includes supervising MSc research projects on health psychology and lecturing in the Illness and Healthcare unit. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams across the UK and internationally, particularly on breast and cervical cancer screening initiatives.

Key projects include the MyPeBS study (6-country risk-based screening analysis) and PROCAS2 (NHS breast screening feasibility). She co-developed guidelines for integrating smoking cessation into lung cancer screening and contributed to the ACES studies on urine-based HPV testing.