معرفی
Maria Donald is an Associate Professor with the General Practice Clinical Unit in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Queensland, and holds an additional appointment as Associate Professor Research Strategy affiliated with the Centre for Health System Reform and Integration (CHSRI). She is also a Principal Research Fellow with extensive experience in health services research and implementation science.
Her educational background includes a Bachelor (Honours) of Arts and a PhD, both from the University of Queensland. With over twenty-five years of experience in health research, her career has spanned multiple institutions within UQ including the School of Public Health (as Senior Lecturer 2006-2012), the Centre for Primary Health Care, and the National Centre for HIV Social Research.
Maria's research focuses on scalable primary health care interventions to improve patient outcomes, with particular expertise in implementation science, long-term antidepressant use, mental health services, chronic disease management, and integrated care models. Her work often involves pragmatic randomized controlled trials in general practice settings and mixed-methods approaches to health services research.
Her recent publications (2020-2025) demonstrate a strong focus on antidepressant prescribing practices, eConsultation models for improving specialist access in primary care, and implementation of integrated care models. The articles reveal consistent themes in primary care mental health, health service innovation, and implementation research, with particular attention to practical applications in real-world settings.
Maria has been awarded significant research funding including the NHMRC Partnership Project RELEASE+ (2022-2027) and the MRFF Clinician Researchers grant RELEASE (2022-2025), both investigating long-term antidepressant use in general practice. Her current projects also include culturally informed chronic disease prevention and healthy ageing initiatives.
She is actively involved in supervision, currently advising PhD and MPhil students on topics related to antidepressant treatment discontinuation and glaucoma drainage devices, with a history of supervising research in Indigenous health, diabetes care, and active transport. Her collaborative approach extends to numerous partnerships with clinicians and researchers across Australia, particularly in Queensland.
