Rachael Dodd

Dr. Rachael Dodd is a Senior Research Fellow at The Daffodil Centre, a joint venture between The University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW. Her work focuses on behavioral and implementation science to improve health communications across various cancer screening programs including breast, head and neck, cervical, and lung cancer.

Dr. Dodd completed her academic training with a Masters in Health Psychology and a PhD in Psychology at University College London, UK. Her PhD thesis examined "the psychosocial impact of human papillomavirus oropharyngeal cancer," and her Masters dissertation focused on "The Experience of Diagnosis and its Psychological Impact in Patients suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and their Caregivers."

Dr. Dodd's research interests span health communication in cancer, the psychosocial impact of screening, and implementation of screening and new technologies. Her current work investigates the best approaches to implement lung cancer screening in Australia through co-design workshops for decision support tools. She also leads research on HPV-related head and neck cancer education resources, self-collection in cervical screening, and alternative management of abnormal cervical cells. Her methodology often employs qualitative approaches to understand patient and provider perspectives on cancer screening implementation.

Analysis of Dr. Dodd's recent publications reveals a strong focus on lung cancer screening implementation in Australia, with particular attention to psychosocial impacts, stakeholder perspectives, and communication strategies. Her work bridges behavioral science with practical implementation of cancer screening programs, addressing critical gaps in how to effectively roll out new screening initiatives while considering patient and provider experiences.

Dr. Dodd has received research funding for projects including developing information materials for the National Lung Cancer Screening Program (2024), understanding consumer perspectives on patient reported experience measures (2022), and optimizing health communication for community responses to testing (2020).

She currently supervises PhD student Katie McFadden, who is investigating the psychosocial aspects of lung cancer screening with a focus on smoking-related stigma. Dr. Dodd has contributed to media discussions on vaccine hesitancy, HPV self-collection, and cervical cancer screening through outlets including The Conversation, Australian Doctor, and ABC.