My research program focuses on three main areas to address evaluation challenges in the field of health:

1. Documenting Evaluation Innovation:
This area focuses on addressing the lack of empirical data on the effectiveness of emerging evaluation methods, such as realistic evaluation or arts-based evaluation. It aims to provide practical recommendations for the application of these methods to assist analysts and managers in choosing the most suitable approaches for their specific needs.

2. Understanding Sector-Specific Evaluation Capacities:
In this area, we explore evaluation capacities within specific sectors, such as aging or LGBTQ+ health, taking into account interactions between organizations. The goal is to develop a comprehensive understanding of these capacities to better address the unique evaluation needs of each sector.

3. Strengthening Evaluation Structures and Policies:
Building on the insights from the second area, this part investigates strategies to enhance the adoption and sustainability of evaluation practices within health organizations. It also explores the potential of artificial intelligence as a facilitative tool while carefully considering its ethical boundaries and implications.

Dr. O’Loughlin is a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal. She is a senior member of the Health Innovation and Evaluation Hub in the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM), a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a consultant to the Tobacco Control Research team at the Institut national de sante publique (INSPQ) and an elected member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium. Her team is housed at the CRCHUM and in addition to local researchers Dr. O’Loughlin has many ongoing collaborations nationally and internationally. During her 10-year tenure (to date) as a Tier I Canada Research Chair in the Early Determinants of Adult Chronic Disease, her research had focused on increased understanding of the relative importance of genetic, psychosocial, behavioral and environmental determinants of the childhood risk for adult chronic disease. She heads two pediatric cohort investigations (i.e., the Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) Study and AdoQuest) and she is a co-investigator on another four.

From 2007-13, she headed an interdisciplinary capacity enhancement team (funded 1.5 million by the CIHR), which included 35 investigators and students working on tobacco control research. Her research output over the past 5 years includes 123 publications and over 151 presentations at local, national and international conferences, as well as Knowledge Transfer products including 13 “Feuillets” on her work with INSPQ practitioners improving cessation counseling practices in six health professional groups. These feuillets are distributed to tobacco control practitioners and policy makers across Quebec and help assure that the results of her research are incorporated in practice.

Dr. O’Loughlin’s work has attracted media coverage, and she was one of the University of Montreal’s Top Newsmakers in 2008. Perhaps a key indicator of how her work is influential, is its citation in “Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2012” and “A Report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease, 2010.” Her research is also cited in a recent INSPQ submission to the Quebec government on proposed legislative changes to the Quebec Tobacco Control Act. Overall Dr. O’Loughlin’s work exemplifies interdisciplinary research that is well-grounded in public health, it demonstrates leadership in child and adolescent research, and it provides the “cells to society” underpinnings for furthering early prevention of adult chronic disease.

My interdisciplinary training allows me to use tools from epidemiology, public health, informatics, and statistics to untangle the causes, forecast future burdens, and evaluate intervention effectiveness of vector-borne diseases. I am also interested in climate change implications for vectorborne diseases. Specifically, my research is focused on malaria, arboviruses (dengue, chikungunya, Zika), and most recently, Lyme disease. 

1. Evaluation of large-scale vector-borne disease interventions

I have been involved with evaluating the effectiveness of large-scale malaria interventions and programs including indoor residual spraying and universal bednet coverage in Uganda. I have recently begun to evaluate a community mobilization approach for arbovirus control in Fortaleza, Brazil with various partners. 

2. Infectious disease forecasting and spatiotemporal modelling

I am interested in applying different forecasting methods and data streams for disease burden estimations, and most recently exploring machine learning methods. I also use spatiotemporal methods to understand the patterns of disease emergence, identifying at-risk locations and time periods, and disease determinants.

3. Estimating the impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases (VBD)

Climate change will have important implications for future VBD and using different scenarios, we forecast future disease burdens using various methods.  We also consider sociodemographic changes and intervention scenarios in our work.

4. Improving disease surveillance

I am involved with various malaria surveillance projects which aim to integrate fragmented data sources and improve data harmonization. Most recently, we are evaluating the biases in reported arboviral cases in the national surveillance system in Colombia.