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 at the University of Montreal’s School of Public Health, a member of the Carrefour de l’innovation et de l’évaluation en santé at the CrCHUM, an elected member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium, and a member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. She held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Early Determinants of Chronic Disease from 2004-21. She is a leading expert in child and adolescent public health research, with over 360 publications and extensive international collaborations. Her work has significantly advanced understanding of the early determinants of chronic disease and has led to transformative findings in public health, particularly in chronic disease prevention, tobacco control, and health inequalities. Her studies, such as NDIT and AdoQuest, have shaped policy on tobacco use, while PHORCAST and PromeSS have informed the development of public health infrastructure. Dr. O'Loughlin’s work has been cited in numerous influential reports, including the U.S. Surgeon General’s reports on tobacco use. Her efforts are definitively integral to improving public health systems, youth health behaviors, and health equity in Canada and beyond. Listed below are 5 key contributions.

1. Incidence of and Risk Factors for Falls in the Elderly, Principal Investigator 1987-1993. Dr. O'Loughlin conducted the first community-based prospective cohort study on falls in the elderly, which led to her PhD dissertation, two publications, 11 presentations, and one book chapter. This groundbreaking study laid the foundation for two funded evaluations of falls prevention programs and contributed significantly to the field of geriatric public health.
2. Community-Based Heart Disease Prevention Program, Principal Investigator 1992-97
   Dr. O'Loughlin led a five-year program to design, implement, and evaluate a heart disease prevention initiative targeting adults in a low-income neighborhood in Montreal, Canada. Over 40 distinct interventions promoting heart health were developed and assessed, resulting in valuable insights into heart health promotion in disadvantaged communities.
3. Nicotine Dependence in Teens, Principal Investigator 1999-Present (https://www.celphie.ca/ndit-pub). This ongoing, longitudinal study of 1,294 students recruited in 10 Montreal high schools investigates the natural course of nicotine dependence in youth. Data have been collected in 26 cycles to date, from grade 7 through adulthood. The study also examines related factors like obesity, physical activity, and mental health. NDIT has produced 140 publications and is funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and CIHR.
4. PHORCAST, Principal Investigator 2005-Present (https://www.celphie.ca/phorcast) PHORCAST is Canada’s first longitudinal study on public health organizations’ capacity to prevent chronic diseases. With three data collection cycles to date (2005, 2010, 2022), it assesses how public health organizations have evolved in Canada, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from PHORCAST have informed national policy and highlighted regional disparities in public health systems.
5. PromeSS, Principal Investigator 2016-Present (https://www.celphie.ca/promess)
   The PromeSS study focuses on social inequalities in the availability and implementation of school-based health-promoting interventions across Quebec. Two cycles of data collection to date from school principals and qualitative interviews with school service centers have provided critical data for improving health promotion interventions in schools, particularly those in disadvantaged communities.

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.