Maria is a lecturer in the Department of Health Psychology in RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Ireland. She completed her PhD, MSc, and undergraduate degree in Psychology in Trinity College Dublin.

Maria first became interested in the principles of Lifestyle Medicine during her doctoral research, conferred in 2013, in which she investigated the contributing factors to cancer-related fatigue. This debilitating condition affects many people who have been treated for cancer and can persist for months or even years after treatment, severely impacting on quality of life. Although many cancer- and treatment-related factors contribute to the development of fatigue, factors such as physical activity, sleep, diet, stress and emotional wellbeing also play a significant role, particularly in persistent fatigue. Therefore, lifestyle medicine can offer patients numerous intervention approaches to help to alleviate their symptoms and improve quality of life.

Much of Maria’s research focusses on the inter-relationships between health behaviours, stress, social support, and health and wellbeing. During her post-doctoral research she examined relationships between physical and psychological health outcomes and the stress associated with caring for a spouse with dementia in a study funded by The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and the Health Research Board. She is also keenly interested in the role of age- and dementia-inclusive environments in promoting health. Her current research, funded by the Irish Cancer Society and National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP; 2020), aims to determine the most effective interventions for depression among patients with cancer; which involves comparing pharmacological, psychological and exercise-based interventions.

In RCSI, Maria teaches health psychology to students of various health-related disciplines, including medicine, pharmacy and physiotherapy. In particular, her teaching focusses on the role of lifestyle factors and emotional wellbeing in health outcomes, models for understanding and predicting health behaviours, and the delivery of the HSE’s Making Every Contact Count programme, in which health professionals are trained to support patients in making healthier lifestyle choices during routine contacts to help prevent and manage chronic diseases.

Maria is a chartered member of the Psychological Society of Ireland Division of Health Psychology and has certifed in Lifestyle Medicine with the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.