Margaret McGladrey, PhD

Assistant Professor

Margaret McGladrey, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the UK College of Public Health Department of Health Management and Policy. She specializes in mixed-methods participatory health research, quality improvement and program evaluation, and implementation science to study and address the social determinants of health. This community-engaged research involves cross-system coordination with various organizations – many located in rural Kentucky – including local public health, behavioral health, child welfare, youth residential, criminal-legal system, education, social services, advocacy, and arts and culture agencies and people with lived experience receiving their services.

Leveraging her training as a sociologist, Dr. McGladrey uses participatory methods like Photovoice and Ripple Effects Mapping to integrate provider, policymaker, and service user perspectives into complex system transformation efforts to improve continuity of care across sectors, with a particular focus on jail-community opioid use disorder treatment linkage, community-clinical linkages to resolve patients' unmet health-related social needs, and multidisciplinary critical incident reviews. Dr. McGladrey's research has been continuously funded by federal agencies including the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, state agencies such as the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Commission and Kentucky Department for Public Health, and private sponsors including Vital Strategies and New Allies.

Dr. McGladrey teaches CPH 440 Foundations of Health Behavior for the BPH program and mentors a CPH 395 undergraduate researcher every semester.