Dr Maria is a DPhil candidate and teaching fellow in quantitative research methods in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention. In her doctoral research, she uses mathematical modelling and statistical methods, such as structural equations and bootstrapping, to investigate the socio-economic factors that lead to the engagement of populations with a chatbot-led intervention designed by the Global Parenting Initiative. She aims to identify the factors that could inform a participatory design that supports the scale-up of digital health interventions while increasing their acceptance among populations. Her research is conducted in collaboration with academic, government and international public health institutions such as UNICEF, the World Health Organization and mothers2mothers.
Prior to starting her DPhil, she worked as a Public Health Specialist at the Georgia Department of Public Health and used her knowledge and expertise to support the American government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through her clinical practice in Angola and Russia, where she completed her medical degree, she gained a key interest in employing research to inform public health policies and interventions. This was her motivation to enrol in the Master of Public Health program at Georgia State University, U.S., where she graduated with a first-class honours degree.
Her professional experience includes applying data-driven approaches to inform strategies and policies to mitigate infectious diseases and promote behaviour change interventions focused on nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation, and parenting. You can find Maria on LinkedIn.
Maria is part of the following research groups and societies: the Centre for Evidence-Based intervention and the Oxford Global Health and Care Systems Society. She is also supervised by Dr Seema Vyas.Â
