Dr Trish O'Connor

Dr Trish O'Connor brings to the AHA team a depth and breadth of experience gained from many different areas of work. In a career that has included positions in health, education, public and private sectors, Trish has developed and applied her skills in research, evaluation, training and communication in a range of contexts in both Australia and Ireland.

Trish’s qualifications include a PhD, a Master of Arts by research, a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and a Higher Diploma in Education. The research component of her Masters and undergraduate degrees focussed on the socio-economic determinants of cancer and respiratory disease mortality respectively. She is currently undertaking a Master of Evaluation at the University of Melbourne and is a member of the Australasian Evaluation Society. Trish also holds an honorary academic appointment as an Adjunct Fellow with the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Sydney.

Before leaving Ireland in 1993, her career included a position at the Institute of Public Administration in Dublin, running her own IT business and designing and delivering a variety of adult education courses. Her work at the Institute included research and evaluation in the Irish public sector, including an evaluation for Comhairle na nOspidéal (the Irish Hospitals’ Board).

After three years working as a secondary school teacher in Australia, she was awarded a prestigious Australian Post-graduate Award which allowed her to undertake and successfully complete her PhD research in migration and cultural studies.

Prior to joining AHA, Trish worked as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Eye Research Australia where she combined her research and evaluation interests and applied them in both Australia and the Asia Pacific. She has conducted evaluation projects for the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and Vision 2020 Australia. Trish was the Lead author of the Monitoring and Evaluation Handbook developed for use by the AusAID-funded Avoidable Blindness Initiative Consortium Members working in the Asia Pacific. Her work has achieved widespread recognition through publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals. She has also presented at national and international conferences.

A sample of her publications is listed below.
  • O’Connor P, Keeffe J. Monitoring and Evaluation Handbook (for the Avoidable Blindness Initiative Consortium Members). Second edition. 2011, Melbourne: Centre for Eye Research Australia.
  • O'Connor PM, Crock CT, Dhillon R, Keeffe, JE. A review of resources for the management of ocular emergencies in Australia Emergency Medicine Australasia 2011; Vol 3, No 3: 331-336.
  • Wong, E Y H, O’Connor PM, Keeffe JE. Establishing the Service Potential of Secondary Level Low Vision Clinics Optometry and Vision Science; 2011 (online).
  • Chiang PP, O'Connor PM, Le Mesurier RT, A global survey of low vision service provision Ophthalmic Epidemiology 2011; 18, 3: 109-121
  • O'Connor PM; Scarr B; Lamoureux; Le Mesurier RT; Keeffe JE. Validation of a quality of life questionnaire for use in the Pacific Islands Ophthalmic Epidemiology 2010; Vol. 17, No. 6: 378–386.
  • O’Connor, PM. Bodies in and out of place: Embodied transnationalism among invisible immigrants - the contemporary Irish in Australia. Population, Space, Place 2010; 16, 75–83.
  • O’Connor P, Keeffe J. Community Eye Care Partnership Evaluation Report (Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital). Melbourne: Centre for Eye Research Australia, 2009.
  • O’Connor P, Keeffe J. Pilot Eye Health Elective Evaluation Report (prepared for Vision 2020 Australia). Melbourne: Centre for Eye Research Australia, 2009.
  • O’Connor, PM, Chiu, S-L, Lamoureux, EL and Keeffe, JE. The cost of vision impairment in childhood and youth: diary case studies, Optometry and Vision Sciences 2008; 85(11): 1106-1109.
  • O'Connor PM, Mu LC, Keeffe JE. Access and utilization of a new low-vision rehabilitation service. Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 2008; 36(6):547-552.
  • O’Connor, PM, Lamoureux, EL and Keeffe, JE. Predicting the need for low vision rehabilitation, British Journal of Ophthalmology 2008; 92 (2): 252-5
 

Dr Trish O'Connor brings to the AHA team a depth and breadth of experience gained from many different areas of work.