Dr Mary O’Brien joined the YRC at the end of 2004. Mary is the chief investigator on the 2004 ARC Discovery Project Young people, preventive health discourses and self care. In addition she received a 3 year ARC postdoctoral fellowship to undertake the study. She currently works at .5 fraction.

Mary’s previous postdoctoral appointment was as a Research Fellow for 5 years at the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society (La Trobe University) researching the social and cultural aspects of risk and blood borne viruses.

Mary has extensive expertise in the conduct of both in-depth qualitative and large scale quantitative survey research. Her areas of research expertise have been in the health of marginal populations such as drug users, those with Hepatitis C, People Living with HIV, the gay and lesbian communities and young people. She has extensive experience in the complexities and subtleties of undertaking sensitive research projects, as well as the pragmatic aspects of conducting projects and supervising research staff. She has been successful as a Chief Investigator on a number of NH&MRC project grants, and more recently on ARC Discovery project grant.

Mary has an interest in research ethics and is a member of the University of Melbourne Behavioural & Social Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee and is currently a member of the ethics committee for a community organization that provides support and assistance for newly arrived refugees.

Youth Research Centre
Education, Equity & Social Identities Research Group
Education, Equity & Social Change Cluster

PhD. (La Trobe)
B.A. (Swinburne)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Injecting drug use
Hepatitis C
Risk
Public Health
Post structural theories
Governmentality

RECENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

(Chief Investigator)

2004
M.L. O’Brien
Young people, preventative health discourses and self care. Funding body: Australian Research Council Discovery Project 2003, 2004-2006

2003
S.M. Gifford, M.L. O’Brien, J. Browne
Discrimination, hepatitis C in health care settings. Funding Body: NHMRC Project Grant 2003, 2003-2006

M. Pitts, M.L. O’Brien, M. Temple-Smith & W. Sievert
Psychological and social factors associated with uptake and maintenence of clinical treatment for hepatitis C. Funding body: Vic. Dept. Human Services Public Health grant 2002, 2003-4.

2001

S.M. Gifford, M.L. O’Brien, A.M.A. Smith
Identifying the social, personal & health needs of men living with hepatitis C
Funding Body: NHMRC Project Grant 2000, 2001-02.

2000

S.M. Gifford, M.L. O’Brien, M. Pallota-Chiarolli
Bad Blood Bad Livers: An Ethnographic Study of South East Asian Women Living with Hepatitis C
Funding Body: NHMRC Project Grant 1999, 2000-2001.

M.L. O’Brien
Blood, Football and Risk: An examination of the implementation and significance of blood borne virus prevention policy in Australian Rules Football
Funding body: Latrobe University Faculty Starter Grant, 2001.

(Associate Investigator)

2004
Chief Investigators: C.L. Banwell, S.M. Gifford
Choice or Chance: The social context of contraceptive use by women with HCV and their reproductive and sexual health needs. Funding Body: NHMRC Project Grant 2003

1999
Chief Investigators: S Gifford & G Bammer (Deakin University)
Identifying the social , personal and health needs of women living with hepatitis C. Funding body NHMRC Strategic Reserve fund on hepatitis C social & behavioural research

Chapters in books

M. L. O'Brien & A. Madden
'Knowledge, relationships and identity in research on drug use'in Researching the Margins: Strategies for Ethical and Rigorous Research with Marginalised Communities, eds. M. Pitts & A. Smith, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 45-65 (2007)

Recent Media

John Fitzgerald, Mary O'Brien and Nick Crofts. ‘Time for a reality check: footballers are just like the rest of us’,The Age newspaper, Opinion piece, 28th March 2007,

Refereed Publications

M Temple-Smith, M Stoove, A Smith, M O'Brien, D Mitchell, C Banwell, G Bammer, D Jolley, S Gifford (2007)
Gender differences in seeking care for hepatitis C in Australia, Journal of Substance Use, 12 (1) pp. 59-70


S. M. Gifford, M. L. O’Brien, A.M.A. Smith, M. Temple-Smith, M Stoové, D Mitchell & D. Jolley (2005)
Australian men's experiences of living with hepatitis C virus: Results from a cross-sectional survey.
J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 20, 79-86.

C. Banwell, G. Bammer, N. Main, S. M. Gifford, M. L. O’Brien (2005)
Australian Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Health and Social Experiences of Living with Hepatitis C, Health Care for Women International, 26(4), 340-354

Pitts MK, Smith AMA, Grierson J, O'Brien M, Misson S. (2004) Who pays for sex and why? An analysis of social and motivational factors associated with male clients of sex workers. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33(4) 353-358

S. M. Gifford, M. L. O’Brien, G Bammer, C Banwell & M Stoové (2003)
Australian women’s experiences of living with hepatitis C virus: Results from a cross-sectional survey.
J Gastroenterol Hepatol. Jul;18(7):841-850

M. L. O’Brien & Z Greenwood (2003)
Managing blood borne viruses and other health risks for juvenile offenders.
Youth Studies Australia, v. 22, n. 3, Spring, pp. 25-31.

C. Banwell, G. Bammer, N. Main, S. M. Gifford, M. O’Brien (2003)
Disturbingly Low Levels of Contraception among Women Living with Hepatitis C
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 27 (6) p p620-627.

O’Brien M. (2001)
Governing risk and drug use in juvenile justice settings, Contemporary Drug Problems, 28/Winter, pp 625-649.

Banwell, C.L., O’Brien, M.L, Hamilton, M.A. & Attewell, R. (1999)
Measuring women’s alcohol consumption in an Australian inner-urban community using the AUDIT. Drug and Alcohol Review, 18 (4), 379-388.

Booker, N. Dowsett, G, Fairbairn, R, Fitzgerald, J, Bennett, C, Mitchell, A, O’Brien, M, Siddens, J, Ward, J, Wilkins, R, Woolcock, G. (2001) Education and Training, chapter 8 in the National Hepatitis C Resource Manual, pp163-188, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.


RECENT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2008
M.L. O'Brien (Invited Speaker)
'Talking to the other side: A conversation between health researchers and Human Research Ethics Committee Members (HREC)', Royal Australian College of Surgeons, 6th May 2008.

2007

M.L. O'Brien (Invited Speaker)
Hep C and health promotion: Are there negative consequences for drug users?, 15th National Symposium on Hepatitis B and C, Nov 17 2007, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. Melbourne: November

2006

M.L. O’Brien
Health Promotion and hepatitis C: Implications in the making of identities for young people. Viral Hepatitis: 5th Australasian Conference, Sydney February 2006.

M.L O’Brien, M L & Madden, A
Research, relationships and knowledge making Viral Hepatitis: 5th Australasian Conference, Sydney February

D Leahy & ML O’Brien
(forthcoming)
Paper in 'Governing Youthful Bodies & Souls'Symposium.
AERA (American Education Research Association) 2006 Annual Meeting, 'Education Research in the Public Interest'.

2005
M.L. O’Brien
Consuming health promotion: Bad for your health? Dangerous Consumptions III, Melbourne, November 2005


2004
M. L. O’Brien (Invited Speaker)
Social Research on Hepatitis C, Australian Hepatitis Council Research Forum, Canberra, August 2004

CURRENT MAJOR PROJECT

'Young people, preventative health discourses & self care'
This ARC Discovery grant project investigates the ways in which young adults aged 18-26 engage in self care practices in relation to their own health. The three cohorts of young adults that will be followed over time are i) young injectors at risk of hepatitis C infection ii) young women who smoke while pregnant or parenting and iii) young men who are not physically active or are at risk of obesity. The project will provide a critical analysis of the deployment of health promotion strategies and their effects in shaping the subjectivity of young adults by drawing on these three case studies. As each of these three arenas are structured differently in terms of illegality, social acceptance, gender and class location, the study will provide important insights into the contribution of these factors to health and subjectivity. The lay title of the project is “Taking risks and taking care” and it concludes in 2009.