Rate My Professor Conor Gilligan

Associate Professor Conor Gilligan is an academic in the Discipline of Health Behaviour Sciences within the School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He commenced his academic career there as a Lecturer in Health Behaviour in January 2008, advancing to Senior Lecturer from 2012 to 2019 and Associate Professor from 2020. He holds an Affiliate Associate Professor position at the University of New England and serves as Associate Professor in Social Sciences for the Bond Medical Program at Bond University. Gilligan obtained his PhD in Behavioural Science and Public Health from the University of Newcastle in 2008, focusing his doctoral research on smoking during pregnancy among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, supported by an Australian Post-Doctoral Award. He also earned a Graduate Certificate of Tertiary Teaching from the same university between 2008 and 2010, and a Bachelor of Biomedical Science with First Class Honours in 2004.

Gilligan's research specializations include public health and health behaviour change, with a particular emphasis on adolescent alcohol consumption, parental supply of alcohol to adolescents, interprofessional education, and medical communication skills training. His work has led to national and international collaborations, including management of a large randomized controlled trial on smoking cessation in pregnancy and establishment of a program on alcohol supply to youth. Key publications encompass the Cochrane systematic review 'Interventions for improving medical students' interpersonal communication in medical consultations' (2021), 'Do the teaching, practice and assessment of clinical communication skills align?' (BMC Medical Education, in press/2024), 'Perceptions of medical students and their facilitators on clinical communication skills teaching, learning, and assessment' (Frontiers in Public Health, 2023), and 'Enhancing effective healthcare communication in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand' (PEC Innovation, 2023). Among his major awards are the International Association for Communication in Healthcare Teaching Award (2022), University of Newcastle DVCA Education Impact and Innovation Award (2018), Council of Academic Public Health Institutions of Australia Award for Excellence and Innovation in Public Health Teaching (2014), Medical Journal of Australia National Research Award (2012), and multiple citations for outstanding contributions to student learning (2011-2012). He supervises PhD candidates in health professional education, secures research grants such as Early Career Researcher and New Staff Grants, and contributes to priority research centres in health behaviour.