Ruth McQuillan
Reader in Global Public Health Capacity Building | Co-Lead UNCOVER Applied Evidence Synthesis | PGR Adviser, Centre for Global Health
- Usher Institute
- College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Centre for Global Health
Usher Institute, Usher Building
The University of Edinburgh
5-7 Little France Road
Edinburgh BioQuarter ‒ Gate 3 - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH16 4UX
Background
Ruth has worked at the University of Edinburgh since completing her PhD in 2009, prior to which she worked in health management and international development. Her research interests include evidence synthesis, COVID-19, long COVID and capacity building for global health research.
Qualifications
BA (Hons), MSc, Phd
Responsibilities & affiliations
Ruth established and co-leads UNCOVER Applied Evidence Synthesis, for which she was awarded an MBE in 2022 for services to science during COVID-19 and a University of Edinburgh Impact Award for Team Culture in 2025. She was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for teaching in 2020. She is part of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Respiratory Health (RESPIRE) led by University of Edinburgh and Universiti Malaya, which was awarded an NIHR Impact Prize in 2025. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and holds UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) honorary public health academic contract (England) for non-medical staff.
Postgraduate teaching
Ruth led the establishment of online postgraduate teaching in the Usher Institute, founding several new master’s programmes, including the online Master of Public Health (MPH) programme, which she led from 2015 to 2020.
With colleagues from across CMVM, she ran interdisciplinary summer schools in one health in Uganda and Rwanda (2012-19).
She co-leads the MPH campus course in systematic reviews.
She has supervised over 50 master’s dissertation projects, with a focus on evidence synthesis related to COVID-19, pandemic preparedness, long COVID and climate change and health.
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
Ruth is PGR Adviser for the Centre for Global Health. She has co-supervised five PhD projects and is interested in PhD supervision in the areas of evidence synthesis, long COVID, COVID-19 learning and pandemic preparedness, capacity building for global health research.