Michelle L. Cathorall

Dr. Cathorall is a native of Southern California but has lived in the Wilmington area since 2020. She moved from Southern California to the Raleigh/Durham area to attend Chapel Hill for her masters degree and then moved to Greensboro for the last year of her doctoral program. Upon graduation with her DrPH from UNCG, she accepted an Assistant Professor position at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She lived in Edwardsville for 8 years, before moving back to North Carolina. Dr. Cathorall has been leading travel study programs that include community engagement and community driven research since 2018. These experiences give students the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge they learn in the classroom and produce professional products. Visit Dr. Cathorall's Study Abroad Program & Scholarship page to learn more about the program and what students have accomplished: https://people.uncw.edu/cathorallm
Dr. Cathorall has served as the Public Health Program Coordinator for 5 years.
She is spending the fall 2025 semester in Uganda as a Fulbright Scholar, conducting community driven research with village health teams to prevent malaria.

Education

DrPH in Public Health, University of North Carolina Greensboro
MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
B.S. in Health Science, California State University Fullerton

Specialization in Teaching

While, Dr. Cathorall teaches a variety of courses within public health, she specializes in teaching program planning, implementation and evaluation, policy, global health, and intercultural communications in global health.

Research Interests

Dr. Cathorall is an implementation scientist and an interventionist. Her research interests include program evaluation, pedagogy and the impact travel study has on academic, professional and personal growth, and implementation evaluation. Her evaluation research includes program evaluations of the Malaria Mastery program in Uganda, examining program effectiveness but also program implementation, reach, acceptability, and fidelity. Domestic evaluation projects include an annual evaluation of the Carousel Center's Child Abuse Prevention training program, as well as a longitudinal study to assess changes in social norms, behavior and attitudes related to child abuse prevention in NHC.

Professional Service

Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), undergraduate Public Health Program Site Visitor, 2023 - present
Frontiers: Journal of Interdisciplinary Study Abroad, Assistant Editor, 2024 - present
North Carolina Society of Public Health Education, Secretary, 2024 - present.
Institutional Review Board, Committee Member, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2025 – present
Globalization Committee Member, School of Health and Applied Human Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2022-present
Office of International Programs, Advisory Board Member, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2023 - present
Healthcare for Women International, Reviewer, 2024
Council for Education on Public Health (CEPH), site visitor, 2023 - present
NC SOPHE, Annual Meeting Session Moderator, 2021
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, Reviewer, 2020
Journal of American College Health, Reviewer, 2020
Society for Public Health Education Annual Meeting Abstract Reviewer, August 2017, 2018, 2019, 2024

Community Engagement

Dr. Cathorall's community engagement work is part of the Uganda travel study program is leads. The travel study program engages undergraduate students in community driven research and program implementation and evaluation in 4 villages in rural central Uganda. Working with the village leaders and an advisory team of village health technicians, village residents, members from the district health council and faculty and staff from Ndejje University, we have developed the Malaria Mastery: Empowering Communities through Knowledge, a health promotion program to eliminate malaria in the villages. The program was created with oversight from the community advisory board using needs assessment data collected in 2023. The 3 lesson program was created by undergraduate Public Health students as a DIS course and revised based on feedback from the advisory group. New lessons are added based on feedback from participants, the program evaluation data, and in consultation with the advisory board and the Uganda Ministry of Health Malaria Elimination division. To learn more visit Dr. Cathorall's Study Abroad Program & Scholarship page: https://people.uncw.edu/cathorallm

Honors & Awards

Fulbright Scholar 2025