Meghan McGurk, MPH

Associate Specialist

mcgurkm@hawaii.edu | (808) 956-3401 | Biomed D-104S

Academic Degrees

  • Graduate Certificate (Measurement & Statistics), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
  • MPH (Social and Behavioral Health Sciences), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
  • BA (Psychology), Lewis & Clark College

Research Interests

Meghan serves as Co-Investigator of the Health Hawai‘i Evaluation Team, a public health evaluation team housed in the Department of Public Health Sciences since 2000. Meghan’s work is focused on the evaluation of statewide policy and systems-change efforts and interventions to reduce obesity and other chronic diseases. Her specific research and evaluation interest areas include:

  • Nutrition environment and policy interventions
  • Sugar sweetened beverages
  • Chronic disease prevention and management (obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer)
  • Hospital systems policies and practices to support breastfeeding
  • Media campaign evaluations
  • Public health evaluation

For more information about the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team, visit https://manoa.hawaii.edu/healthhawaiievaluation

Selected Publications

McGurk, M. D., Ogawa, G., Inoue, K., Wills, C., Ching, L. K., Shalaby, A. K., Kong, N., Hansen Smith, H., Lee, J., Irvin, L., & Keliʻikoa, L. B. (2025). Sweet Lies! Lessons Learned from Hawai’i’s Sweetened Fruit Drink Countermarketing Campaign. Journal of Health Communication, 30(sup1), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2025.2461588

Saiki, K., Shalaby, A., Nett, B., Ching, L., Domingo, J.B., Valera, J.D., Randall, R., Keliʻikoa, L.B., & McGurk, M.(2024). Recruitment and retention in the National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Change Program in two Federally Qualified Health Centers in rural Hawaiʻi. Preventing Chronic Disease, 21, E85. doi.org/10.5888/pcd21.240156

Thompson, M. D., Wu, Y. Y., Nett, B., Ching, L. K., Taylor, H., Lemmen, T., Sentell, T. L., McGurk, M. D., & Pirkle, C. M. (2023). Real-world evaluation of an automated algorithm to detect patients with potentially undiagnosed hypertension among patients with routine care in Hawaiʻi. Journal of the American Heart Association, 12(24), e031249–e031249. doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.123.031249

Câmara, S. M. A., McGurk, M. D., Gigante, D., Lima, M. D. A., Shalaby, A. K., Sentell, T., Pirkle, C. M., & Domingues, M. R. (2022). Intersections between adolescent fertility and obesity—Pathways and research gaps focusing on Latin American populations. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1516(1), 18–27. doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14854

McGurk, M.D., Pirkle, C.M., Beckelman, T, Lee, J., Inoue, K., Yang, A., Hansen-Smith, H., & Sentell, T. (2021). Reinventing health promotion for healthy default beverage laws in the face of COVID -19. Global Health Promotion, 28(1), 79-83. doi:10.1177/1757975920986696

Peltzer, N., Olson, K., Williams, S., Hansen-Smith, H., Elia, J., & McGurk, M. D. (2021). Exploring challenges and opportunities for breastfeeding in Hawaiʻi during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawai’i Journal of Health & Social Welfare, 80(10 Suppl 2), 25–29. PMID: 34704065 PMCID: PMC8538114

McGurk, M. D., Takeda, C. R., Murakami, J. J., La Chica, T. T., & Yamauchi, J. J. (2021). Sugar-sweetened beverage fee: A model to address health disparities in Hawai‘i. Hawaiʻi Journal of Health & Social Welfare, 80(10 Suppl 2), 64–68. PMID: 34704071 PMCID: PMC8538112

McGurk, M. D., Cacal, S. L., Vu, U., Sentell, T., Beckelman, T., Lee, J., Yang, A., & Pirkle, C. M. (2021). Baseline Assessment of Children’s Meals and Healthy Beverage Options Prior to a State-Level Healthy Default Beverage (HDB) Law. Journal of Healthy Eating and Active Living, 1(2), 63–73. PMID: 37789908
PMCID: PMC10544922

M Mcgurk Photo