Omara Dogar
Senior Lecturer Global Public Health
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Profile
Biography
Omara is an Associate Professor at the University, working across both research and teaching. A medical doctor by background, she holds an MPH in Epidemiology and a PhD in Health Sciences, where her doctoral research developed and evaluated a novel intervention fidelity index to quantify behavioural intervention delivery. She has a sustained record of research leadership at the intersection of behavioural science and public health, alongside a commitment to delivering high-quality education and academic leadership.
Omara's research advances behaviour change initiatives for priority groups in the UK and internationally. Her core expertise lies in applying behavioural and implementation science to develop/adapt/optimise complex interventions, health workforce practice, and person-centred care delivery.
Qualifications
- Postgraduate certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP), University of York, UK
- PhD in Health Sciences, University of York, UK
- MPH (Epidemiology), University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, USA
- MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery), Bolan University of Medical & Health Sciences, Pakistan
Departmental roles
- Graduate chair and co-lead Postgraduate Research (PGR) Degree
- Module Leader Global Public Health
- Member Postgraduate Teaching Committee
- Member Departmental Education Committee
- Deputy Programme Director MPH (2018-2025)
- Member of Research Governance Committee (2017-2023)
- Module leader Infection & Disease (2018-2023)
University roles
- Member Women in Research Network
- Change Advocate for 2026-27 Transforming HR and Finance
Research
Overview
Drawing on over 15 years of experience designing and evaluating health behaviour change interventions across Southeast Asia and the UK, Omara's current focus is on the quality of frontline interactions, specifically addressing patient communication and relational dynamics to drive patient engagement and clinical outcomes.
Her areas of research interest and methodological expertise:
- Health behaviour change
- Patient engagement & communication/Person-centred care/Therapeutic alliance
- Non-cigarette tobacco products
- Tobacco cessation
- Sugar Sweetened Beverages/ Nutrition
- Quantitative methods, including analysis of large datasets
- Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
- Complex intervention development and effectiveness evaluation through randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental design
Projects
- NIHR GHR SCIMITAR-SA: Tobacco cessation for people with severe mental illness in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan
- SPARKS Programme: Quality of Interaction case-study in Leeds Stop Smoking Services
Research group(s)
Supervision
Interested PhD candidates with proposals related to topics that align with her research interests (see above) are welcome to contact her.
PhD trainees under her supervision:
- Mehreen Faisal: Families learning about toothbrushing: developing a scalable intervention (completed)
- Suranji Dahanayake: Smokeless tobacco ban evaluation in Sri Lanka (completed)
- Leena Ali: Waterpipe tobacco smoking (current)
External activities
Memberships
- Member, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD)
- Member, Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT)
- Member Society for Social Medicine (SSM)
- Chair, Tobacco Control Section, IUATLD (past)
Editorial duties
- Associate editor, Nicotine & Tobacco Research journal (past)
Invited talks and conferences
- 2024: Presidential Symposium Discussant at SRNT 2024 on, “Smoking Cessation Research in Low and Middle-income Countries: Challenges, Innovation, and Opportunities”
- 2024: SPECTRUM workshop invited talk on ‘Smokeless tobacco’, London
- 2023: Adapting complex interventions to LMIC context. Working with context to implement non-communicable disease programmes, The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases mid-year online workshop 2023.
- 2018: Tobacco cessation within TB programmes: A double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, 13th Biennial International Chest Conference, Pakistan.
- 2016: Working with Waterpipe (Shisha & Hookah) Smokers, plenary: Working Together to Reach Smokers, 8th International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) world conference, Amsterdam.
For a full list of my external activities: webinars, podcasts and conference presentations, please visit my University of York Pure research page.
Teaching
Undergraduate
Module taught - Psychological & Sociological Aspects of Ill-health module (BSc Nursing Programme)
Postgraduate
Module leader - Global Public Health (MPH Programme)
Other teaching
Postgraduate student supervision - Masters dissertation supervision with a broad focus on communicable and/or non-communicable diseases.
