Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Emma-Louise "Emmilie" Aveling, PhD, MPhil, is a Lecturer on Health Research and Qualitative Methods at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. She specializes in applied qualitative research in the fields of global public health, community health and health care quality and safety. Her research focuses primarily on community-engaged and collaborative approaches to tackling health inequities and delivering high-quality, patient-centered health services. Dr. Aveling teaches several courses in qualitative research methods at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Aveling has conducted qualitative research in diverse clinical, organizational and community settings in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Examples of current and previous projects include: an international, patient-engaged research collaboration to support and inform effective, patient-centered care for Long COVID through the local public healthcare system in Rio de Janeiro city (funded by the Lemann Brazil Research Fund); as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded Harvard Culture of Health program, a series of studies looking at the ways in which businesses, including large companies and small, locally owned business, can contribute to local communities' health and wellbeing; a Wellcome Trust-funded study of international hospital-based partnerships to promote patient safety; studies examining partnership-working between non-governmental organizations and local communities in the context of HIV prevention.

After working in a number of non-governmental social justice and social welfare organizations in the UK, Africa, Cambodia and Australia, Dr. Aveling decided to enter academic research. She trained in social, cultural and community psychology, ultimately earning a PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Aveling has previously held visiting appointments at The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute, at the University of Cambridge (UK), the National School of Public Health, Fiocruz (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia).

Teaching
Dr. Aveling teaches the following courses at the Harvard Chan School:
DrPH 200: Qualitative Methods in Health Research: Practice, Principles, and Critical Considerations
HPM 559: Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods for Public Health (online)
MPH 101:Qualitative Methods for Public Health: A brief introduction (online)
DrPH Qualitative Thesis Seminar Series (Summer/Winter)