Dr. Murphy’s primary interest is in qualitative research, which is well suited for exploratory research. Qualitative research can include focus groups, oral histories, in-depth interviews and case studies. It can reveal nuances and unforeseen aspects of the issues under study that more quantitative studies could miss. For example, she recently explored women's health issues as they pertain to partner drug use. Specifically, she has studied the experiences of Indo-Trinidadian women who are in relationships with drug users by conducting multiple in-depth interviews with 10 women to understand why they stay in these relationships. She has also conducted focus groups with breast cancer survivors of various ethnicities to investigate the issues related to returning to work after treatment, in collaboration with Dr. Victoria Blinder. Currently, she is developing a study to explore drug use in West Indian Immigrant Adolescents in New York City. Her current research collaborations also include examining the use of new breast cancer therapies with Dr. Heather Taffet Gold, and along with Drs. Linda Gerber and Heejung Bang, Dr. Murphy is also embarking on a women’s health research project in Qatar.
Since joining the Department in 2005, she has been the project manager of a multi-site drug prevention dissemination trial funded by the National Institute of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a role in which she oversees the planning, implementation and day-to-day management of the study. The study aims to determine if additional training and support activities improves the implementation fidelity of drug prevention curricula in middle schools.
