Mallory Durkin
Associate Director of Pre-Health Advising
she/her/hers
What I love most about my job is helping students turn their dreams into reality, especially those pursuing careers in healthcare. It's inspiring to guide students as they prepare to make meaningful contributions to the well-being of their communities.
Phone: 253.535.7848
Email: durkin@plu.edu
Office Location: Morken Center for Learning & Technology - 238
Curriculum Vitae: View my CV
- Professional
- Biography
- Why PLU?
Education
- OHM, One Health, The University of Alaska Fairbanks
- B.A., International Affairs, The George Washington University
Areas of Emphasis or Expertise
- Community-based public health intervention design and implementation
- One Health systems and environmental determinants of health
- Co-production of knowledge with communities
- Food sovereignty, food security, and culturally grounded food cultivation practices
- Evaluation and improvement of food assistance programs (SNAP, WIC, tribal/community-led systems)
- Urban public health challenges, including HIV/AIDS prevention, PrEP access, and sexual health equity
- Mixed-methods research incorporating both qualitative and quantitative approaches
- Global health equity, community wellness, and applied public health research
Selected Publications
- Durkin M. The “Republic of NGOs”: A Scoping Review of Mental Health Care Infrastructure and Foreign Assistance in Haiti After the 2010 Earthquake. Himmelfarb Health Sciences Research Commons. 2023.
- Conserve, D., Tun, W., Hickson, D., Gomez-Berrospi, J., Rinola, B., Durkin, M., Janson, M., Saleeban, A., Olughu, K., Morris, C., Buchanan, C., Pulerwitz., Kerrigan, D., Adapting a community-based intervention to address social determinants of health influencing pre-exposure prophylaxis services for Black adults in Washington, District of Columbia., PLOS ONE.(2023)
Selected Articles
- Durkin, M., Adams, V., McConnell, S., Thompson, L., & Lewis, J. P. "Denakkanaaga Community Cookbook: Traditional Foods & Cultural Knowledge from Interior Alaska Elders [Community report / co-produced project]." University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for One Health Research; Denakkanaaga Inc. Supported by USDA NIFA ANNH Grant #2023-38470-40825. Distributed to Tribal community partners. (In-progress) 2025:
- Fleagle, E., Griffin, B., Huntington, B., Chanar, P., Kim, S., Thompson, L., Asquith-Heinz, Z., Pederson, M., Nagawbo Budreau, J., Evans, T., Kremin, A., Hunt Kush Tlein Tl’aa, M., Warrick, J.M, Wang, S., Adams, H., Durkin, M., Martin, T., Webb, D., Yoshikawa, M., Lewis, JP. "Alaska Native Successful Aging Study: Interior [Community report]." Center for One Health Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Funded by NSF Grant #2102294. Distributed to Tribal community partners.
- Durkin, M., Maijala, A., Thompson, L., & Lewis, J. P. "A community-based assessment of Tribal community garden sustainability in rural Alaska [Community report]. Center for One Health Research." University of Alaska Fairbanks. Distributed to Tribal community partners. 2025:
Biography
Mallory Durkin is a higher education professional and public health qualitative researcher whose work spans student support, community well-being, and applied One Health practice.
Originally from the Philadelphia area, Mallory earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with a concentration in Global Public Health from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Mallory completed a Master of One Health at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, focusing on community-driven public health, food sovereignty, and environmental determinants of health in rural and Indigenous communities. Her research included contributions to research on Alaska Native aging, food security, and traditional food cultivation practices through the Center for One Health Research and the Institute of Arctic Biology.
Mallory’s scholarly and professional interests bridge community-based health interventions, food assistance program design, culturally grounded food systems, foreign intervention and efficacy of aid programs, and HIV/PrEP access and prevention. Her work is grounded in community resilience, student empowerment, and public health interventions that honor the interconnectedness of people, place, and environment.
In addition to her research, she has held student-facing and program coordination roles in higher education across Washington, D.C., Alaska, and now Washington State since 2019, developing a strong foundation in advising, student engagement, and cross-institutional collaboration.
Mallory moved to Alaska in 2023 as a part of the Alaska Fellows Program, supporting Career Services across the three universities in the University of Alaska system. During a major leadership transition, she served as the department’s sole full-time staff member and functional lead, overseeing operations, employer relations, communications, and strategic planning. She later transitioned into a counseling-focused role, where she created hundreds of marketing materials, expanded digital reach, and established the Nanook Career Closet to provide professional clothing to students facing access barriers.
Now based in Tacoma, Mallory is thrilled to become a Lute and serve the students of PLU.
Why PLU?
What I love most about my job is helping students turn their dreams into reality, especially those pursuing careers in healthcare. It’s inspiring to guide students as they prepare to make meaningful contributions to the well-being of their communities. In higher education, I love supporting students and watching as they build confidence and discover their interests. Many students come to career conversations feeling unsure or overwhelmed, and it’s incredibly rewarding to help them see their strengths, develop new skills, and take steps toward opportunities they might not have thought possible.