Mallory Durkin
Associate Director of Pre-Health Advising
she/her/hers
Phone: 253.535.7848
Email: durkin@plu.edu
Office Location: Morken Center for Learning & Technology - 238
Curriculum Vitae: View my CV
- Professional
- Biography
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 researcher whose work spans student support, community well-being, program development, and applied research. She currently serves as the Associate Director of Pre-Health Advising at Pacific Lutheran University, where she is building a centralized advising program for students pursuing health professions and developing systems, partnerships, and pathways to support students across the pre-health journey.
Originally from Eastern Pennsylvania, Mallory earned a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with a concentration in Global Public Health from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She completed a master’s degree in One Health at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, focusing on community-driven public health, food sovereignty, and the social and environmental conditions that shape health in rural and Indigenous communities. Her research included work with Alaska Native Elders through the Center for One Health Research and projects related to food security, community gardens, traditional food cultivation, and community-based health interventions.
Across her research and professional work, Mallory is interested in the social, cultural, relational, and institutional conditions that shape people’s ability to thrive. Her interests include community resilience and protective factors, student development and belonging, institutional navigation, health and educational access, culturally grounded programs, and the ways communities and institutions can build on existing strengths. She is particularly drawn to applied, community-engaged work that connects research with practical change.
Mallory has worked in higher education and community-based research across Washington, DC, Alaska, and Washington State since 2019. Her professional experience includes advising, program development, assessment, recruitment, research coordination, community partnerships, and cross-institutional collaboration. She enjoys work that brings people and ideas together, makes complex systems more navigable, and turns research and relationships into useful programs and opportunities for others.
She is excited to be a Lute and contribute to PLU’s mission: “to educate students for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership, and care—for other people, for their communities, and for the earth.”