Dr Samantha Gray

Dr Samantha Gray (she/her) is a health promotion researcher and implementation scientist passionate about physical activity, aging, and health equity. 

Dr Gray completed her Master of Science in Kinesiology at the University of Victoria in Canada (2017), which focused on promoting physical activity among community-dwelling women over 55 years of age. 

She built on this body of work through her PhD studies in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Canada (2022), where her research focused on how to implement and adapt an older adult health promotion program—Choose to Move—for large scale delivery before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With an interest in advancing equitable delivery and evaluation of health promoting programs, Dr Gray worked to adapt Choose to Move for diverse groups of older adults in Canada. 

Equity in community health

In her current role, embedded across the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Local Health District, Dr Gray supports the work of the Cultural and Equity Network. This network is a unit dedicated to enhancing existing public health programs for Aboriginal communities and other priority populations through culturally responsive methods. This work aims to reduce health disparities, ensuring equitable health outcomes across the Hunter New England region.

Research expertise

Dr Gray draws on her experience in implementation science, psychology of behaviour change, mixed methods, evidence syntheses, and knowledge translation to support her goal of promoting health for all across the lifespan. 

Currently, Dr Gray supports the evaluation and national scale-up of an m-health lunchbox program (SWAP IT), which supports parents of primary school children to pack healthier food options in their lunches. Dr Gray is also leading a study about the roles of different organisations within prevention health systems in Australia and how they influence the implementation of health promotion programs across settings.  

Dr Gray mentors junior graduate students. She collaborates with Canadian colleagues to support the training of the next generation of implementation scientists through her role as guest lecturer in university-level short courses. She also leads writing skills workshops that are specific to academic writing, such as manuscripts and grant applications.

Dr Gray acknowledges that her life, education, and research has taken her across unceded Indigenous lands in Canada and Australia. She pays her respects to the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Kwikwetlem peoples, as well as the Awabakal and Worimi peoples on whose lands she currently lives, works, and plays.