Emeritus Professor O'Connor is an Australian palliative care nurse, clinical researcher and an academic.

She has had a diverse career in clinical care and in establishing home-based palliative care services across Melbourne. For this, she was honoured by being made a member of the Order of Australia in 2005.In 2018 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship, to explore end-of-life care and assisted dying issues around the world.

Professor O'Connor has extensively researched service systems, clinical settings of care, bereavement, and policy issues, all related to palliative care and culture. She has always maintained a clinical focus in academic roles and this academic and clinical combination is more recently evidenced by her position as Research Consultant for Melbourne City Mission Palliative Care over 2014-2023. She has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications.

Professor O'Connor initiated the formation of, then led the development of, Palliative Care Nurses' Australia; the group then started an oration in her honour.

She commenced her academic career in 1992 as a sessional Lecturer at Catholic Theological College, Melbourne. In 2001, she joined La Trobe University as a Lecturer in Cancer & Palliative Care. From 2002-2014, she served as the inaugural Vivian Bullwinkel Chair in Palliative Care Nursing at Monash University, leading the Palliative Care Research Team. In recognition of her contribution, the University appointed her as Emeritus Professor in 2014. The following year, she became inaugural Professor of Nursing at Swinburne University of Technology, a position she held until 2018.

Professor O'Connor has held numerous administrative and professional positions throughout her career, including as Coordinator of Nursing at Melbourne Eastern Palliative Care and Executive Director of Caritas Christi & Order of Malta Hospice Homecare Service. She was the first nurse member of the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the National Health & Medical Research Council. serving two terms. She was President of Palliative Care Australia. She was appointed to the Ministerial Advisory Committee of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) and subsequently served on the VAD Review Board. Internationally, Professor O'Connor was an inaugural Board Director of the World Palliative Care Alliance and the Australian nominee on the Asia-Pacific Hospice & Palliative Care Network. Currently, she serves as an independent non-executive Director of Catholic Healthcare Ltd and is Board Chair of Palliative Care South East in Melbourne

Professor O'Connor continues her academic involvements through student supervision, teaching and writing

Preferred Research Methodologies

• Qualitative and mixed-method methodologies, including phenomenology and discourse analysis

Accredited as Level 2 Supervisor