Dr Mc Sharry completed a PhD in Health Psychology Research and Professional Practice at the University of Southampton in 2013. Dr Mc Sharry is a Chartered Psychologist and Registered Health Psychologist in the UK and a Registered Psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland. She is a Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) Division of Health Psychology Committee Member since 2016, and was Division Chair from 2018-2020.
Dr Mc Sharry is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at NUI Galway with responsibility for the teaching and research interface between the Departments of Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy. Jenny is the Deputy Director of the MSc in Health Psychology and Co-Director of the PhD in Health Psychology Practice at NUI Galway.
Dr Mc Sharry is the Assistant Director of the Health Behaviour Change Research Group at NUI Galway, an internationally recognised centre of excellence in health behaviour research, and founder of the Irish Research Council funded IMPlementation science Research NeTwork (IMPRNT). At the Health Behaviour Change Research Group, Dr Mc Sharry leads a team of post-researchers and PhD students in a programme of research that takes a systematic evidence-based approach to health behaviour change intervention development, evaluation and implementation into practice.
Dr Mc Sharry has a particular interest in screening behaviours and is project mentor on Dr Alice Le Bonniec’s Irish Cancer Society funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship project “Increasing bowel screening uptake: development of an innovative intervention for a better prognosis”. Dr Mc Sharry is also currently working with National Screening Service to explore the feasibility of implementing text message reminders within cervical cancer screening.