Email: maggie.doherty@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
Associate Professor Margaret (Maggie) Doherty MCIPR, FRSA, is the Lead at the Centre for the Art of Living and Dying Well at St Mary’s University, London.
A communications and engagement specialist, who has worked both at home and overseas, her approach combines data with the voice of the lived experience.
With an MSc in Digital Health from the School of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Lancashire (2024) and recent certification in Strategic Communications from the LSE and as an AI Communication Professional (CAICP), (2025), Maggie is particularly focused on how digital technology can help improve the patient experience and address growing health inequalities.
She has contributed to research published in leading journals, including 'Social Science & Medicine', 'Palliative Medicine', and 'Death Studies'. She recently led community-based participatory research, funded by Research England, exploring ethnically diverse faith perspectives on death literacy and end-of-life care across Birmingham's Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and Sikh communities - work that has influenced local public health policy and practice and is now being extended to London in partnership with The Royal Marsden. She developed the award-winning ‘Art of Dying Well’ podcast, named by The Guardian as one of the top three podcasts on death, and partnered with Lancaster University Medical School to introduce 'Deathbed Etiquette' into health and social care settings.
Before joining St Mary's University, Maggie worked as the Press Secretary to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and at the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales in senior communications and grant management roles. She has a background in stakeholder relations, public affairs, and reputational management.
She also brings governance experience as a trustee of St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney, and is a former governor of a primary school.