Christina Marel

Associate Professor Christina Marel is a public health researcher at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of New South Wales, researching responses to volatile substance misuse in Central Australia. After completing her doctorate, she joined the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre as a research assistant, where she coordinated the development and dissemination of five evidence-based Comorbidity Booklets on mental health disorders co-occurring with substance use for general audiences. Marel contributed to the establishment of the Matilda Centre eight years later and has served as a Senior Research Fellow for five years, currently as Program Lead for Treatment and Translation among Complex Populations.

Her research examines mental and substance use disorders in complex populations, focusing on heroin dependence, co-occurring post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, trauma exposure, long-term remission, treatment use, and mortality. She has coordinated the 11-year and 18-20-year follow-ups of the Australian Treatment Outcome Study, a cohort of 615 people entering heroin treatment in 2001-2002. Marel led development of two editions of National Clinical Guidelines on managing co-occurring alcohol, other drug, and mental health conditions, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, with accompanying training. She holds NHMRC Fellowships, contributed to NHMRC Project Grant APP1147212, and received the Matilda Centre Community Impact and Engagement Award as Comorbidity Project team lead. Key publications include 'Patterns and Correlates of Sustained Heroin Abstinence' (2015), 'Modelling Long-Term Joint Trajectories of Heroin Use and Mental Disorders' (2020), 'Correlates and predictors of PTSD among people with heroin dependence' (2025), and 'A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of alcohol and other drug use among people accessing mental health treatment in Australia' (2025). With 1958 Google Scholar citations, her work influences clinical practice and policy. She supervises PhD students.

Professional Email: christina.marel@sydney.edu.au