Dr. Murphy has more than three decades of education and experience in public and behavioral health. She has had positions in academic institutions, community-based, and private sector organizations. Dr. Murphy has a doctorate in behavioral health and a master’s in education. Her principal expertise is in substance use, mental health, and related infectious diseases for culturally diverse populations in various settings. As a teen, Dr. Murphy struggled with substance use and mental health issues and participated in treatment. This experience provided the foundation for her academic and professional direction.   

Implementation Science. Dr. Murphy began her career by providing services to adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system. This led to various projects implementing evidence-based programs for adolescents and their families, transitional-aged youth, and pregnant, parenting, and childless women. She led the day-to-day implementation of a multi-site screening, brief intervention, referral to treatment (SBIRT) project for juvenile justice involved youth and their caregivers. She also coordinated a study assessing the efficacy of online training for parents who have children with or suspected of having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Today, through a Career Development Award, she is developing interventions and strategies to implement Opioid Stewardship Programs (OSPs) in rural healthcare organizations. She is a fellow in the Mountain States-Community Engaged Dissemination and Implementation (MS-CEDI) sponsored by Arizona State University.

Supporting the Public Health Workforce. Dr. Murphy values the contributions of our public health workforce and works to provide training and technical assistance to enhance our systems and services. Dr. Murphy has directed professional development activities in a variety of settings for professionals across the U.S. She is the principal investigator for a contract with the Arizona Department of Health Services - Overdose Data to Action where she leads training and technical assistance efforts in substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. Together, the OD2A team collaborates with community leaders, healthcare practitioners, and community health workers/representatives to address polysubstance use in Arizona. She is also the chair for the UArizona Interprofessional Education and Practice on the topic of opioid use disorder.

Teaching and Service. Dr. Murphy is the instructor for the undergraduate course Drugs and Society and faculty lead for the undergraduate certificate and minor in addiction and substance use.  Dr. Murphy is an advisor to the Arizona Cannabis Education program and the Team Awareness Combatting Overdose student club.