Dr Suzanne McDonald
Suzanne McDonald, PhD, AFBPS, CPsychol.
Co-Chair, International Collaborative Network for N-of-1 Trials and
Single-Case Designs
N-of-1 trials · Single-case experimental designs · Personalised healthcare · Intensive longitudinal data · Digital health
About Suzanne
Dr Suzanne McDonald is a Research Fellow at The University of Queensland and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Southern Cross University. She is Co-Chair of the International Collaborative Network for N-of-1 Trials and Single-Case Designs (ICN) and Founder and Director of N-of-1 Hub.
Suzanne is an internationally recognised researcher specialising in the development and application of N-of-1 trials and single-case experimental designs across medicine, psychology and healthcare. Her research focuses on advancing personalised research methods and translating these approaches into routine clinical practice. She has led and collaborated on studies spanning primary care, chronic pain, mental health, rare diseases, neurological conditions, digital health and antidepressant discontinuation.
A major focus of Suzanne’s work is the use of intensive longitudinal data, ecological momentary assessment and digital symptom monitoring to better understand individual symptom patterns, treatment responses and health behaviours. Her research has contributed to methodological advances in the design, conduct and analysis of N-of-1 studies, including statistical approaches for analysing individual participant data and the integration of wearable technologies and patient-generated health data into personalised healthcare.
Suzanne has secured approximately AUD $2.9 million in competitive research funding as a Chief Investigator and has published widely on N-of-1 trials, single-case designs and personalised medicine. Her work has appeared in leading international journals including JAMA Internal Medicine, the British Journal of General Practice and Health Psychology Review. She has also served as Guest Editor of the special issue N-of-1 Trials in Healthcare and Topic Editor of Creating Evidence from Real World Patient Digital Data, helping to advance international research in personalised medicine and digital health.
Beyond research, Suzanne works closely with clinicians, researchers, industry and regulatory agencies to increase the adoption of personalised research methods. She has contributed to international methodological guidance, including work cited within the UK Medical Research Council Framework for Developing and Evaluating Complex Interventions, and has engaged with organisations including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration on the use of individualised evidence.
International leadership
As Co-Chair of ICN, Suzanne leads an international network of more than 800 researchers, clinicians and consumers across 49 countries. She regularly delivers invited workshops, keynote presentations and doctoral training, supporting the global adoption of N-of-1 trials and single-case designs. In recognition of her international contributions to personalised healthcare research, she was awarded an Australian Distinguished Talent Visa in 2020 for an international record of exceptional achievement in N-of-1 data science.
Key Publications
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The state of the art and future opportunities for using longitudinal N-of-1 methods in health behaviour research: a systematic literature overview. Health Psychology Review (2017), https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2017.1316672
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Dynamic modelling of N-of-1 data: powerful and flexible data analytics applied to individualised studies. Health Psychology Review (2017), https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2017.1343680
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Finding benefit in N-of-1 trials (2019). JAMA Internal Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.8382
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Analysing N-of-1 observational data in health psychology and behavioural medicine: a 10-step SPSS tutorial for beginnersHealth Psychology and Behavioral Medicine (2020) https://doi.org/10.1080/21642850.2019.1711096
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Exploring symptom fluctuations and triggers in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome using novel patient-centred N-of-1 observational designs The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (2022), https://doi.org/10.1007/s40271-021-00540-0
Professional Profiles
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Researcher Profile: https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/24163
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UQ Experts Profile: https://about.uq.edu.au/experts/26569