Professor McMahon is the Head of Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University and Director of the HEAR Centre, a World Hearing Forum member and an informal WHO collaborating centre. Her research centres on understanding the barriers and facilitators to accessing and ultilising hearing healthcare, and the design and implementation of effective care pathways. Professor McMahon worked closely with the World Health Organisation to develop and collate the evidence-base for the World Report on Hearing, and is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission of Hearing Loss and is co-chair of the “Innovation in Service Delivery” team.