She specializes in Cultural and Medical Anthropology. She is the author of The Healthy Ancestor: Embodied Inequality and the Revitalization of Native Hawaiian Health, and co-editor of the School of Advanced Research volume Confronting Cancer: Metaphors, Advocacy, and Anthropology. Professor McMullin has had an enduring interest in the production of health knowledge and inequalities, and a passion for translating that interest to her work with local communities and students. Professor McMullin is an active member of the UC Global Health Initiative, and co-organizer for the UCR Center for Ideas and Society Medical Narratives workgroup. Her current research examines the field of graphic medicine, the social and material role of graphic novels in narrative medicine and health inequalities.