Dr Rosemary Higgins - Senior Research Fellow

Dr Rosemary Higgins has recently completed her Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. She is employed as both Senior Research Fellow and Training Program Manager at the Heart Research Centre (HRC) in Melbourne. In these dual roles, Dr Higgins has worked for many years at the interface between research and practice.

Dr Higgins has extensive expertise in the rehabilitation of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and the management of health behaviours in these patients. She has published numerous papers in this area. Her Doctoral thesis was in the area of health behaviour change in patients with CHD. In her research role, Dr Higgins has worked on numerous longitudinal studies of health behaviour change in patients with CHD. Dr Higgins has developed and delivered a self management intervention based on principles of cognitive behaviour therapy and motivational interviewing as part of a randomised controlled trial. She has co-authored a number of workbooks developed to assist patients to cope with the practical challenges of chronic disease self management (CDSM). Dr Higgins is passionate about improving health professional practice in the area of CDSM. She has developed a range of health professional training to support practice change in this area. In addition, Dr Higgins is involved in the development of new models of care for patients who are unable or unwilling to attend traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs. She has been actively involved in the dissemination of research to health professionals, through publications, conference presentations and workshop delivery.

Dr Higgins is past President of the Victorian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation. She is also on the Executive Management Committee of the Australian Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation Association.

DPsych (Health), BBSc, Grad Dip Beh Hlth Care, AMPS

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