Richard J. Holden

Profile picture of Richard J. Holden

Richard J. Holden, PhD

Lab Director

Dr. Holden, Associate Professor of Medicine, is an engineer and psychologist who has worked in the areas of health and healthcare since 2001. He holds a BS in Psychology, MS in Psychology, MS in Industrial Engineering, and Joint PhD in Industrial Engineering and Psychology. For more information: [Dr. Holden's CV].

Where are you from?
Professionally, my primary discipline is called human factors engineering. I trained at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was a postdoc at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and have been on faculty at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine since 2011 and at Indiana University since 2014. Personally, I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Why are you here?
My passion is to improve health, especially for older adults. I believe the way to do this is by applying innovative ideas and rigorous scientific methods to important 'problems' in health and healthcare. I have worked on health and healthcare since 2001, for the first ten years with healthcare professionals, and subsequently with patients and family members, as well. It is my great pleasure to direct the Health Innovation Lab because of its potential to transform health but also as a way to train learners and collaborate with community, industry, and academic partners.

What do you do?
Broadly speaking, I do a mix of research, design, and evaluation. I apply these to health innovations such as new technologies. Domains I find particularly interesting include aging, chronic cardiovascular disease, mental health, health information technology, implementations science, and patient safety.

What are your skills?
I'm what Darwin called a 'lumper' -- a person who prefers to combine rather than separate. This means I love to work in multidisciplinary teams and learn from others. Over the years I have used and mastered a large variety of methods, modes of data collection, analyses, and design approaches. I am especially skilled in mixed-method and qualitative field research, and have written a great deal about related theory and methods.

What are your hobbies?
I love active things like snowboarding, biking, and hiking but also board games, traveling, and cooking. I'm married to a fellow academic (a sociologist) and have one son.


Submitted by hilabadmin on Sun, 12/04/2016 - 00:11