Dr. Cristina Caperchione

Dr. Cristina M. Caperchione (BHK Hons., MHK, PhD) is a Professor of Physical Activity and Health Promotion in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation and the Human Performance Research Centre (HPRC) at the University of Technology Sydney. She leads the physical activity and health promotion stream within the School and the HPRC, as well as leading the Faculty of Health’s Lifestyle and Exercise Collaborative within the Institute for Innovative Solutions for Wellbeing and Health (INSIGHT). Her research program is focused on the use of mix-methodologies to design, implement and evaluate community-based physical activity (PA) and lifestyle interventions for populations most vulnerable to chronic disease and overall poor health. She has extensive expertise in co-design and co-create approaches for the development of pragmatic real-world interventions with a particular focus on underserved populations, including: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescent girls, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, hard to reach men, regional women, and those living with cancer. A fundamental component of her research is working with multi-disciplinary researchers, industry partners, community organisations and end-users to ensure that these evidence-based innovations are scalable, translational, and sustainable. 

She currently leads a number of multi-year, multi-institutional research projects including; 1) The HAT TRICK program, a cricket-based physical activity, healthy eating and mental fitness community intervention for Indian men in Australia, 2) TIDDA Talk, a co-designed/co-delivered physical activity and social and emotional health program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls, and 3) Empowering coaches to support athlete mental health. All of which are aimed at making a significant contribution to addressing Australia’s National Health Priorities for improving the health and wellbeing of our population.