Professor Julie Redfern of Terrigal has been named a finalist in the 2022 NSW Woman of the Year Awards for her amazing work in the field of rehabilitation for heart attack patients.
A Professor of Public Health and a Research Academic Director at the University of Sydney, Redfern is transforming the way recovering patients are supported and cared for.
“I am surprised and honoured to be recognised in this way – it is wonderful to be among such an amazing group of women,” she said.
A physiotherapist, Redfern was working in cardiac wards with rehabilitation patients when she first realised there were huge problems with follow-up care.
“There were a lot of people who had had heart disease who were never coming back for further care,” she said.
“Around 15 years ago I started on my research journey to tackle this problem with the aim of improving rehabilitation support in Australia and overseas.
“The Central Coast is no different to the rest of the world in terms of the challenges to be faced.”
Redfern and her team, with grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, started by building up their research program, working with patients to see how they could be given more choice in helping to reduce the risk of another heart attack.
“One of the challenges has been modernising the space in terms of working with programs to reduce the paperwork and get the data digitalised,” she said.
“The next step will be working with governments to make sure the data we collect is available to rehabilitation providers.
“Many of these programs were developed in the 1960s and ‘70s and they haven’t really kept up with society and technology.
“It’s extremely challenging because you don’t just want to change things here and there – we are looking at the whole structure.
“We are working with 380 cardiac rehabilitation providers around Australia to get this data compiled.”
Redfern is just as concerned with developing the next generation of researchers and clinicians, mentoring and teaching so she can help others to reach as many rehabilitation patients as possible.
“We have done a variety of studies with patients and have developed text messaging programs which are now reaching 10,000 people,” she said.
“We have to create, design and build solutions, undertake clinical trial work and data collection and then present the work.
“With the advent of COVID-19 digital strategies are more important than ever.”
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, said being named a finalist was recognition for the work Redfern has done in the community.
“Professor Redfern is the author of almost 200 scientific manuscripts, a presenter in over 20 countries, and the most published Australian on cardiac rehabilitation secondary prevention and text messaging,” Crouch said.
“Having supervised and mentored more than 50 students, she was awarded a Vice Chancellor’s Award for Leadership and Mentoring at Sydney University and a NSW Tall Poppy Award.
“It is community leaders like Julie who make the Central Coast a wonderful place to call home.”
Minister for Women, Bronnie Taylor, said 31 women and girls had been named as finalists in the awards, which are being held as part of NSW Women’s Week from March 7-13.
Award winners will be announced on March 9.
Terry Collins