Professor Karen-Leigh Edward

Biography

Prof Karen-leigh Edward is an outstanding scholar and administrator and an international expert in mental health, resilience, gender-specific healthcare and practice-based research. She has degrees in nursing and psychology, with a PhD in Health Science. Prof Edward has focused her research on physical and mental comorbidity, implementing and testing resilience and self-righting models that inform care for better clinical outcomes for people with chronic conditions including CVD, diabetes, wounds, epilepsy and mental illness. She has been the Head of Dept Nursing at Latrobe University including acting deputy Head of School at the same time, research Professor in Nursing in a joint appointment between ACU and St Vincent’s Private Hospital, the Professor of Nursing Research in Practice-Based Research at Swinburne University. She has also been the CEO of HerHeart a not for profit for the prevention of heart disease in women. Currently she is a Professor and Head of Nursing at Swinburne University of Technology (Australia) and an Adjunct Professor position at the University of Huddersfield (United Kingdom) where she continues to conduct research in health and nursing. 

Prof Edward has attracted over $3 million in research funding from government, industry and academic sources and has authored over 170 publications, including scientific journal articles, 4 books and 16 book chapters and 16 media releases. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Australian Publishers Association Publishing Award (2011), Emerging Leader Catholic Health Australia (2012), Nursing Review Magazine Top 5 Inspiring Nurses (2013), Multigate Medical Education Award (2014), ACORN Best Research Team in Perioperative Nursing (2016), finalist St Vincent’s Health Australia Innovation and Excellence Award-Best People in Health and Aging (2018) and the World Scientists Forum International Award- Eminent Scientist and Millennium Golden International Award of IRPC (2021).