Dr. Dion Candelaria has recently been awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Heart Foundation of Australia. This fellowship is one of the most competitive in the country, given to just 12 emerging cardiovascular researchers each year and Dr. Candelaria is one of only two recipients this year focusing on health services research. The two-year fellowship will allow him to deepen his expertise in improving cardiac rehabilitation programs, which help people recover after heart problems like a heart attack.
Dr. Candelaria’s work is focused on making cardiac rehabilitation more effective to prevent further heart issues for the over 56,700 Australians who suffer a heart attack each year. He leads a major government-funded project called QUICR (Quality Improvement in Cardiac Rehabilitation), which looks at how better use of data can improve recovery programs for heart patients. This builds on his PhD research, completed in 2023, where he studied how differences in cardiac rehabilitation services can influence patient outcomes, helping identify what works best for recovery.
In addition to this fellowship, Dr. Candelaria has also been appointed as the interim Director of Professional Development and Education for the Filipino Nursing Diaspora (FiND) Network. In this role, he works to support and empower Filipino nurses both in Australia and around the world, helping them grow professionally and take on leadership roles in healthcare.
These achievements highlight Dr. Candelaria’s dedication to improving healthcare not only for Australians but also for communities across the globe. By using data to make heart rehabilitation programs better and working with nurses to strengthen the healthcare workforce, he is creating lasting positive change for patients, healthcare providers, and the nursing community.
