Dr. Nolan's research focuses on behavioural counselling that is delivered through web-based technologies, and which is aimed at improving health status, and well-being/health-related quality of life among patients with chronic conditions that affect their heart and kidney health. He has led a collaborative effort to establish a pan-Canadian digital counselling platform for cardiovascular self-care among patients with hypertension and with chronic heart failure, and this work is currently being applied to help patients with chronic kidney disease. This digital counselling program, and the clinical protocol that guides its application, has been used by co-investigators within Canada and in a research collaboration with the National University Health System of Singapore.
Dr. Rob Nolan is a Clinical Health Psychologist, Senior Scientist, and Director of the Behavioural Cardiology Research Unit at UHN. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He is also on the Editorial Board for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, and he was a Co-Editor for the Frontiers Psychiatry issue of Integrated Cardiovascular and Neural System Processes.
Dr. Nolan has published extensively on his national and international collaborations on the therapeutic benefit of an automated, person-centered digital counseling program (ODYSSEE) to improve the health and well-being of persons at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease, and those with progressive conditions such as heart failure and kidney disease. His research has included the development of Behavioural Neurocardiac Training with biofeedback, to enhance vagal modulation of heart rate and blood pressure. Dr. Nolan’s recent publications include a forthcoming book on The Process-Based Model of Well-Being: Theory, Assessment, and Clinical Applications, Springer-Nature (due October 2026). He has consulted extensively to health promotion and social service organizations regarding the use of motivational interviewing combined with cognitive-behavioural procedures to promote psychological adjustment to chronic medical conditions and to reduce risk factors for diverse medical conditions.
- Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
- Full Member, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto