Dr Connie Henson is a Senior Research Fellow at Djurali Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research and Education at the Heart Research Institute (HRI), which is supported by the University of Sydney.

At the HRI she collaborates with Indigenous colleagues to explore how older Indigenous women use smart watches and patches to detect and monitor heart health, including early atrial fibrillation (AF) detection.

Dr Henson is also a Conjoint Senior Lecturer, Indigenous Studies at UNSW, and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University.

How did you get involved in helping people and organisations adopt and adapt to new technologies?

Before working in research, I ran a business that specialised in helping organisations incorporate new technologies and ways of working. I realised that digital health would revolutionise health, creating more equity for marginalised communities or exacerbating existing disparities. I knew I could use my skills and experiences to help shape the direction. I’m privileged to work alongside Indigenous researchers and community members to experiment with how health technologies such as wearables provide older Indigenous people with personalised health information and activity tracking so they can take charge of their health and fitness.

What’s been your most rewarding achievement or moment in your research career?
Working with older women who care deeply about their health, their families’ health and the health of their communities is an inspiration. One woman, Aunty Mary Waits from Brewarrina (see video below), shared her story of how participating in a wearables research project prompted her to encourage her husband to get screened for atrial fibrillation (AF) through one of our research partners, The Brewarrina Aboriginal Medical Service. Even though he had no symptoms, the 30-second screen using a hand-held device detected AF, which resulted in follow-up diagnostics and life-extending surgery. Aunty Mary, like many of the older women I am privileged to work alongside, is a champion for health in her community. Their work will ultimately transform how people care for their health, contributing to closing the gap.

What else are you hoping to achieve in your career?

I want to continue to partner with older women from diverse priority populations to promote digital health equity. Older women tend to be highly interested in improving health for themselves and others but are typically left out of research. This has resulted in approaches to prevention, detection and disease/health management not considering women’s unique needs and preferences. By partnering with older women from diverse priority populations, we can ensure a fairer distribution of benefits offered by digital health technologies. I am seeking funding to conduct wearable-based risk-reduction research for five cohorts of older women (women with low incomes, Indigenous women, Pacific Islander women, all-abilities women, and a diverse cohort). This research will help us learn what prevention programs work best for women from priority populations.

Why is what you do important?

Personal empowerment and self-determination are critical for good health. Digital health technologies offer new ways for people to use real-time feedback and access information and expertise to understand their body and mind, thereby making decisions and engaging in behaviours that keep them healthy. Ensuring that everyone has access, digital health literacy, and efficacy to use these technologies is fundamental to equity. An equity-first approach is also the best way to conduct robust high high-quality digital health research.

Meet the researcher: Dr Connie Henson