Prevention & Exercise-based Rehabilitation
Our team is engaged in clinical and implementation research within the realm of cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation. This encompasses both prehabilitation and post-rehabilitation care.
We conduct research on patients with acute and chronic coronary syndromes, heart failure, as well as patients with cancer undergoing cardiotoxic therapies.
An emerging area of our research is centred on the deployment of digital health technologies, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in lifestyle management, aimed at maintaining or enhancing both cardiovascular and muscular health. We adopt a co-creation approach that involves patients and their relatives, medtech and startup companies, and healthcare professionals collaborating in our Patient Involvement Lab at the Berner Reha Centre in the Bernese Highlands.
Specific Research Tools:
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) - to assess cardiorespiratory fitness, identify exercise-limiting factors, provide prognostic stratification and guide exercise training.
Grip strength and body impedance analysis (BIA) - to measure muscle strength and analyse body composition.
Respiratory muscle function and strength assessment - for prognostic stratification and to guide respiratory muscle training.
Wearable Devices - for continuous monitoring of digital biomarkers, including physical activity, sleep patterns, heart rate, ECG, respiration, blood pressure, and weight.
mHealth Applications - for the collection of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) regarding quality of life, anxiety, and depression and for biofeedback for enhancing long-term adherence to lifestyle recommendations.
Large language models (LLM) – to facilitate personalised patient communication and education.
Contacts:
Centre for Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine
PD Dr. Sc. nat. Prisca Eser
Head of Research Inselspital
+41 31 632 4398
prisca.eser@insel.ch
Dr. phil. Thimo Marcin
Head of Research Berner Reha Centre
+41 33 244 3048
t.marcin@rehabern.ch
Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Wilhelm
Medical Director
+41 31 632 8986
matthias.wilhelm@insel.ch