Dr Carina Chan, BSc, MSc (Hons), PhD

Psychology Lecturer, Sunway Campus

Carina is presently a Psychology lecturer in the School of Medicine, Monash University Sunway campus. A graduate of the University of Auckland in New Zealand and trained in health psychology, Carina’s primary interest and expertise lies primarily in the psychosocial aspects of understanding health and health behaviours. She has experience in conducting randomized controlled trials to promote physical activity, developing and validating health motivational measures and investigating cultural and personality issues associated with eating behaviours. Since she joined Monash in 2008, her research area has been extended to the prevention and management of chronic diseases which includes the development and implementation of the Malaysia Diabetes Prevention Program, the development of a diabetes risk representation measure and modification of a diabetes risk assessment tool. In addition, she is also involved in some projects on eating disorders, workplace health psychology and psychological assessment. Carina is a supervisor of a few PhD students.
Area of Expertise:   Health psychology, behavioural medicine, psychosocial issues related to health promotion and disease management, perfectionism, cultural issues and health, measurement development and validation, theory-based psychosocial interventions.

Current Research:
1. Title: Developing a new approach to prevent non-communicable diseases in middle income countries: Evaluation of diabetes prevention program in Malaysia (M-DPP).
2. Title: Understanding Illness Risk Perceptions and Prevention Motivations: Improving the Prevention and Management
of Diabetes in Malaysia Career highlights.

Awards and distinctions:
-2009 PVC’s Award for Excellence in Research
-2008 Doctoral thesis on Dean’s list
-2008 Maurice & Phyllis Paykel Trust Award
-2006 Early Career Award, International Society of Behavioral Medicine