M.S. Psychology University of Wisconsin-Madison 2004
M.S. Industrial Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison 2006
Joint PhD Industrial Engineering and Psychology University of Wisconsin-Madison 2009
Postdoctoral Research Royal Institute of Technology 2009–2011

Select Grants, Awards, and Honors

• NIH/NIA R01: "I-CARE 2 RCT: Mobile Telehealth to Reduce Alzheimer's-related Symptoms for Caregivers and Patients" (Role: MPI)
• NIH/NIMHD R01: " Delivering Food Resources & Kitchen Skills (FoRKS) to Adults with Food Insecurity and Hypertension: An RCT" (Role: MPI)
• NIH/NIA R25: " The Agile Nudge University Program" (Role: MPI)
• NIH/NIA R01: "Brain Safe: Consumer Intervention to Reduce Exposure to Drugs Linked to Alzheimer's Disease" (Role: PI)
• NIH/NIA R21: "Helping the helpers: User-centered technology to aid caregiver management of medications for people with ADRD" (Role: MPI)
• NIH/NIA R21: "Technology Intervention to Support Caregiving for Alzheimer's Disease (I-CARE)" (Role: MPI)
• NIH/NIA K01: "A Human Factors Approach to Support Older Chronically Ill Patients' Home Care" (Role: PI)
• AHRQ R21: "Power to the patient: Design and Test of Closed-Loop Interactive IT for Geriatric Heart Failure Self-Care" (Role: PI)
• AHRQ P30: "Brain Health Patient Safety Learning Laboratory" (Role: Co-I)
• Human Factors & Ergonomics Society (HFES) William C. Howell Young Investigator Award (2014), Bentzi Karsh Early-Career Service Award (2015), Alphonse Chapanis Best Paper Award (2017), Jack A. Kraft Innovator Award (2021)
• Regenstrief Institute 2019 Outstanding Investigator, 2020 Venture Fellow

Scholarly Interest

Dr. Holden is an engineer, psychologist, and implementation scientist who leads a funded program of applied research on aging and disease care and prevention. His research designs and evaluates technology-based interventions for middle-aged and older adults living with or at risk for chronic disease and disability, including heart failure, dementia, and hypertension. His work on aging and chronic disease appears in multidisciplinary venues including gerontology, cardiology, nursing, informatics, pharmacy, psychology, and engineering journals. Books include the two-volume edited handbook The Patient Factor, on patient ergonomics, the study and design of patient work.

Dr. Holden's research on health and healthcare has earned an international reputation for the application of innovative methods to promote behavior change, self-care adherence, and technology-supported care in diverse populations. These innovations include the use of participatory co-design to involve patients, families, and clinicians in the design of health interventions; the development of mobile applications and advanced sensors to deliver evidence-based decision support; and the application of systems engineering to support patient safety and quality of care. In recognition of his contributions to innovation in health and healthcare, he has received honors from professional societies in human factors, informatics, and safety science, and has served as expert advisor for national organizations including the Leapfrog Group, Mathematica Policy Institute, and AHRQ.

He has developed, adapted, and applied qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches; tools for studying technology (e.g., usability and acceptance measurement instruments); and processes for user-centered design and development. Methods innovations include the Agile Implementation and Agile Innovation processes, Simplified System Usability Scale, the primary care Clinician Workload measure and multilevel model of clinician workload, the Translating Research into Agile Development (TRIAD) approach, SEIPS 2.0 and SEIPS 101 models, 8-point consolidated heuristic evaluation framework, Patient-centered Cognitive Task Analysis method, the 10-step process for biopsychosocial personas development, and various versions of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and TAM components such as contextualized perceived usefulness.

View Google Scholar publication listings

Boustani, M., Holden, R.J., Azar, J., & Solid, C.A. (2020). The Agile Network: A Model to Foster Innovation, Implementation, and Diffusion in Healthcare Settings. Beaver's Pond Press: St. Paul, MN.

Valdez, R.S. & Holden, R.J. (Eds.) (2021). The Patient Factor: Applications of Patient Ergonomics. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL.

Holden, R.J. & Valdez, R.S. (Eds.) (2021). The Patient Factor: Theories and Methods for Patient Ergonomics. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL.

Holden, R.J., Cornet, V.P., Valdez, R.S. (2020) Patient ergonomics: 10-Year mapping review of patient-centered human factors. Applied Ergonomics, 82, 102972.

Holden, R.J., Daley, C.N., Mickelson, R.S., Bolchini, D., Toscos, T., Cornet, V.P., Miller, A., Mirro, M.J. (2020) Patient decision-making personas: An application of a patient-centered cognitive task analysis (P-CTA). Applied Ergonomics, 87, 103107.

Cornet, V.P., Toscos, T., Bolchini, D., Rohani Ghahari, R., Ahmed, R., Daley, C.N., Mirro, M.J., Holden, R.J. (2020). Untold stories in user-centered design of mobile health: Practical challenges and strategies learned from the design and evaluation of an app for older adults with heart failure. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, https://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/7/e17703/

Hill, J.R., Harrington, A.B., Adeoye, P., Campbell, N.L., & Holden, R.J. (2021). Going remote: Demonstration and evaluation of remote technology delivery and usability assessment with older adults. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 9(3):e26702

Holden, R.J., Abebe, E., Russ-Jara, A.L., & Chui, M. A. (2021). Human factors and ergonomics methods for pharmacy research and clinical practice. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.04.024

Holden, R.J., Boustani, M.A., & Azar, J. (2021). Agile Innovation to transform healthcare: Innovating in complex adaptive systems is an everyday process, not a lightbulb event. BMJ Innovations, https://innovations.bmj.com/content/early/2021/01/27/bmjinnov-2020-000574

Holden, R.J. & Carayon, P. (2021). SEIPS 101 and seven simple SEIPS tools. BMJ Quality & Safety. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012538

Werner, N. E., Brown, J. C., Loganathar, P., & Holden, R.J. (2022). Quality of Mobile Apps for Care Partners of People with Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias: Mobile App Rating Scale Evaluation. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 10, e33863.

Hill, J.R., Min, E.E., Abebe, E., & Holden, R.J. (2023) Telecaregiving for dementia: A mapping review of technological and non-technological interventions. The Gerontologist , gnad026.