Erin Howden

Associate Professor Erin Howden is the head of the Cardiometabolic Health and Exercise Physiology Lab at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, where she co-leads the Physical Activity Program and chairs the Research Training and Education Committee. She holds honorary senior research fellowships at the University of Melbourne (Department of Cardiometabolic Medicine) and Monash University (School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine).

• PhD, University of Queensland (2012)
• Postdoctoral Training: Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine

Her research focuses on clinical exercise physiology, combining cardiovascular imaging, invasive haemodynamics, and bioinformatics to explore "exercise as medicine" for preventing cardiometabolic diseases. Key contributions include demonstrating exercise's role in counteracting sedentary aging (Circulation, 2018) and developing oxygen pathway phenotyping tools for diagnosing exercise intolerance (Circulation, 2021).

Scientific Awards:

• Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (2020)
• Sir Laurence Muir Prize (2020)
• CSANZ Travel Award (2018)
• American Physiological Society Scholarship Award (2015)

Her work spans heart failure research, cancer survivorship, and chronic kidney disease, with publications in Circulation, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, and JASN. She mentors interdisciplinary teams applying integrative physiology to reduce cardiovascular mortality and healthcare costs.