Faculty profile

Robert Petrella

ResearcherFamily MedicineWestern University

This profile is built from public research funding records (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) and PubMed. We have not imported them from a Western University directory, so their courses may be missing. Find their university profile.

Robert Petrella

Researcher

Family Medicine

Health Sciences

Western University

London, Ontario, Canada

Supervision signals

Has led research grants, which requires an independent research appointment. Ask their department whether they supervise graduate students.
1 publication in the last five years, latest in 2026.
Principal investigator on 11 research grants (11 CIHR), most recently in 2025.
Supervised 1 trainee who won CIHR awards, most recently in 2011.

These signals come from public records, including CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

Publications

Citations

h-index

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the works listed on the university profile; citation counts come from Dimensions.

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Signals and details

Research

Healthy Eating Physical Activity Exercise Cluster Design Pragmatic Research Process Evaluation Health Technology Community Engagement

Latest papers

Identifying social prescribing core outcomes using a Delphi approach: findings and future directions.
Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2026
Adding team-based financial incentives to the Carrot Rewards physical activity app increases daily step count on a population scale: a 24-week matched case control study.
The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2020
Geographic variation in preventable hospitalisations across Canada: a cross-sectional study.
BMJ open · 2020

All 15 publications

Latest funding

Sport fandom to engage newcomers to Canada in type 2 diabetes prevention: A pilot, cluster randomized controlled trial of a community-based health behaviour change and exercise intervention (FIT for Newcomers)
CIHR · 2025 · Nominated PI
$100,000
Adapting an effective health promotion intervention for scale-up: a focus on older adults in receipt of home and community care services
CIHR · 2019 · Co-investigator
$69,998
Healthy Cities, Healthy People: Exploring environmental and behavioural predictors of chronic disease
CIHR · 2018 · Co-investigator
$88,060

All 16 grants and awards

15 publications.

Identifying social prescribing core outcomes using a Delphi approach: findings and future directions.

Ashe MC, Chudyk AM, Lin M, Iverson T, Singh Nijjar G, Mortenson WB, Pauly T, Petrella R, Rush KL, Symes B, Tsuei S, Mulligan K

Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice2026

DOI: 10.24095/hpcdp.46.1.02 PMID: 41538272

Adding team-based financial incentives to the Carrot Rewards physical activity app increases daily step count on a population scale: a 24-week matched case control study.

Pearson E, Prapavessis H, Higgins C, Petrella R, White L, Mitchell M

The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2020

DOI: 10.1186/s12966-020-01043-1 PMID: 33208166

Geographic variation in preventable hospitalisations across Canada: a cross-sectional study.

Wilk P, Ali S, Anderson KK, Clark AF, Cooke M, Frisbee SJ, Gilliland J, Haan M, Harris S, Kiarasi S, Maltby A, Norozi K, Petrella R, Sarma S, Singh SS, Stranges S, Thind A

BMJ open2020

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037195 PMID: 32414831

The clinical and economic burden among caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease in Canada.

Szabo S, Lakzadeh P, Cline S, Palma Dos Reis R, Petrella R

International journal of geriatric psychiatry2019Senior author

DOI: 10.1002/gps.5182 PMID: 31353572

Identifying musculoskeletal conditions in electronic medical records: a prevalence and validation study using the Deliver Primary Healthcare Information (DELPHI) database.

Ryan BL, Maddocks HL, McKay S, Petrella R, Terry AL, Stewart M

BMC musculoskeletal disorders2019

DOI: 10.1186/s12891-019-2568-2 PMID: 31053119

Coaching and/or education intervention for parents with overweight/obesity and their children: study protocol of a single-centre randomized controlled trial.

Karmali S, Ng V, Battram D, Burke S, Morrow D, Pearson ES, Tucker P, Mantler T, Cramp A, Petrella R, Irwin JD

BMC public health2019

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-6640-5 PMID: 30922282

Caregivers: Do They Make a Difference to Patient Recovery in Subacute Stroke?

Ong PH, Tai BC, Wong WP, Wee LE, Chen C, Cheong A, Fong NP, Chan KM, Tan BY, Menon E, Lee KK, Ee CH, Petrella R, Thind A, Koh GC

Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2017.02.021 PMID: 28363700

Can a 3-hour educational workshop and the provision of practical tools encourage family physicians to prescribe physical activity as medicine? A pre-post study.

Windt J, Windt A, Davis J, Petrella R, Khan K

BMJ open2015

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-007920 PMID: 26141304

Retrospective analysis of real-world efficacy of angiotensin receptor blockers versus other classes of antihypertensive agents in blood pressure management.

Petrella R, Michailidis P

Clinical therapeutics2011First author

DOI: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2011.08.008 PMID: 21885126

Remote monitoring technologies for the prevention of metabolic syndrome: the Diabetes and Technology for Increased Activity (DaTA) study.

Stuckey M, Fulkerson R, Read E, Russell-Minda E, Munoz C, Kleinstiver P, Petrella R

Journal of diabetes science and technology2011Senior author

DOI: 10.1177/193229681100500417 PMID: 21880237

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2025

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Healthy Eating Dear Professor Petrella, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Identifying social prescribing core outcomes using a Delphi approach: findings and future directions." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "Sport fandom to engage newcomers to Canada in type 2 diabetes prevention: A pilot, cluster randomized controlled trial of a community-based health behaviour change and exercise intervention (FIT for Newcomers)" (2025), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]

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Robert Petrella

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

Identifying social prescribing core outcomes using a Delphi approach: findings and future directions.

Adding team-based financial incentives to the Carrot Rewards physical activity app increases daily step count on a population scale: a 24-week matched case control study.

Geographic variation in preventable hospitalisations across Canada: a cross-sectional study.

The clinical and economic burden among caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease in Canada.

Identifying musculoskeletal conditions in electronic medical records: a prevalence and validation study using the Deliver Primary Healthcare Information (DELPHI) database.

Coaching and/or education intervention for parents with overweight/obesity and their children: study protocol of a single-centre randomized controlled trial.

Caregivers: Do They Make a Difference to Patient Recovery in Subacute Stroke?

Can a 3-hour educational workshop and the provision of practical tools encourage family physicians to prescribe physical activity as medicine? A pre-post study.

Retrospective analysis of real-world efficacy of angiotensin receptor blockers versus other classes of antihypertensive agents in blood pressure management.

Remote monitoring technologies for the prevention of metabolic syndrome: the Diabetes and Technology for Increased Activity (DaTA) study.

Frequent collaborators

Kevin Shoemaker

Amardeep Thind

Jason Gilliland

Shauna Burke

Piotr Wilk

Martin Cooke

Saverio Stranges

Shehzad Ali

Jennifer Davis

Theresa Pauly

Kate Mulligan

Danielle Battram

Tara Mantler

Don Morrow

Patricia Tucker

Marc Mitchell

Stewart Harris

Moira Stewart

Anita Cramp

Sisira Sarma