I am a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy in the School of Allied Health, a founding member of the Physical Activity for Health Research Cluster, and the EHS Research Ethics Chair in UL.

I am also a founding collaborator of the Product Design and the Performing Arts (PD+PA) cluster and a member of the steering committee of the Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance (IRIS) project funded by the IRFU.

My research interests in health and physical activity are dichotomized into elite dance/athlete and chronic disease populations. I am the editor and lead author of the first academic book on health about Irish dancers, published by Nova Science Publishers, and co-written with 16 national and international collaborators, and I was nominated for a 2020 international Dance Educator Award by the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science.

I am a co-founder of the “SingStrong – Singing for Lung Health” project which was awarded a 2023 National Healthcare Centre Award. My SingStrong work was acknowledged when I was named as one of Health Professional News’s Top 100 healthcare practitioners, 2021.

I have twice led SAH to a National Teaching Forum DELTA award and am a former winner of the UL Individual Teaching Excellence award and the Shannon Consortium Regional Teaching Excellence award

Publications

Caoimhe BW, Cahalan R, Hinman R, O‘Sullivan k. 2022. Psychometric properties of performance-based measures of physical function administered via telehealth among people with chronic conditions: A systematic review. PLOS ONE. PONE-D-22-14057R1. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274349 

Cahalan RM, Meade C, Mockler S. SingStrong—A singing and breathing retraining intervention for respiratory and other common symptoms of long COVID: A pilot study. Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy:  2022;58:20. 10.29390/cjrt-2021-074  

Maire Curran, Audrey  C Tierney , Brenda Button, Louise Collins, Lauren  Kennedy, Ciara McDonnell, Ali Sheikhi, Andrew Jurascheck, Brian Casserly, Roisin Cahalan. Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Adults With Cystic Fibrosis: Association With Aerobic Capacity, Lung Function, Sleep, Well-Being, and Quality of Life. Respiratory Care Mar 2022, 67 (3) 339-346; DOI: 10.4187/respcare.09270 

Cahalan R, Green J, Meade C, Griffin A. (2021)“SingStrong”: Singing for better lung health in COPD – a pilot study. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2021.1907825 

Curran, M, A Tierney, L Collins, L Kennedy, C McDonnell, B Button, B Casserly, and Cahalan R. The Effectiveness of Exercise Interventions to Increase Physical Activity in Cystic Fibrosis: A Systematic Review." Journal of Cystic Fibrosis 20 (2021): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcf.2021.10.008