Dr. Andreas Heißel

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educational commitment

biography

Andreas Heißel is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Professorship for Social and Preventive Medicine at the Department for Sports and Health Sciences at the University of Potsdam, Germany. He studied sports, political, and educational science from 2002 to 2008 in Potsdam, Berlin and Sydney. PhD in sports psychology, first at the Humboldt University Berlin (2010-2013), graduated in 2013 at the University of Potsdam about obese children coached by exercise professionals trained in need support.

2006-2009 athletics and rehabilitation coach for first league and junior national teams in volleyball (2007 winning of the gold medal, European Junior Championships). Since 2010, he is director at the location in the Sportforum of the Exercise Health Park Berlin/ Center for Sports Medicine (8000 exercising clients/ patients; 6000 sports medical examinations including 3000 top athletes/ year). He is still working in practice with patients, athletes, and supervising and leading a team of more than 30 exercise professionals and has 17 years of clinical experience.

Dr. Heißel has attained over € 2.4M in research funding, including grants from the innovations fund. He currently supervises 10 PhD students graduated in sport/ health science (4), psychology (3) and medicine (3). His research interests focus on mental/ emotional health and health education (basic psychological needs/ motivation, depression, anxiety, chronic pain), physical activity, exercise, mindfulness, and meditation.

research interests / teaching

Andreas leads the STEP.De study (with Prof Rapp)(exercise therapy for depression in health care services) where he developed the psychological coaching and the specific exercise therapy and the SPeED study (with Prof Heinzel)(Neurobiological Mechanisms of Exercise and Psychotherapy for Depression) among further studies.

He teaches a.o. mind body treatments, psychomotricity, and exercise therapy in health exercise and psychiatry in Bachelor, Master, and PhD programs.