Kay’s career reflects the very best of Australian physiotherapy—from clinical excellence to world-leading research and an unwavering commitment to supporting women in the profession. 

Since joining the APA in 1983, Professor Kay Crossley FACP has seen the profession evolve in ways few could imagine. 

Kay became an APA Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist in 1999 and a Specialist Research Physiotherapist (as awarded by
the Australian College of Physiotherapists) this year. 

Over that time, Kay has embodied the APA’s values of leadership, learning and collaboration. 

Her career—spanning private practice, elite sport, academia and research leadership—is testament to how diverse and rewarding a life in physiotherapy can be.

On being named an APA Honoured Member, announced at the APASC25 conference in Adelaide in October, Kay joked that the recognition ‘just means you’ve been in the profession a long time’. But she knows it is so much more than that.

‘I’ve worked in hospital and public settings but most of my time was in private practice, working in sport and exercise physiotherapy at a large sports medicine centre. 

'During that time, I worked as a team physiotherapist for the Australian track and field team for about 10 years. 

'I had some amazing experiences and opportunities.’

Those years on the track formed the foundation for a research career that has influenced practice around the world. 

After two decades in the clinic, Kay moved into academia, completing her PhD at the University of Melbourne and establishing herself as one of Australia’s leading researchers in musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy.

‘It’s been such a privilege to look at physiotherapy through the lens of science, to build the evidence base for what we do as a
profession while staying connected with practice—what we’re trying to achieve with treatment and with prevention and how we improve outcomes for patients.’

Assisted by a grant from the Physiotherapy Research Foundation, Kay conducted a landmark placebo-controlled trial on patellofemoral pain, published in 2002, which then formed part of her PhD. 

The trial helped set a benchmark for rigorous clinical trials in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and paved the way for the large-scale collaborations that would follow. 

‘That study led to other people doing similar research—validating the work, undertaking systematic reviews, bringing the evidence together. 

'It started a chain of evidence that’s helped inform treatment for patellofemoral pain, osteoarthritis and many other conditions.’

When she joined La Trobe University, where she is now director of the La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, Kay’s focus broadened to include translation—getting research out of journals and into clinics and communities. 

One of her proudest achievements is the implementation of GLA:D Australia, a program that helps people with hip and knee osteoarthritis access education and evidence-based exercise therapy. 

‘The research is important but implementation is critical. How do we get research out to the public? That’s been incredibly rewarding.’

Her more recent projects have explored injury prevention for women and girls in community sport—work that began with the start of the AFLW in 2017 and has culminated in a major randomised controlled trial and international consensus statement supported by the International Olympic Committee. 

Professor Kay Crossley.

‘We’ve worked for years to get to this point. It’s been about providing evidence and recommendations for women and girls of all abilities. That’s something I’m really proud of.’

Kay’s research and mentoring have been shaped by an impressive list of collaborators and mentors. 

She credits early guidance from Professors Kim Bennell and Rana Hinman, both Specialist Research Physiotherapists (as awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapists in 2025), and Tim Wrigley as well as her time in mechanical engineering under Professor Marcus Pandy. 

‘He had a very different discipline background and a unique leadership style that inspired me. 

'I learnt a lot from how he managed people—it was very individualised, very goal-oriented.’

Professor Peter Brukner has been another steady influence throughout Kay’s career. 

‘He was my boss when I first started in clinic. We worked together with the track and field team, then at the University of Melbourne and now at La Trobe. 

'He’s been a mentor from clinic all the way through to research.’ 

Kay says Peter taught her that leadership is about respect at every level. ‘He never discriminated between a doctor and a physio assistant. 

'He treated everyone with great respect, gave everyone opportunities and created a level playing field. 

'I’ve carried that with me everywhere I’ve gone. The value of the team is based on the value of the people in it.’

That inclusive, team-based philosophy now defines Kay’s own mentoring style. 

Noting that universities and institutions can be very hierarchical, Kay believes that if everyone on the team rises, then everyone rises. 

‘It’s not a top-down approach—it’s about supporting every individual so the whole team can move forward.’

Kay’s leadership extended to her role on the editorial board of Journal of Physiotherapy, where she helped shape how
Australian research is presented to the world. 

As one of the few physiotherapists to lead a Centre of Research Excellence funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Kay remains committed to building research capacity and culture. 

‘It is a fantastic opportunity to continue to build collaboration between researchers, to train and mentor the next generation and to make our centre a great place to work and do research.’

Kay knows, however, that research funding is increasingly competitive. 

Her advice to emerging physiotherapy researchers is pragmatic—you can’t be a successful researcher if you’re not in a strong team. 

‘Start with small grants and build. But also think carefully about where your research sits and who is reviewing your grants.

'Sometimes, you might have to move your research goals slightly to fit a funding body’s priorities—that’s not compromising your interests; it’s being strategic about how you get your work done.’

For Kay, mentorship and teamwork go hand in hand with a strong moral compass. 

‘Values and culture are the critical pieces. It’s how you treat people, how you interact with them, how you value their role in the team. 

'That’s what builds a team and if you can build that, everything else follows.’

After four decades of practice, research and service, Kay’s idea of legacy has evolved. 

She admits to spending a lot of time now thinking about how to make research and practice a better place for women.

‘Physiotherapy is a predominantly female profession but that doesn’t mean we’re doing as well as we should. 

'I want to shine a light on what it’s like for women working in sport and in research and to find ways we can do better so the next generation of women has a better experience in the profession. That’s what I’d like to leave.’

Building a research career while balancing family, teaching and leadership demands hasn’t been easy for Kay and she’s keenly aware of the barriers that women often face. 

Support at home was critical and helped her enormously. 

‘I’ve also forged great friendships within my research team. It makes coming to work enjoyable. 

'Family comes first, of course, but I’m proud of the friendships I’ve built along the way.’

Looking to the future, Kay hopes to see stronger integration of research into the APA’s structure. 

‘Australia has an incredibly strong clinical physiotherapy background and is one of the most respected countries for physiotherapy worldwide. 

'But we’re also respected for our research. 

'When I started my PhD, there weren’t that many physiotherapy professors; now there are a large number. 

'Yet they don’t seem to be very visible within the APA structure. 

'If we’re an evidence-based profession, then researchers need a seat at every table. 

'We don’t need a separate research committee; we need researchers at all levels of the APA.’

For someone who has contributed to every facet of physiotherapy—from the clinic to the classroom, from the track to the lab—Kay’s vision feels fitting. 

The profession’s future, she believes, lies in collaboration between clinicians and researchers, underpinned by respect, evidence and a shared purpose.

‘Physiotherapy has given me such a rich, varied and fulfilling career. 

'If I’ve helped make it a better place for others—especially for women coming through—then that’s something I’ll be proud of.’

Transcript

Melissa

I'd like to introduce Kay Crossley, who is one of this year's Honoured Members of the APA. Kay, could you tell me a little bit about your career? When did you start doing physio, and why did you get into it?

 

Kay

Thank you very much. I started working as a physiotherapist in 1985, very long time ago. Interestingly, maybe not so interestingly, I didn't really have a burning desire to get into physiotherapy when I was at high school. I did maths and science as my subjects in year 11 and 12 and my career, – I was at a very small school – my career's teacher was like You know, if you go to universitand do maths and science and I was, you know, first in family to go to university, didn't have a lot of experience so she's like, well, you probably become a maths teacher. And I was like, I don't know if I really want to be a maths teacher. So I sort of really unsure what I would do. And as I said, I didn't have a lot of role models. And then she actually tore her ACL playing netball and she came in on crutches and she's like, actually, I think you should be a physiotherapist. I'm like, oh, that sounds good. Which is sort of odd these days because a lot of people are desperately trying to become physiotherapists, and I really appreciate and respect that as well. And sort of feel a little bit guilty that I sort of fell into it in a way. But I will say that I loved every minute of being a physio, and I'm not quite sure what I would have done had I gone and done a maths degree. I do say to myself, maybe I could be in the next Steve Jobs and made a lot more money. But I did love every minute of being a physio, even though it wasn't really my personal burning desire to do so.

 

Melissa

How long did you end up practicing for before you moved into research?

 

Kay

Yeah, thanks. So I was fairly lucky I did hospital work, like a lot of people do, and then I moved fairly quickly into sports physiotherapy, and I worked at a large multidisciplinary and I worked at a large multidisciplinary sports medicine clinic in Melbourne. And I really loved all of that. And I did that, until I did my PhD, which was I started my PhD in 1998, and I actually was able to continue doing some clinical practice alongside my research work for probably a while, until the sort of juggling act of clinical practice, 

research and family just became a little bit too tricky. So yeah, I did a good 15 years, including being able to work with the Australian track and field team for about 10 years, through a number of World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games in Sydney, 2000.

 

Melissa

Right, that must have been fun.

 

Kay

It was amazing. 

 

Melissa

What was the driving question that got you into research?

 

Kay

Yeah, I think like a lot of people, the whole way through there’s, I suppose two sort of driving forces. One is that you're always sort of questioning what you're doing and how you're doing it, and are you getting the best outcomes for you, for your patients or your athletes? And so you're always like, could I do better? Could I do better? So starting to read papers and remembering that back then you had to go into the library to get the journals and photocopy them in the library and bring them home to read them. They weren't open access like we can get them now. And just really started to have more questions than we knew the answer to. So that was part of it and part of it at Olympic Park Sports Medicine, which is where I worked, and I did work with Peter Brukner and Karim Khan, who did end up writing Clinical Sports Medicine for those in the sports physiotherapy field. There was actually a really strong culture of trying to be active in research. So even things like, you know, collecting data on the types of patients that we were seeing at the clinic, really trying to do sort of clinically relevant research, even within a clinical setting, before anyone actually moved into the research setting.

 

 

Melissa

Okay. What would you say some of the highlights have been in your career?

 

Kay

Yeah. I mean, clinically for me, obviously, Sydney 2000. I traveled with the Australian track and field team. I actually left Australia in April of that year. Lived and worked with the athletes for some four to five months prior to the games, part of a really big team leading into the games, both big from the athlete point of view, but also big from the sports medicine side and management side. It’s 25 years, we had a reunion the other day. It was great to see people. But just to be part of that event. But I also reflected leading up to the 25 year sort of just being part of the athlete journey and being able to contribute to injury prevention, you know, just holistic athlete health over those 10 years as well. So it wasn't just the single event, it was the time I got to spend, working with the team in the lead up as well. 

 

Melissa

And how about, research highlights. What are you most proud of there?

 

Kay

Yeah thanks. So I went into my PhD I said ‘98 and I was reflecting. I did my PhD while I was traveling, and then I did a couple of postdoctoral fellowships. So one in physiotherapy, and I suppose one of the highlights is I also did one in mechanical engineering, which sounds a little bit odd. But I was invited by Professor Marcus Pandy to join his team for a few years, and I just really enjoyed the interdisciplinarity of that sort of work and the intellectual stimulation of that. So that was great. I then had a few years up at the University of Queensland, which is also fantastic, and there's a lot of great researchers up there. And then 10 years ago, given the opportunity to come back to Melbourne and be part of the La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, which I now head up. So all of those are little highlights, but probably the big career research highlight will come in about a month's time. So I've been working with the International Olympic Committee and Professor Carolyn Emery at the University of Calgary and many, many, 109 researchers from around the world. And we've put together five systematic reviews, a scoping review, a concept mapping exercise all to underpin a consensus on injury prevention for female, women and girl athletes. That was accepted this morning, and that will be published in November of this year. So it's been about two and a half years in the making, but very excited to have that out in the world. So that will probably be my research highlight. 

 

Melissa

That sounds fantastic, yeah. What would be your advice for physios who are interested in research?

 

Kay

Yeah, I think get involved as soon as you think you can. The involvement can be anything. It could just be reading your own articles, critically appraising them yourselves, trying to maybe meet up with other people. So a lot of researchers in universities are really keen to hear from clinicians who want to be part of any sort of program. If you don't yourself want to go into a research degree, which you definitely don't have to do, there’s opportunities to be part of clinical trials, perhaps being the treating physiotherapists or to be part of activities such as systematic reviews or scoping reviews, or just being engaged with the research as it comes across your desk. I think most people go in to physiotherapy because they have inquiring minds, because they do want to help their patients and the communities that they serve, and research is a really, really great way of continuing that stimulation that is really important to their sort of growth as physiotherapists.

 

Melissa

Right. You're being made an Honoured Member of the APA. What does it mean to you to become an Honoured Member?

 

Kay

Thank you, and the sort of glib response I give to my colleagues is just means I'm very old and I've been doing this a very long time. But that's not the real truth. It is the fact that there are people out there who’ve said they value my contribution to the profession. I’ve obviously stayed in physiotherapy when I moved from clinical practice into research, I've stayed in physiotherapy. I think that physiotherapy is a wonderful community, and we see that around here at the conference. So it's a community of people who are really trying to do the best by their patients and their communities that they're working with, but they're also trying to help each other be better and be better physiotherapists, and to have their own sort of lifelong education goals served. And I come to places like this and there are people I worked with back in the 80s. Some of them actually worked with me when I was in clinic when they were physio students, and now they've really got powerful positions within different organisations. So some of them have mentored, some of the people here are those who mentored me as well, and then there's people who've sort of been on the journey at the various different places I've worked, including where I am now at La Trobe University. So I think to have, to be honored for the work that I've done. But also to sit alongside the people that are already Honoured Members and to look at their amazing contributions to the profession. So it is a real privilege to be awarded this and to be able to sit alongside the other people who've been given the same honour.

 

Melissa

Well, thanks very much, Kay and congratulations on your award.

 

Kay

Thank you very much.