Kate Newton MACP remembers the first vestibular patient she treated as a junior physiotherapist. She was working in a private neurological physiotherapy clinic and her patient had benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, a common inner ear issue. 

‘Their symptoms had resolved by the end of that session and I felt like I had a magic wand. 

‘They think you’re a magician. 

Mentoring is not a new concept for physiotherapist Dr David Worth MACP. 

Supporting and guiding others has been woven throughout his six-decade-long career in occupational health, management and leadership. 

For Stephanie Hawkins APAM, physiotherapy and teaching have always been intertwined. 

As a clinical educator at Austin Health, she’s combining both interests to improve how clinicians learn and how patients benefit. 

The APA’s next generation white paper—Physiotherapy. Shaping our future together—was launched at APASC25. It explores how we can better support early-career physiotherapists to transition from education to the workforce. In a special plenary session, two panels of physiotherapists discussed the challenges and opportunities for the next generation of physiotherapists. 

Attendees were literally spilling into the aisles at the mini keynote session about the power and potential of digital health technology. 

Speaking in the context of workforce capability, Associate Professor Mark Merolli MACP, a clinician and digital health and informatics researcher from the University of Melbourne, emphasised that digital technologies are becoming paramount to physiotherapy practice. 

‘We’ve entered into that age where technology literacy, technology skills are changing the very DNA of what it means to practise in healthcare.’ 

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. 

Anne, a cardiopulmonary physiotherapist whose work has shaped 40 clinical practice guidelines and who has produced more than 500 publications, spoke about the longstanding strength of the evidence for pulmonary rehabilitation and the ongoing failure to deliver it equitably.

In the Founder’s Address, Dr Melissa McConaghy FACP noted that the graduation marked a defining point in the graduands’ professional journey.

‘You are now specialists. Fellows of the College. That title carries weight, responsibility and immense opportunity. 

At the October APA scientific conference in Adelaide, delegates were invited to explore what comes next for the physiotherapy profession. Through a series of key presentations, physiotherapists from across the country discovered the latest in research, technology, evidence-based practice and social change. 

Professor Trudy Rebbeck’s contribution spans nearly 40 years of musculoskeletal clinician practice, tertiary education and evidence-informed research.