For more than two decades, Professor Michele Sterling has been at the forefront of pain research, reshaping how physiotherapists understand musculoskeletal injury, chronic pain and recovery after whiplash injury. Michele was recently named in The Australian’s top 250 researchers of 2026 and is the leading researcher in the area of pain and pain management. 

At the APA Victorian Branch Winter Breakfast on 24 July, keynote speaker Professor Catherine Granger will explore the growing role of prehabilitation in major cancer surgery.

Two research projects on knee osteoarthritis, in partnership with the APA, were recently awarded Medical Research Future Fund grants.

Physiotherapy is often described as a blend of science and human connection but for Georgia Pope it also includes colour, humour and visual storytelling. As both a neurological physiotherapist and an emerging anatomy artist, Georgia is exploring new ways to communicate complex ideas about the body – within clinical settings and beyond them.

Falls are not an inevitable consequence of aging, yet they remain one of the greatest and most costly public health challenges facing Australia’s older population. At the APASC25 conference in October last year, physiotherapist-researcher Professor Anne-Marie Hill delivered a compelling, evidence-based and practical presentation that reframed falls prevention as a clinical responsibility and a public health imperative.

Physiotherapy careers often run in families but rarely across three generations working in different eras of the profession. For Jill Morrison, her daughter Shan Morrison and grandson Xander Clausen, physiotherapy is not just a career path – it is a shared language that has evolved across six decades of healthcare.

As April Falls Month casts a spotlight on mobility, independence and dignity later in life, the work of physiotherapists with older people has never been more visible. Julie Rogers’ career challenges assumptions about aged care physiotherapy and shows how deeply rewarding and impactful this area of practice can be.

Season 2 of the Physios on the Mic podcast turns its focus to pain, with hosts Sophie Shephard and Matt Fa.

Virtual physiotherapy care may be just as powerful as a hospital bed for non-serious low back pain. At the APASC25 scientific conference in Adelaide, Dr Chathurani Sigera described how the Back@Home program in Sydney is helping patients recover in their own homes.

DISABILITY Ashleigh Hoo might be relatively new to physiotherapy but her work in the disability sector has already made a significant impact. Here, Ashleigh discusses joining the APA Disability national group’s New South Wales committee as its new graduate representative.