ABOUT THE PRF

Professor Suzanne Kuys is an APA Neurological Physiotherapist and is the National Head of the School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University. Suzanne’s research focuses on rehabilitation of people following stroke across the continuum of care. Suzanne is interested in optimising rehabilitation outcomes, particularly in gait rehabilitation, to maximise physical activity and participation within the community.   

Dr Claire Baldwin is a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at Flinders University. Her research focuses physical activity and sedentary behaviour in acutely hospitalised groups, with a particular focus on older adults and people with a critical illness.

Dr Barradell is an Early Career Researcher and Titled Physiotherapist (Neurology) currently working at Swinburne University of Technology. Her research interests focus on professional purpose, workforce development, work-integrated learning and student success, contributing to healthcare by producing high-quality, entrepreneurial graduates who deliver quality care to the community.

Dr Kelly Bower is a Senior Lecturer (teaching and research) at the University of Melbourne, and also works as a physiotherapy clinician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She has a passion for neurological rehabilitation, falls prevention and finding innovative ways to use technology to enhance recovery and function.

Dr Cottrell’s primary field of research is investigating the role that telehealth (specifically videoconferencing) has in physiotherapy assessment and management. She is a senior member of the Queensland Health Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Screening Clinic and Multidisciplinary Services (MPSC&MDS) research team, which focusses on improving the non-surgical management of patients referred to an advanced-practice musculoskeletal service.  Her substantive role is Research Coordinator for Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Physiotherapy Department. 

Dr Scott Farrell is a physiotherapist and Research Fellow at RECOVER Injury Research Centre, The University of Queensland. Scott’s research investigates mechanisms underpinning musculoskeletal pain after injury, with a focus on chronic whiplash neck pain.

Dr. Gupta is an academic and conducts both quantitative and qualitative research across a diverse range of areas including motor control, biomechanics, pain, and clinical practice. He continues to work clinically as an emergency department physiotherapist on weekends and has ongoing roles with the APA and APC.

Dr Sean Horan is a Senior Lecturer in musculoskeletal physiotherapy at Griffith University. His research focusses on the assessment of neuromotor function in older adults using electrical stimulation, biomechanical analyses of movement using motion analyses, and the management of musculoskeletal disorders through both therapeutic and exercise based physical activity interventions.

Judy is a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at ACU, a consultant physiotherapist in the neonatal nursery at Mater Mothers Hospital and an honorary Associate Professor at Mater Research-UQ where she is the co-program leader of the Critical Care of the Newborn (CCNB) research program and the respiratory team leader.

Dr Jones graduated as a physiotherapist in the UK, and has since spent many years as a clinician educator.  She specialised in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and worked in the UK as an extended scope practitioner.  On returning returned to Australia in 2016, she completing her PhD at La Trobe University in December 2020 and is currently The Allied Health Research and Knowledge Translation Lead at Barwon and South West Healthcare.

Annemarie’s research areas of interest are physiotherapy for bronchiectasis, including airway clearance and exercise based in interventions and examining the clinical impact of comorbidities. She is also exploring the role of adjuncts to pulmonary rehabilitation to maximise outcomes. 

Dr Nia Luxton is a Senior Lecturer at ACU, a Senior Physiotherapist and a Titled Member of the APA. Her areas of interest are digital health, prevention and cessation of tobacco and e-cigarettes, and health policy.

Associate Professor Mills is a clinical scientist with a strong interest in sports physiotherapy, footwear and knee pain across the lifespan.  She has worked in primary care and sports settings for 20 years, including a post-doctoral fellowship focused on knee osteoarthritis in Canada and as a team physiotherapist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Kathryn currently works as an academic (teaching/research) and clinician in Sydney. 

Shane is a former Associate Dean (Programs Coordinator) within the School of Physiotherapy, University of Notre Dame Australia, and lead the cardiorespiratory stream. He is immediate past Chair of the Australian Physiotherapy Council, was on the Conference Planning Committee (CPC) for WCPT Geneva 2019, and presently chairs the CPC for World Physiotherapy Congress 2021.

Dr Sze-Ee Soh is a teaching and research academic with extensive clinical experience in the provision of physiotherapy care for older adults. Her research focus is intentionally broad and spans chronic diseases (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, osteoarthritis), falls prevention, health services research, patient reported outcomes and psychometrics.

Professor Weerasekara is a Lecturer at Federation University and Adjunct Associate Lecturer at The University of Newcastle and The University of Adelaide.  She specialises in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy and Evidence Synthesis. She also serves as an Associate Editor for BMC Systematic Reviews and is a former Ireland Evidence Synthesis Fellow. 

Dr Joshua Zadro is a Physiotherapist and NHMRC-funded Postdoctoral Researcher. He completed his PhD in 2017 with a research focus on physical activity-based self-management strategies for people with chronic back pain. His current research focuses on utilising eHealth to reduce waiting times for outpatient musculoskeletal physiotherapy in the public sector.