University of lowa
USA
Dr Kathleen Sluka (PT, PhD, FAPTA) is Professor of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science and Professor of Neuroscience and Pharmacology at the University of lowa.
Dr Sluka's laboratory studies the peripheral and central mechanisms of chronic musculoskeletal pain, and non-pharmacological treatment for chronic pain. Her overall goals are to improve the management of pain for people with a variety of musculoskeletal pain conditions by discovering the underlying mechanisms that lead to the development of chronic pain, discovering new therapies for pain management, and improving the use of currently available treatment for pain.
Concussion Care Centre of Virginia
USA
Dr Nathan D. Zasler (MD, DABPM&R, FAAPM&R, FACRM, BIM, CBIST) is Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Concussion Care Centre of Virginia, as well as Founder and current Medical Director of Tree of Life in Richmond, Virginia.
He is an affiliate professor in the VCU Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Richmond, VA, and a visiting professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Dr Zasler is Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson Emeritus of the International Brain Injury Association (IBIA). Dr Zasler has published and lectured extensively on traumatic brain injury related neuromedical issues and is an advocate, educator, clinical researcher, inventor and entrepreneur.
Burwood Hospital
New Zealand
Mark is an advanced practice physiotherapist in stroke rehabilitation working at Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, NZ. Qualifying in Ireland, he has worked across several countries and settings.
He is interested in evidence based stroke rehab and implementation science. Throughout his career he has sought to improve the services he's been a part of, and to tackle the knowledge-to-action gap so that patients receive the best care possible.
Flinders Medical Centre
SA Australia
A/Professor Zoe Adey-Wakeling, PhD is a Senior Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine at Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia and is Head of the Rehabilitation Unit in the SA Local Health Network. She also holds Academic Status with Flinders University. Her PhD focused on the hemiplegic upper limb, with publications in Stroke and Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and outcomes cited in national and international clinical practice guidelines for Stroke.
A/Professor Adey-Wakeling has presented at national and international conferences, including the International Stroke Conference and the Stroke Society of Australasia. She has a particular interest in Driving Fitness Assessment and was the lead in the Australian College of Rehabilitation Medicine Working Party in the development of a position statement regarding driving assessment and has developed telehealth clinics addressing driving in regional communities.
University of Sydney
NSW Australia
Dr Johnny Bourke is a Research Fellow at the John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research at the University of Sydney. His lived experience of high-level spinal cord injury, combined with his academic experience, has allowed him to build a particularly unique understanding of the clinical and theoretical contexts in which rehabilitation services are developed, implemented and assessed. Johnny is a fellow of Sydney Health Partners Implementation Science Academy and was awarded the 2022 Canterbury Medical Research Fund Emerging Researcher Fellowship and the 2025 Laffan Prize at the University of Sydney. Much of Johnny’s work focuses on using co-design methods to promote the involvement of people with the lived experience of injury and disability in the research process.
Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland
New Zealand
Karen Brewer (Whakatōhea, Ngaiterangi) is a speech-language therapist and kaupapa Māori researcher at Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland. She holds two appointments – Co-Director Māori of Pūtahi Manawa | Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand (CoRE), and Senior Lecturer in Speech Science, Psychology.
Karen graduated with a PhD in Speech Science from Waipapa Taumata Rau in 2014. Before that, she spent two years working in the Speech Language Therapy Department at Waikato Hospital. Karen’s research interests are in stroke and aphasia, as well as broader issues of cultural safety and Māori workforce development. During her time at Waikato Hospital, Karen observed the difficulties faced by whānau Māori with stroke. This inspired her PhD about the experiences of Māori with aphasia, their whānau members and SLTs, and subsequent postdoc in which she developed a kaupapa Māori therapy package for stroke-related communication disorders. As a result of her work with Māori with aphasia, Karen was invited to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal as a technical witness (WAI 2736, WAI 1781) in November 2022. Karen is currently co-principal investigator on a Health Research Council of New Zealand Health Delivery Project titled “Embedding accessible communication in post-stroke care”.
From 2020 to 2023 Karen was a senior research fellow on Manawataki Fatu Fatu for ACCESS, a programme of research funded by the Heart Foundation and Healthier Lives National Science Challenge aiming to achieve equity in cardiovascular disease. The programme integrates qualitative and quantitative studies to investigate access-related gaps in treatment for Māori and Pacific peoples along the cardiovascular healthcare-continuum. Karen worked on the qualitative aspects of this programme, employing kaupapa Māori and Pacific research methodologies in interviews and focus groups with Māori and Pacific patients and their support networks, service providers and policy makers.
University of Sydney
NSW Australia
Ian Cameron is a Consultant Physician in Rehabilitation Medicine and has the Chair in Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, at the University of Sydney. He is a clinician researcher. Current research themes are injury, rehabilitation and disability; specifically disability and health in older people, musculoskeletal injury in compensable settings, and catastrophic injury (associated with severe long-term disability).
National Clinical Stroke Network
New Zealand
Alan is a geriatrician and stroke physician from Tai Tokerau, Northland. He is co-lead for the National Clinical Stroke Network and also clinical lead for stroke for the Northern Region of New Zealand. Previous roles have included Clinical Advisor for Stroke for the Ministry of Health and Clinical Lead for Health of Older People for the Northern Region. He has been involved in the planning and implementation of stroke services across New Zealand, in particular the Northern Region of New Zealand. Across his career, he has held a range of clinical leadership and health management positions.
University of Otago
New Zealand
Dr Hemakumar Devan (he/him) is a clinical academic in pain management from New Zealand, working as a Lecturer at the Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit (RTRU), University of Otago and as a Pain Management Physiotherapist at the Wellington Regional Pain Service, Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley.
With equity and valuing lived experience expertise at the centre, Dr Devan’s research programme aims to foster self-management support to empower people with persistent pain and their whānau (family and significant others). He currently co-leads a HRC Health Delivery Project Grant to co-develop and implement a story-based, whānau-focused, opioid tapering intervention for people with chronic non-cancer pain.Strategically, his goal is to address health inequities and improve health outcomes for people with persistent pain and their whānau.
In the past five years, Dr Devan has secured over $3.5M in funding, published 41 peer-reviewed articles, and delivered 70+ national and international presentations in pain management. He is a co-chair of the IASP Sex, Gender and Race SIG, council member of the New Zealand Pain Society and the Deputy Director of Pain@Otago research theme. Dr Devan is a passionate science communicator often presenting his work in pain conferences and in social media (@HemDevan).
St Vincent's Hospital
NSW Australia
Professor Steven Faux was the establishing Director of the St Vincent’s Hospital’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in 2000 and is the current director of Pain Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. He is a Conjoint Professor of Medicine at the University of NSW and the University of Notre Dame.
Professor Faux has led NSW Health’s rehabilitation Community of Practice in COVID19. He is on the management committee of the Australian Stroke Registry, the Clinical Council of the National Stroke Foundation and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has served on the board of the RMSANZ for over 4 years, is the current RMSANZ President, and was the scientific lead of the ISPRM Congress in Sydney 2024.
University of Auckland
New Zealand
Associate Professor Matire Harwood (MBChB (University of Auckland), PhD in Medicine (University of Otago), Ngāpuhi) is the Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland; and continues to practice one day a week as a General Practitioner/Family Physician.
She has served on several national Boards and Advisory Committees in New Zealand including Waitematā District Health Board, Health Research Council, COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group and Primary Care Strategy at the Ministry of Health and the Māori Advisory Committee to New Zealand’s Minister of Health.
Matire has been recognised for her work with numerous awards across research, teaching and leadership. These include the 2017 L’Oréal UNESCO New Zealand ‘For Women In Science Fellowship’ for research in Indigenous health, the Health Research Council’s Te Tohu Rapuora award in 2019 for leadership in research to improve Māori health, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Community Service Medal in 2022 and the Butland Award in 2023 for Excellence in Research Supervision. She received the King’s Service Medal in June 2024 for her contribution to Māori health. She has 180+ publications, teaches in the medical programme and supervises postgraduate students.
Monash University
VIC Australia
Professor Keith Hill was the inaugural Director of the Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre at Monash University (July 2019-Feb 2024), and is currently the Ageing Stream Lead for the RAIL Research Centre.
Keith is a physiotherapist and senior researcher, with over 40 years clinical experience in rehabilitation and aged care, and an extensive track record in implementing and completing a broad range of research programs for older people in the community, hospital and residential aged care settings.
Keith’s research is across the broad area of ageing well, with particular research expertise in the areas of falls prevention, exercise, balance and mobility assessment, and carer health and wellbeing, and has a strong interdisciplinary focus. Keith has over 400 publications, and >$48million in grant funding as a Chief Investigator.
Auckland University of Technology
New Zealand
Nicola Kayes is Professor of Rehabilitation and Co-Director of the Centre for Person Centred Research (https://cpcr.aut.ac.nz/) at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. With a background in health psychology, Professor Kayes specific research draws insights from the intersection between health psychology and rehabilitation – examining how what we know about how people think, feel, behave, and respond in the context of injury and illness can inform rehabilitation structures and practices to optimise outcome. Her recent research has focused on person-centred rehabilitation, therapeutic relationship and engagement, telerehabilitation, peer support, and ways of working which build psychosocial resources for recovery and adaptation.
University of Adelaide
SA Australia
Professor Ruth Marshall AO is a past President of the International Spinal Cord Society, the first woman to be elected to the position, and is a Clinical Professor at the University of Adelaide.
After graduating in Medicine from Sydney University in 1977, Ruth undertook training in Rehabilitation Medicine in the last group to complete the Diploma in Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine in 1982. She was elected to Fellowship of the Australasian College of Rehab Medicine in 1984 and, in 1993, to the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. She has been very active in various Faculty and College committees including 9 years as the Chair of the CPD committee.
Ruth has been the Medical Director of The South Australian Spinal Cord Injury service (SASCIS) since 1986, a service which provides acute injury management, rehabilitation and life-time follow-up for people who have suffered spinal cord injury or disease.
Ruth is considered an expert in spinal cord injury management especially the medical sequelae (short and long term) and rehabilitation issues throughout life stages. Her research interests include issues to do with living with a spinal cord injury and the effect of ageing, bone health after spinal cord injury, improving outcomes during acute and rehabilitation stages and preventing late complications.
In 2023, Ruth was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her distinguished service in Rehabilitation Medicine, particularly spinal cord injury, for her clinical work, teaching, and mentoring.
University of Auckland
New Zealand
Dr Helen Murray is a research fellow at the University of Auckland Centre for Brain Research where she leads the brain injury and dementia research group. She completed her PhD at the University of Auckland with Professor Maurice Curtis in 2017 and a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr Alan Koretsky at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA in 2020. Her research explores the biological mechanisms that link repetitive head injuries and neurodegeneration. She has specific expertise in the neuropathology of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Alzheimer's disease. Dr Murray studies post-mortem human brain tissue donated to the Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank using a novel tissue labelling technique called multiplex immunohistochemistry to label up to 100 proteins on a single piece of tissue. This powerful high-content labelling and analysis approach allows different tissue pathologies to be assessed at a single-cell level using just one tissue section. Dr Murray has also represented New Zealand in Ice Hockey since 2013 and captained the New Zealand Ice Fernz from 2016-2020. Her research on the link between repetitive head injuries and dementia is closely aligned with her experience as an athlete and her expertise in human neuropathology research.
University of Otago
New Zealand
Dr Jo Nunnerley is a clinical researcher working in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch and as a physiotherapist with ABI Rehabilitation.
Jo’s research centers around improving rehabilitation outcomes, with a strong focus on co-design and implementation.
RECOVER Injury Research Centre
QLD Australia
Dr Chris Papic is a Research Fellow in musculoskeletal injury at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre (The University of Queensland) and a Clinical Exercise Physiologist (ESSA) with 10 years of experience in rehabilitation hospital settings. Chris co-leads the 'Knowledge translation, education and implementation' theme for the Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research (CIPHeR); CIPHeR unites groups of pain researchers across The University of Queensland to work collaboratively toward the single end of cracking the code on pain. Chris is on the International Association for the Study of Pain Early Career Network Collaboration Committee.
Chris' research and clinical passion is to optimise care for people experiencing pain after traumatic injury. His research focusses on translation and implementation science projects including evaluating the implementation of the Australian whiplash clinical guidelines with health professionals and insurers, upskilling physiotherapists in delivering integrated psychological and physical care for people after road traffic injury and developing international clinical guidelines for chronic non-specific neck pain.
Prince of Wales Hospital
NSW Australia
Dr Peter Sturgess is a staff specialist rehab physician and Director of Dept of Rehabilitation at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. He is interested in the rehabilitation of neurological conditions and is undertaking a PhD looking into the autonomic effects of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation in persons living with tetraplegia. His other work interests include rehabilitation of persons living with obesity and was chair of the working group that produced the AFRM Bariatric Rehabilitation Position Statement in 2023.
University of Otago
New Zealand
Kelly Tikao (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe and Ngāi Tahu) (PhD, RCpN, Cert.Te Reo, BA Māori, MsciComm) is a creative researcher with Hakeke Productions. This role combines her diverse interests and enthusiasm for listening, writing and sharing stories in health and broadcasting. Her many years in health as a registered nurse within Māori and mainstream health and social services have offered profound insight for Kelly on the fine line between vulnerability and resilience. Delving into qualitative research in disability with the Donald Beasley Institute and evaluation with Ihi Research provided more opportunities for Kelly to extend her research capabilities. She lectures hauora Māori at the Tari o Tapuhi (Department of Nursing) and the Māori Indigenous Health Innovations (MIHI) Department at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka ki Ōtautahi (University of Otago, Christchurch campus). Kelly is also an Adjunct Fellow and Senior Researcher at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (University of Canterbury).
A strong thread throughout Kelly’s life has been her passion for the arts. She has been a radio announcer, producer, and script consultant. Kelly has also dabbled in and out of television and film as she gathered experience across the broadcasting industry. When Kelly is not conjuring up creative projects she is following through on her doctoral recommendations that contribute to the rejuvenation of Ngāi Tahu Birthing knowledge and practices. This has recently included holding wānanga for Māori midwives and artists, recording oriori (specific waiata for māmā and pēpi to transmit iwi knowledge) for whānau, and developing a website to showcase new resources and information on this kaupapa to both Māori midwives and whānau www.hakui.nz. Kelly advocates for Māori, Māori knowledge and Māori ways of being. Kelly affiliates to all of the Marae on the Horomaka and further afield in the takiwā of Ngāi Tahu.
Nepean Hospital
NSW Australia
Dr Sharon Wong (MBBS BSc (Hons) FAFRM AFRACMA) is the Head of Rehabilitation Department at Nepean Hospital, NSW Australia, and has over 15 years clinical experience as a senior staff specialist.
She has extensive experience in general rehabilitation with a special interest in spasticity management, bariatric rehabilitation and service development. She is particularly interested in the psychosocial impacts of disability and complex discharge planning.
Sharon is actively involved in the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, as the current chair of the Accreditation Subcommittee, member of the Faculty Training Committee and accredited supervisor and examiner.