2025 Australian Pain Society 45th Annual Scientific Meeting in the IASP Global Year about Pain Management, Research and Education in
Low- and Middle-income Settings13 - 16 April 2025 | Pullman Melbourne Albert Park, VIC

University of Oxford
UK

Professor David Bennett (MB PhD) is Professor of neurology and neurobiology at the University of Oxford and consultant neurologist at Oxford University Hospitals in the UK. He is head of the Division of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford and a senior research fellow of Green Templeton College.

His research focus is to understand the pathogenesis of neural injury and neuropathic pain and ultimately improve the clinical management of this debilitating condition. He takes a translational approach ranging from cell-based models to human psychophysics and clinical cohorts. He administers a specialist neuropathic pain clinic based at Oxford University hospitals.

He has led the identification of novel clinical neuropathies and inherited pain channelopathies. He leads major international and national consortia including DOLORisk and PAINSTORM investigating risk factors and determinants of neuropathic pain. He received the PD Wall medal from the Royal College of Anaesthetists in 2016 and became an honorary Skou professor of Aarhus University in 2019. He was appointed to Fellowship if the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020 for excellence in pain research.

South Australian Chronic Pain Statewide Clinical Network

SA Australia

Professor Anne Burke is a registered psychologist with dual endorsement in the areas of clinical and health psychology. She is the Lead for the South Australian Chronic Pain Statewide Clinical Network, a Past President of the Australian Pain Society (2019-2021), Co-Director - Psychology in Central Adelaide Local Health Network and Clinical Professor with The University of Adelaide.

Anne has a strong interest in translational research and is keen for health system information to be leveraged more effectively to support sustainable improvements in healthcare delivery.

Kolling Institute

NSW Australia

Professor James Elliott, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is currently the Director of the Kolling Institute and the Academic Director of Allied Health and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and the Northern Sydney Local Health District. 

The primary focus of his interdisciplinary work uses high-resolution imaging techniques and artificial intelligence to automatically quantify altered spinal cord anatomy and whole-body skeletal muscle degeneration as potential markers of recovery following a traumatic injury.

His work has resulted in external recognition as a global collaborator in trauma, innovation, and personal/professional wellbeing. 

University of Melbourne

VIC Australia

Professor Jason Ivanusic is a teaching and research academic in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Melbourne. His research is focused on understanding the molecular and physiological mechanisms that contribute to pain derived from skeletal tissues, or of trigeminal origin, with a view to identifying targeted ways to treat it. He enjoys overcoming significant challenges that arise when working with skeletal tissues, and heads the only group in the world that is currently using electrophysiology to record directly from sensory neurons that innervate bone. He is also actively engaged in a program of work that explores mechanisms of pain management using ultrasound-guided nerve blocks, and which directly informs clinical practice in anaesthesia. When he’s not in or around the lab, he spends a lot of his time sharing his passion for teaching anatomy.  

University of Calgary
Canada

Melanie Noel, PhD, RPsych is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary and a Full Member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute. She directs the PEAK (Pain Education, Advocacy, Knowledge) Research Laboratory within the Vi Riddell Pain & Rehabilitation Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Canada.

Dr. Noel’s expertise is on children’s memories for pain and co-occurring mental health issues and pediatric chronic pain. She published guiding conceptual models of children’s pain memory development, co-occurring PTSD and chronic pain, and fear-avoidance. She has published over 225 papers in peer-reviewed journals (H index = 49). In recognition of her contributions to advancing knowledge of the psychological aspects of children’s pain, Dr. Noel received early career awards from the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), the Canadian Pain Society, the American Pain Society, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Society of Pediatric Psychology. She was named Avenue Magazine Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 (Class of 2017), a Killam Emerging Research Leader (2020), and holds the inaugural the Killam Memorial Emerging Leader Chair (2021-2026). In 2022, she was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.

University of Southampton
UK

Tamar is a Professor in Health Psychology, and a registered practicing practitioner with the Health and Care Professionals Council. Her research into psychological aspects of chronic pain spans 30 years, and has been cited by national guidelines, and changed practice on the ground.

She was the Director of the Research Centre for the study of Pain and Well-Being at Royal Holloway, until her move to the University of Southampton, and she is a core member of the Consortium to Research Individual, Interpersonal and Social Influences in Pain (CRIISP), which focuses on how people perceive pain and how others affect their pain, as well as considering wider social and environmental influences on pain.

Her research includes experiment approaches to explore psychological mechanisms in pain, observation studies to measure risk over time, trials to test effectiveness, and qualitative work, to examine the thoughts and beliefs of people living with pain and those who are part of their life. 

Examples include investigations of cognitive biases in people living with pain; the psychological predictors for poor outcome in low back pain, and the study of clinicians’ beliefs and behaviours and their effect on patients with pain, especially in reference to effective reassurance and return to work. She has been a core team member of many randomized controlled trials, and regularly provides advice on behavior change. Her practical work has focused on training practitioners in effective communication skills and fostering awareness of patients’ psychological needs and concerns, and her on-line videos have been viewed widely across the world.

President, IASP | Imperial College
UK

Andrew Rice is Professor of Pain Research at Imperial College London, where he leads the Pain Research Group. He is currently serving as President of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

His research focusses on translational research in neuropathic pain in the context of infection (HIV, leprosy, HTLV-1 & zoster), diabetes, conflict-related trauma and non-freezing cold injury. Having been active in pre-clinical pain research (esp pathophysiology of HIV neuropathy, animal modelling and cannabinoid pharmacology), he now works on innovating pre-clinical experimental design, validity and evidence synthesis.  Andrew’s clinical research includes deep profiling of neuropathic pain patients with a view to elucidating risk and enabling precision medicine, clinical trials and evidence synthesis. He collaborates with historians on aspects of neuropathic pain.

Andrew has authored ~250 publications (H-index 67), many in the leading specialist journal (PAIN). He has published in other notable journals including: Lancet, Brain, Lancet Neurology, Nature Methods, NEJM & BMJ.

Andrew has served as a Councillor of the International Association for the Study of Pain, liaison to South-East and is currently South Asia liaison. He was Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee for the 18th World Congress on Pain and of the Taskforce on Cannabinoid Analgesia. He previously held leadership positions in the IASP Special Interest Group on Neuropathic Pain.  

Andrew has received multiple awards including Imperial College’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Animal Research; the Patrick Wall Lecturer at both the British Pain Society and the Faculty of Pain Medicine and the Michael Cousins lecturer at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

www.imperial.ac.uk/people/a.rice

Victorian Institute of Sport

VIC Australia

Dr Ebonie Rio is a Sports Physiotherapist who has worked at the Victorian Institute of Sport since 2010, she also consults at The Australian Ballet, multiple AFL, Rugby, elite Soccer and Basketball clubs and she is the Senior Research Fellow at The Australian Ballet, a joint position with La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre. Ebonie co-leads activities in the High Performance 2032+ Strategy in Research and Innovation. Additionally, Ebonie sits on the Scientific Advisory Committee for Little Big Steps, a children’s charity that aims to increase physical activity in children undergoing cancer treatment to improve quality of life. Ebonie co-chairs both the Sports Medicine Australia conference and the International Scientific Tendon Symposium.

Her clinical career has included the Australian Institute of Sport, The Australian Open, Australian Ballet School, Melbourne Heart football club, Commonwealth Games 2006, 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics, 2012 London Paralympics, 18 months travelling with Disney’s The Lion King stage show and she was awarded the Post-Graduate Scholarship at the AIS (2007).  She has completed her Phd in tendon pain, Masters Sports Phys, Ba. Phys (hons) and Ba. App Sci.  Her clinically focussed research has been awarded Victorian Fresh Scientist of the year 2015, ASICS SMA Best New Investigator 2004, 2013 & 2014 in Clinical Sports Medicine, best clinical science Pain Adelaide 2013, BJSM young investigator Best Clinical Paper 2014 and the Professor Mollie Holman medal for the best thesis of the faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Monash University 2015 and the ECR best paper 2015. 

Royal North Shore Hospital

NSW Australia

Dr Saurab Sharma is a Chief Clinical Scientist at Pain Management and Research Centre at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Conjoint Senior Lecturer at the Pain Management Research Institute at the University of Sydney and has honorary appointments at the University of New South Wales and Neuroscience Research Australia. Before this role, he was a pain researcher, physiotherapist, and educator in Nepal for almost a decade. He has published over 115 peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Sharma’s research is focused around advancing pain assessment, management, and research in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for which he has received several awards including Exceptional PhD thesis award, International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) John J. Bonica Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the NHMRC Investigator Grant. Dr Sharma chairs Consortium for Low Back Pain in LMICs. He currently serves as a co-chair for the IASP Global Year 2025, which focuses on pain in low/middle-income settings.

University of Sydney

NSW Australia

Dr Tiê Yamato (PT, PhD) is a leading expert in pediatric pain, with a specific focus on musculoskeletal conditions. She is a Research Fellow at the School of Health Sciences, the University of Sydney. She has published over 70 research articles and >4500 citations. Her research has influenced clinical practice guidelines globally and advanced the understanding of the global burden of musculoskeletal conditions, particularly in low and middle-income countries.

Dr Yamato will be presenting the IASP Global Year Lecture alongside Dr Saurab Sharma.