Pain School for Translation and ResearchpainSTAR 202615 - 19 November 2026 | Novotel Barossa Valley

Co-Director - Psychology, Central Adelaide Local Health Network

SA Australia

Professor Anne Burke is a registered psychologist with dual endorsement in the areas of clinical and health psychology.  She is the Co-Director - Psychology and Allied Health Lead - Surgery 3 in Central Adelaide Local Health Network and Clinical Professor with Adelaide University. She was also the Inaugural Lead for the South Australian Chronic Pain Statewide Clinical Network (2020-2025) and a Past President of the Australian Pain Society (2019-2021). Anne has a strong interest in translational research and is keen for health system information to be leveraged more effectively so that together, we can support sustainable improvements in healthcare delivery.

University of Adelaide

SA Australia

Professor Rainer Viktor Haberberger is the Wood Jones Chair of Anatomy at The University of Adelaide, where he also heads up the Peripheral Pain Laboratory. Previously he was Professor of Anatomy & Histology, Head of the Pain & Pulmonary Neurobiology, and Convenor of the Centre for Neuroscience at Flinders University. He studied Human Biology (Medical Research) at the Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany and has been a Senior Scientist and Lecturer at the Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany until 2005.

His main areas of research interest are novel signalling mechanisms in pain transducing cells and how to utilize those to create a “pain-measurement device”. He received the Collaborative Research Grant of the International Society for the Study of Pain (IASP) 2006 & 2010, the Decima Strachan and Claire Lilia Wooton Estates “Spinal Cord Research Award” of the Australian Brain Foundation 2008 and the Australian Lung Foundation “Ludwig Engel Grant-in-Aid” for Physiological Research 2011. In 2017 he was chief investigator of an application that received the “John Boyd Craig Research Award”, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

Monash University

VIC Australia

Wendy Imlach is the head of the Pain Mechanisms lab at Monash University, in the Department of Physiology and Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute.  Wendy and her team investigate changes in the nervous system that drive and maintain chronic pain states. Wendy’s work focuses on the excitability and control of neuronal signalling within spinal cord pain pathways to understand the origin and persistence of pathological pain. Her goal is to identify novel therapeutic targets and more effective treatments for neuropathic pain conditions.

Australian Pain Society

QLD Australia

Ms Trudy Maunsell (RN RM NUM Cert B Health Management MScMed (Pain Management) Clinical Nurse Consultant) has a broad range of clinical experience in rural, remote and metropolitan hospitals as a Registered Nurse and Midwife and has been involved in pain management as a Clinical Nurse Consultant for the past 28 years after becoming interested in pain whilst a Nursing Unit Manager of an acute surgical ward in a regional referral hospital.

University of South Australia

SA Australia

A/Professor Tasha Stanton is the co-Director and Osteoarthritis Research Theme Lead for IIMPACT in Health at The University of South Australia, Adelaide. She also leads the Persistent Pain Research Group at the South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute. She is a clinical pain neuroscientist, with original training as a physiotherapist. She has a specific interest in chronic pain, including pain education, osteoarthritis, low back pain, cortical body representation, somatosensation, and body illusions using virtual and mediated reality.  She has received >$7.8m in competitive research funding, has published >110 peer-reviewed journal articles, has authored a book on Pain Science Education for Osteoarthritis (EPIPHAKnee) and she has been a keynote/invited speaker at >100 national and international conferences. Her research has won both national and international awards, including the World Congress of Pain Ronald Dubner research award, the Australian Pain Society Rising Star Award and the Australian Physiotherapy Association Best New Investigator Award. She has been recognised by the field for her scientific communication including ABC RN’s Top 5 under 40 scientific communicators and AIPS Young Tall Poppy of the Year (SA).

The Canberra Hospital

ACT Australia

Dr Andrew Watson is a Senior Staff Specialist in Anaesthetics and Pain Management in Canberra’s public health system. His clinical practice encompasses anaesthesia, inpatient, transitional and outpatient pain management, and working in a multidisciplinary programme using ketamine as an adjunct to treat PTSD with veterans. Prior to Anaesthesia, Andrew worked as a rural general practitioner in both Australia and Canada, including three years with the Queensland Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Andrew is passionate about teaching across all levels—from medical students to consultant colleagues. His particular interests lie in both pain management and communication: both to boost the powerful analgesic medications used by an anaesthetist and in immersive simulation for crisis management training.

Andrew views pain as the most challenging and stimulating part of his practice. The scope for further therapies to transform care, from basic sciences and cures to implementing current knowledge, is simply much bigger and has much more ability to transform outcomes than other aspects of his practice.

Current Position: Senior Staff Specialist Anaesthesia and Pain Management, North Canberra Hospital and The Canberra Hospital; Clinical Lead Pain, North Canberra Hospital
Qualifications include: FANZCA, FRACGP, MTMMPH, Dip Clin Hyp, DipRACOG, BHB, MBChB