People
Professor Chris Maher
Professor Chris Maher
Chris is the Director of the Musculoskeletal Division and a Professor of Physiotherapy in the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Sydney. He holds an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship and a number of ARC and NHMRC research grants.
Chris's research focuses on the management of low back pain in primary care. Recent and current studies include clinical trials, studies of prognosis and diagnosis and systematic reviews.
Chris can be contacted at cmaher@george.org.au.
[list of publications on PubMed]
Associate Professor Rob Herbert
Associate Professor Rob Herbert
Rob Herbert is a senior research fellow at The George Institute for International Health, associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University, and senior honorary research associate at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute.
Rob’s primary interest is in the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions, particularly stretch-based interventions for prevention and treatment of contracture. He also conducts complementary research into the passive mechanical properties of human muscles and tendons.
Rob can be contacted at rherbert@george.org.au.
[list of publications on PubMed]
Associate Professor Jane Latimer
Associate Professor Jane Latimer
Jane Latimer is an Associate Professor at The George Institute for International Health and at the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Sydney.
Jane’s research focuses on spinal conditions evaluating effective therapies for low back pain, and issues related to prevalence, diagnosis, prognosis and risk.
Jane can be contacted at jlatimer@george.org.au.
[list of publications on PubMed]
Dr Catherine Sherrington
Cathie is a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute for International Health and at the Unversity of Sydney. She is also an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute and Conjoint Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales.
Her research focuses on the design and evaluation of exercise programs for the prevention of falls and disability in older people. Recent and current studies include clinical trials, systematic reviews and cohort studies.
Cathie is a Chief Investigator for four current NHMRC Grants. Prior to completing her PhD and Masters of Public Health Cathie was a clinical physiotherapist in aged care and rehabilitation.
Cathie can be contacted at csherrington@george.org.au.
[list of publications on PubMed]
Dr Anne Moseley
Dr Anne Moseley
Anne is a Senior Research Fellow in the Musculoskeletal Division at The George Institute for International Health. She has a background in physiotherapy, and is responsible for managing the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro).
Anne's research focuses on evaluating the effects of rehabilitation interventions. Recent and current studies include clinical trials and systematic reviews (including four Cochrane reviews).
Anne can be contacted at amoseley@george.org.au.
[list of publications on PubMed]
Dr Marlene Fransen
Dr Marlene Fransen
Marlene Fransen is a Senior Research Fellow at the George Institute for International Health and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney. Marlene holds a NHMRC Career Development Award 2006-2010.
Marlene’s research focuses on osteoarthritis involving the lower limb joints. She is the currently Chief Investigator of the Long-term Evaluation of Glucosamine Sulfate - LEGS study and the Maximum Recovery after Knee Replacement Surgery - MARKER study. Marlene is also involved in a number of other research projects and is lead author on three ongoing Cochrane Systematic Reviews.
Dr Fransen can be contacted at mfransen@george.org.au
[list of journal articles on PubMed]
Dr James McAuley
Dr James McAuley
James McAuley is the Research Manager of the Musculoskeletal Division of The George Institute for International Health and a Lecturer (Research Only) in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney.
James’ primary interest is in the diagnosis, prognosis and management of low back pain. James is also the PhD student liaison officer for the Musculoskeletal Division.
James can be contacted at jmcauley@george.org.au.
[list of publications on PubMed]
Lillias Nairn
Lillias Nairn
Lillias is a Research Officer in the Musculoskeletal Program at The George Institute. She is a physiotherapist with extensive clinical experience in the field of musculoskeletal conditions. She has worked as a clinician in large teaching hospitals in the UK and in Australia and spent 5 years as a clinical educator before joining a private practice.
Lillias has been involved in research since 2003 when she accepted the position of research manager for the PAFORM study, another George Institute initiative. Her duties involved the development of study materials, participant recruitment, collection of study outcome measurements and data entry.
Lillias can be contacted at lnairn@george.org.au
Maria Agaliotis
Maria Agaliotis
Maria Agaliotis is a Research Officer at The George Institute for International Health. Maria has a background in clinical nursing and has a Bachelor of Social Science & Policy and Masters degree in Public Health.
Maria is working on a clinical trial looking at the effects of glucosamine sulphate for people presenting with early stages of osteoarthritis and examining the health care costs of this treatment. Her areas of special interest include health economics and comparative health care systems and clinical project and data management in health research.
Maria can be contacted at magaliotis@george.org.au.
Dr Christine Lin
Dr Christine Lin
Chris Lin is a Research Fellow at The George Institute for International Health.
Chris’ research focuses on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of rehabilitation for musculoskeletal conditions. Her PhD was on rehabilitation after ankle fracture. She now works on the MARKER Study, which investigates the effectiveness of rehabilitation after total knee replacement.
Chris can be contacted at clin@george.org.au.
[List of publications on PubMed]
Leonardo Costa
Leonardo Costa
Leo Costa is a full-time PhD Student at The George Institute for International Health and faculty of medicine at The University of Sydney. He is also a senior lecturer at the Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Leo’s research focuses on motor control exercises for low back pain patients and clinimetric properties of different health-related outcome measures. He also conducts studies on physiotherapy interventions for low back pain patients and in overtraining in athletes.
Leo can be contacted at lcosta@george.org.au.
[List of publications on PubMed]
Luciana Machado
Luciana Machado
Luciana Machado is a full-time PhD candidate at The George Institute for International Health and the University of Sydney.
Luciana’s research focuses on the effectiveness of conservative treatments for low back pain. She also conducts research into the influence of bias in clinical research and relevant aspects for the design and interpretation of randomised controlled trials.
Luciana can be contacted at lmachado@george.org.au.
[List of publications on PubMed]
Luciana Macedo
Luciana Macedo
Luciana Macedo is a full-time PhD Student at The George Institute for International Health and the University of Sydney. She completed her Bachelor Degree in Physiotherapy at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil and a Master of Science (thesis) degree at the University of Alberta, Canada.
Luciana’s research focuses on the effectiveness of exercise therapy for low back pain and possible treatment modifiers for these interventions. She also has a growing interest in research methodology, specifically randomised controlled trials.
Luciana can be contacted at lmacedo@george.org.au.
[list of publications on PubMed]
Steve Kamper
Steve Kamper
Steve Kamper is a full-time PhD Student at The George Institute for International Health and is supported by an NHMRC Primary Care scholarship. He also works part-time as a physiotherapist treating mainly musculoskeletal patients in private practice.
Steve’s research focuses on the prognosis of people with whiplash injuries, specifically investigating which factors put people at risk of poor outcome. Other research interests include the placebo effect and measurement of outcome from a clinical and research perspective.
Steven can be contacted at skamper@george.org.au.
[List of publications on PubMed]
Joanna Diong
Joanna Diong
Joanna Diong is a full-time PhD Student at The George Institute for International Health and the University of Sydney.
Joanna’s research focuses on the incidence and mechanisms of contracture in people with spinal cord injury. She has completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy) Honours I at the University of Sydney in 2004. She continues to maintain a clinical physiotherapy position at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney.
Joanna can be contacted at jdiong@george.org.au.
Li Khim Kwah
Li Khim Kwah
Li Khim Kwah is a full-time PhD Student at The George Institute for International Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. She also teaches part-time at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney in Neurological Physiotherapy.
Li Khim’s research focuses on contractures in stroke patients and length-tension properties of muscles and tendons in normals, super-flexible people and people with contractures.
Li Khim can be contacted at lkwah@george.org.au.
Betty Ramsay
Betty Ramsay
Betty Ramsay is a Research Associate at The George Institute for International Health and an Honorary Research Physiotherapist at Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute. She has worked as a physiotherapist in the UK and Australia specialising in community health and older people.
Betty’s research focuses on strength and balance exercises to prevent falls in older people.
Betty can be contacted at bramsay@george.org.au.
Sandra O’Rourke
Sandra O'Rourke
Sandra O’Rourke is a part-time Research Assistant at the George Institute for International Health and the University of Sydney (Discipline of Physiotherapy). She is also affiliated with the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute Falls group.
Sandra’s research focuses on the prevention of falls in a number of RCT’s which include studies involving Stroke and Parkinson's disease participants. She is currently working on a study looking at minimising disability and falls post hospital stay. She has completed a Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) and is a certified Physiotherapy Aide.
Sandra can be contacted at so’rourke@george.org.au.
Chris Williams
Chris Williams
Chris Williams is a Casual Research Assistant at the George Institute for International Health.
He is currently also completing a Graduate Entry Masters in Physiotherapy. Chris is involved with the Low Back Pain in General Practice Study and the LEGS Study.
Chris can be contacted at cwilliams@george.org.au.
Vicki Nicholson
Vicki is the administration assistant for PEDro. Vicki’s primary tasks include managing the PEDro database including identifying, recording and entering records.
Vicki can be contacted at vnicholson@george.org.au.
Dr Milana Votrubec
Milana Votrubec is a GP consultant at the George Institute for International Health and a Pain Management consultant at Delmar Private Hospital, Sydney. She is also a Clinical Associate of the University of Sydney.
Milana’s research focuses on osteoarthritis of the knee and its response to the food supplements of glucosamine sulphate and chondroitin. She is completing the Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners. She also is an Honorary Consultant on the Board of Medicine Today.
Milana can be contacted at mvotrubec@george.org.au.
Amanda Hall
Amanda Hall
Amanda Hall is a full time PhD Student at the George Institute for International Health which is associated with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney and also a casual lecturer at the Faculty of Exercise and Sports Sciences.
Amanda’s research focuses on alternative exercise programs for people with chronic pain conditions, specifically Tai Chi for people with Low Back Pain. Amanda is originally from Newfoundland, Canada where she completed a Masters degree in Exercise Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2003. She has worked as a Clinical Exercise Physiologist in both the public and private health care sectors across Canada prior to starting her PhD in Australia in 2007.
Amanda can be contacted at amandahall@george.org.au.
Carolyn Broderick
Carolyn Broderick
Carolyn Broderick is a part-time PhD Student at the George Institute for International Health and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW. She is also a staff specialist in paediatric sports medicine at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Deputy Medical Director at the NSW Institute of Sport.
Carolyn’s research focuses on exercise interventions in children with chronic disease. She also has an interest in sports injury surveillance in children.
Carolyn can be contacted at cbroderick@george.org.au.
Clare Davies
Clare Davies
Clare Davies is a full-time Research and Administrative Assistant for the Musculoskeletal Division at the George Institute for International Health. She completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy) at the University of Sydney in 2004.
She has experience working in rural and metropolitan public hospitals and is commencing her Master of Public Health (MPH) coursework degree at the University of Sydney in 2009.
Clare can be contacted at cdavies@george.org.au.
Luciola Menezes
Luciola Menezes Costa
Luciola Menezes Costa is a full-time PhD Student at the George Institute for International Health and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney.
Luciola’s primary interest is in the prognosis of chronic low pain. She also conducts studies of clinimetric properties of different health-related outcome measures, particularly on pain questionnaires.
Luciola can be contacted at lmenezes@george.org.au
[List of publications on PubMed]
Niki Fairhall
Nicola Fairhall
Nicola Fairhall is a part-time PhD Student at the George Institute for International Health and a Casual Lecturer at The School of Physiotherapy, University of Sydney. She is also an APA Neurological Physiotherapist and holds a Master of Health Science (Neurological Physiotherapy).
Nicola's research focuses on enhancing functional outcomes in the older person, with emphasis on improving participation in life roles.
Nicola can be contacted at nfairhall@george.org.au.
Rob Smeets
Rob Smeets, MD, PhD
Rob Smeets is a Visiting Research Fellow at the George Institute for International Health and the Pain Management Research Institute at Royal North Shore Hospital in St. Leonards from June 2008 until May 2009. Rob is appointed as consultant and rehabilitation medicine and senior researcher at the Rehabilitation Foundation Limburg and Maastricht University, The Netherlands and after his return to the Netherlands will be appointed Professor in Rehabilitation Medicine at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences of Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
Rob’s research focuses on the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and chronic fatigue syndrome, and particularly moderating and mediating factors. He also conducts research in physical deconditioning, clinimetric research of activity and participation questionnaires and performance tasks and implementation strategies for proven effective treatments in daily care.
Rob can be contacted at rsmeets@george.org.au.
Tasha Stanton
Tasha Stanton
Tasha Stanton is a full time PhD candidate at the George Institute for International Health and a Sessional Lecturer at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Discipline of Physiotherapy.
Tasha’s primary research interest is in the classification of low back pain, the definition and measurement of recurrence of low back pain, and the mechanisms behind the effect of physiotherapy interventions.
Tasha can be contacted at tstanton@george.org.au.