Anne Moseley is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health at the Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney. Twenty years ago Anne co-founded the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro; www.pedro.org.au) and is currently responsible for the day-to-day management of this preeminent, global evidence resource. She has published extensively on the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions and evidence-based physical therapy (115 journal articles, h-index 42). The focus of her teaching is on evidence-based practice, and has included lectures and workshops in Australia, China, Switzerland, Norway, South Africa and Singapore. In 2019 Anne received the WCPT Mildred Elson Award for her contribution and commitment to evidence-based physical therapy. Anne will be speaking to us on: Using research to guide physiotherapy practice in countries with low income economies, with a particular focus on finding research that is actually conducted in these countries (rather than generalising from research conducted in middle and high income countries).
Michel D. Landry BScPT, MBA, PhD, is Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy and Associate Dean for Global Health, in the College of Health Professions, at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University in Durham, NC. Prior to arriving at VCU, Dr. Landry spent several years as Professor and Division Chief of the Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy Division where he successfully led an important rebuilding of the program that has now grown into one of the top physical therapy programs in the United States. Prior to completing his doctoral and post-doctoral training, he held senior clinical management positions within the private rehabilitation sector in Ontario (Canada), and leadership positions within international humanitarian aid and development agencies in conflict and disaster settings. Dr. Landry is a health policy and health services researcher, a Past-President of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, a former Career Scientist at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) and has been a consultant to many global multilateral agencies including the World Health Organization. Mike lectures widely on the public policy and political dynamics of rehabilitation and is a provocative and disruptive advocate for the moral, ethical, and economic necessity to ensure rehabilitation services across the continuum of high, middle, and low-income countries
Dr Emer McGowan, BSc (Physio) PhD, is presently a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. Dr McGowan is also a Board Member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists. The fundamental questions that drive Dr McGowan’s research are questions of improving the quality of and access to healthcare. She has a specific interest in leadership, leadership development, cultural awareness, refugee health and health service development. Dr McGowan’s research aims to improve the health service for both the patients receiving care and the health professionals who work within it. Dr McGowan is a member of the Erasmus+ funded research project, Physiotherapy and Refugees Education Project (PREP). This research project is exploring rehabilitation for refugees with an aim to define competencies needed by physiotherapists working with this population, develop a curriculum for an e-learning module and ultimately make the e-learning module available for physiotherapists.
Giulia Barbareschi has been involved with GDI Hub from the beginning and in 2018, after completing her PhD in Disabilit and Assistive Technology at UCL, she officially joined the ranks as a Research Fellow. Giulia brings with her a unique mix of clinical, technical and research experience having worked in hospitals, universities and UN agencies in several countries around the world. Giulia is based in London at the UCL Interaction Centre, but can often be found in Kenya where she leads the research component of several AT2030 projects on assistive technologies in collaboration with local and international NGOs and start-ups.
Cornelia Barth BSc, MSc, is a German native and physiotherapist by training. After more than a decade of clinical work and teaching she spent 13 years in humanitarian services with field and headquarters positions in contexts of great diversity and complexity. She now works as Cochrane Switzerland coordinator. Her expertise is developing rehabilitation in fragile health systems, namely in contexts of (prolonged, armed) conflict and low resources. With her PhD studies at University College Dublin and a Swedish Research Council-funded project (based at Unisanté, Lausanne, Switzerland) she aims to contribute to research and knowledge in this highly neglected field. Giving a voice and a chance to people who count as the most vulnerable on this globe – persons, specifically women and girls with disabilities in fragile settings – as well as supporting rehabilitation professionals there was her motivation for a humanitarian career. Now it is the driving force for her academic work.
Papers of Interest:
Barth CA. Meeting the needs of people with physical disabilities in crisis settings. Bull World Health Organ. 2019 Dec 1;97(12):790-790A. doi: 10.2471/BLT.19.246918. PMID: 31819282; PMCID: PMC6883268.
Barth CA, Wladis A, Blake C, Bhandarkar P, O’Sullivan C. Users of rehabilitation services in 14 countries and territories affected by conflict, 1988-2018. Bull World Health Organ. 2020 Sep 1;98(9):599-614. doi: 10.2471/BLT.19.249060. Epub 2020 Jul 8. PMID: 33012860; PMCID: PMC7463199.
Anupa Pathak is a physiotherapist from Nepal currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Otago, New Zealand. She completed her Bachelor of Physiotherapy with an honors degree from Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Nepal (2017), and was awarded the University of Otago doctoral scholarship to support her postgraduate degree in 2018. She has been involved in projects to understand patient preferences, cross-culturally adapt essential outcome measures, improve outcome measure usage, and evaluate the existing literature on pain in Nepal. She has twelve peer-reviewed publications. Alongside her Ph.D. research in Nepal, Anupa also works as a part-time research assistant and tutor at the School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago.
Tom Shakespeare trained in social and political sciences at Cambridge University, I subsequently studied for an MPhil and Phd. I have taught and researched at the Universities of Sunderland, Leeds, Newcastle and East Anglia. From 2008-2013, I was a technical officer at the World Health Organisation, Geneva, where I co-authored and co-edited the World Report on Disability (2011) and International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury (2014). My books include: the Sexual Politics of Disability (1996); Disability Rights and Wrongs (2006; 2014); Disability – the Basics (2017). I was a member of Arts Council, England (2003-2008) and Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2013-2019). I am currently chair of Light for the World – UK, and vice-chair of Light for the World International.
I have always been engaged with communications, including science communications, and have been a regular contributor to BBC Radio for a dozen years. I also write regularly for The Lancet.
RuthAnn Fanstone is a physiotherapist who has 15 years experience working in the field of burns and plastic surgery in the NHS, private and charitable sectors both in the UK and internationally. Her main interest is the prevention and treatment of scar and sequalae, burn rehabilitation and broad and innovative strategies to improve outcomes for burn patients. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Centre for Global Burn Injury Policy and Research in the field of burn contracture in low and middle income countries.
RuthAnn has an MSc in Health Service Management from the University of London (UCL) and further qualifications in international health consultancy. She has been lead physiotherapist in burns and plastics in 3 of the major burn units in the UK and gained experience from some of the leading burn services in the world through observational internships at The Shriners, Galveston, Harborview, Seattle in the USA and Le Ster Centre for Rehabilitation of Burn Injuries in Lamalou France. She has worked and / or taught extensively in burn care in Gaza, West Bank, Ethiopia, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tanzania and Malawi. This experience has given her opportunity to work with large numbers of burn patients.
RuthAnn has an interest in training and education in burns care. She is involved in burn care charities as Director of Rehabilitation for Interburns, and Consultant with the Katie Piper Foundation. She has pioneered and delivered Scar Academy courses in the UK – on advanced scar management and scar outcome measures. She is a trainer and module developer in burns care for the UK International Trauma and Emergency Register and contributes to the MSc in Burns Care, Queen Mary University London.