Dr Morag Taylor is a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia. She was awarded a prestigious NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellowship 2016 – 2019. Her work is currently focusing on physical and cognitive function and fall/fall-injury risk and prevention in older people with dementia. She completed her PhD (Understanding fall risk in cognitively impaired older people) in 2014 and has presented her work nationally and internationally and has 25 publications. Morag is a physiotherapist with extensive experience working in Aged Care Rehabilitation, as well as the Falls, Balance and Bone Health clinic. Her role within the CRE will be to undertake a body of work aimed at understanding care and outcomes in older people with dementia who have sustained a hip fracture. She plans to pilot an intervention aimed at improving care and outcomes for this group.

Dr Pinheiro is a NHMRC Early Career Fellow at Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney.

Her research focuses on investigating the cost-effectiveness of physical activity programs and implementing solutions to improve physical activity promotion by health professionals within routine care. She has published 54 peer-reviewed papers has attracted more than $1.2 million dollars in research-related grants and fellowships.

Marina will work on projects investigating the cost-effectiveness of solutions to fall-related injuries and will also contribute to the co-design of fall-injury prevention interventions and implementation strategies.

Dr Oliveira is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow physiotherapist at the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health at the University of Sydney. Juliana has a leading role in coordinating NHMRC funded trials on physical activity coaching and yoga for fall prevention. Juliana’s research focuses on clinical trials for optimising physical activity and preventing falls among older people.

Dr Suzanne Dyer is a Senior Research Fellow at Flinders University. She has been conducting research in the public and private sector for over 20 years, with expertise in evidence-based medicine methodologies including health technology assessment, systematic reviews, meta-analysis and guideline development.  Suzanne is an author of 46 publications and 24 contracted research reports for government and NGOs, including the Cochrane Collaboration Review of Interventions for preventing falls in older people in care facilities and hospitals, two reviews conducted for the Aged Care Royal Commission and the Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines for Dementia. In her role with the CRE, Suzanne aims to improve the evaluation and interpretation of existing trial evidence for falls prevention strategies, contributing to improved recommendations and cost-effectiveness evidence for falls prevention approaches. She will also guide local South Australian clinicians on the evaluation of existing falls prevention strategies in hospitals.

Dr Menant is a Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia. Her research involves gait laboratory-based experiments, longitudinal studies and randomised controlled trials investigating balance control mechanisms, fall risk factors and effective interventions to improve health outcomes in ageing and clinical populations. She has written 9 book chapters, 74 peer-reviewed papers. She is the communication manager of the ANZ Falls Prevention Society and the blog editor of the International Society for Posture and Gait Research. Within the CRE, Jasmine will work on the update of ANZ best practice guidelines on fall prevention intervention, systematic reviews and secondary analyses of falls studies datasets as well as conduct a study to explore risk factors for falls in cancer survivors with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Venisa is a PhD student at the Institute of Musculoskeletal health at the University of Sydney. She is a physiotherapist and has been working with older people in residential aged care facilities and in the community.

Venisa’s research focuses on preventing falls and fall related injuries in older adults.

Rik Dawson is an experienced aged care physiotherapist. Rik was the owner of Agewell Physiotherapy, a practice that employed physiotherapists and occupational therapists in aged care across Australia. Rik sold his practice in 2020 and is now enrolled at Sydney University as HDR candidate where he is focusing on telehealth for older people under the supervision of Professor Cathie Sherrington and Dr Marina Pinheiro.

Rik has a scholarship awarded by this CRE to support his HDR program. He will investigate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability of physiotherapy led exercise programs delivered via telehealth for older Australians. This research will answer key questions about whether the role of technology can reduce falls, enhance mobility and quality of life of older people with and without dementia receiving aged care services in their home or in residential aged care.

Rik is the Vice President of the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

It’s never too late video: https://youtu.be/HBx1lRf-ckI

Charlotte is a Physiotherapist and Health Manager in Sydney Local Health District and a PhD candidate with the University of Sydney. Her clinical background is in aged care and rehabilitation. Charlotte’s current position of Inpatient Falls Research Manager is based within the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health and is supported by Sydney Local Health District. Her research focuses on understanding and reducing falls in hospital settings.

Ms O’Rourke has been a research project coordinator in falls prevention studies for over 17 years. She will coordinate the day-to-day running of the CRE. She is responsible for CRE management, collaboration with all the researchers and organisation of meetings and events.

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