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Professor Leeanne Carey

La Trobe University and The Florey

Leeanne Carey is Professor of Occupational Therapy at La Trobe University and Founding Head of the Neurorehabilitation and Recovery research group at The Florey. Her program of stroke research focuses on: stroke recovery; brain function and plasticity; restorative rehabilitation; and knowledge translation.
Professor Carey has led several major cohort, intervention and implementation clinical trials.
She has developed a successful, neuroscience-based approach to help survivors of stroke regain a sense of touch so that they can use their hands more effectively in daily activities. An important focus has been to translate these discoveries into clinical practice and better outcomes for survivors of stroke.

Professor Damminda Alahakoon

La Trobe University

Damminda Alahakoon is a Professor of Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, La Trobe University Business School (since 2015). He is also the Founding Director of the Research Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition (CDAC) at La Trobe. He serves as a Visiting Professor at the Lulea University of Technology Sweden and the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

Damminda has over 15 years of experience as an academic in several Australian Universities as well as over 10 years in the IT and finance industries in Sri Lanka, Australia, and The Netherlands. His research is focused on the areas of Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Data Analytics, Text and Social Media Analytics, Business Intelligence, and the harnessing of such theories for practical tools and innovative technology for the industry. His research has been adopted in a range of domains from healthcare, utilities, smart cities, education, industrial optimization, and national security. He has been a keynote and invited speaker for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and Data Analytics, and AI adoption at academic and industry forums.

Damminda’s work on unsupervised self-structuring AI and the Growing Self Organizing Map (GSOM) algorithm has received international recognition and adopted in diverse fields by industry, government, and academia. He has advanced and extended the GSOM as a new paradigm in artificial learning with theoretical innovations and practical outcomes published in over 150 peer-reviewed research articles. Damminda has received over 5 million dollars in academic research grants as well as over a million dollars in direct industry funding for R&D projects.

Professor Susan Hillier

University of South Australia

Susan Hillier is a Professor of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation at the University of South Australia. She works clinically with people with neurological and sensori-motor issues as well as researching in this area. She is particularly interested in new ways of approaching rehabilitation so that more people can access support and move towards their goals.

Professor Michael Pollack

John Hunter Hospital, Hunter New England Health

Professor Michael Pollack MB, BS; FACRM; FAFRM (RACP); FFPNANZCA; MMed.Sci (Clin Epi.) is a nationally recognised leader and clinician in rehabilitation medicine in Australia. He is currently medical co lead, Rehabilitation Stream, Hunter New England Health, and Conjoint Professor, University of Newcastle. He is also on the Executive Counsel of the Rehabilitation Clinical Network, Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI New South Wales Health). He is the Stream Leader for the Clinical Theme for the Centre for Rehab Innovations (CRI) at the University of Newcastle. Professor Pollack is an active Clinician in Rehabilitation Medicine, with a strong focus on stroke rehabilitation. He has held multiple leadership positions in Australia in the field of Rehabilitation Medicine, including co-chairing previous editions of National Guidelines for Stroke Rehabilitation, and National Framework for Stroke Rehabilitation, working with the Stroke Foundation. He has also chaired Stroke Services New South Wales, and the Rehabilitation Clinical Network (ACI, New South Wales Health). Often leading the push for the delivery of evidence based best practice in rehabilitation, Professor Pollack has also demonstrated a strong interest and activity in rehabilitation models of care (currently chairing the Model of Care Working Group, rehabilitation clinical network, ACI). Professor Pollack has also maintained a strong interest in research, with multiple publications focusing on rehabilitation models, epidemiology, and outcomes. He has maintained a strong advocacy role and has been (and remains) a patron for a number of consumer advocacy groups.

Professor Mark Bayley

University of Toronto

Mark Bayley is Program Medical Director & Physiatrist-in-Chief at UHN-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. He is a Professor at the University of Toronto in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine. Mark has held a number of health system leadership roles including Chair of the Stroke Evaluation Committee at Corhealth Ontario, Brain injury committee at Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, the Canadian Stroke Best Practices committee and the Vice Chair of the GTA Rehab Network. His work has help redesign rehabilitation systems in Canada. He has led large randomized controlled trials including the Stroke Canada Optimization of Rehabilitation by evidence (SCORE), Fluoxetine to open the Window of Stroke Recovery (FLOW) study, the Getting on with Life after stroke and the EVREST (Efficacy of Virtual Reality Exercises using Wii gaming technology in STroke Rehabilitation). He has been very interested in implementing evidence at a health system level in the areas of stroke and brain injury initially through  development of stroke rehabilitation guidelines then a leadership role in development of Canadian Stroke strategy (www.strokebestpractices.ca), a smartphone app to determine post stroke arm rehabilitation (www.viatherapy.org) and guidelines for concussion and traumatic brain injury (www.braininjuryguidelines.org). He is also actively involved in research to promote neurological recovery.

Professor Lara Boyd

University of British Columbia

Dr Lara Boyd is a Professor and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. She is both a Neuroscientist and Physical Therapist. Dr Boyd directs the Brain Behaviour Lab at the University of British Columbia, which performs research that tests ideas surrounding how behaviour and brain health affect learning.

Professor Elizabeth Skidmore

University of Pittsburgh

Professor Elizabeth Skidmore is an occupational therapist and rehabilitation scientist with expertise in neurological rehabilitation. Her research studies examine rehabilitation intervention elements that stimulate cognitive function, reduce depressive symptoms and apathy, reduce disability and promote healthy levels of activity and participation after acquired brain injury and stroke. These studies have refined the implementation of meta-cognitive strategy training and behavioral activation approaches in inpatient, outpatient and community rehabilitation settings. Skidmore consults with practitioners, health systems and scientists representing a breadth of disciplines and serving various clinical populations. She provides guidance on intervention program design, specification and fidelity.

Dr Rashmika Nawaratne

La Trobe University

Rashmika Nawaratne is a Principal Data Scientist and Adjunct Research Fellow at La Trobe University, specialising in AI and Machine Learning across diverse domains including Retail, Healthcare, Energy, Transportation and Finance, with research interests in lifelong learning, brain-inspired algorithms and AI applications. In addition to his academic pursuits, Rashmika also holds the position of Principal Data Scientist at Endeavour Group, driving impactful AI solutions and demonstrating strong industry engagement.

Dr Shanthi Ramanathan

Hunter Medical Research Institute

Shanthi Ramanathan is the Head of Research Impact and Evaluation at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), a Conjoint Academic with the College of Health Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, and Co-chair of the Research Impact Committee and Community of Practice of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI). She is recognised as a leading impact practitioner in Australia who is passionate about building impact capacity, capability and culture across the research community, providing leadership in research impact through contributing to scholarship and policy advice, and honing her expertise in impact planning and assessment. Since 2016, Shanthi has been leading the application of the Framework to Assess the Impact of Translational health research (FAIT) to NHMRC Centres for Research Excellence, Translation Research Centres, research collaboratives and organisations, NHMRC, ARC, MRFF and philanthropically funded research projects, international research projects in Samoa and Indonesia and over ten NSW Health funding schemes including the Prevention Research Support Program, the Cardiovascular Funding Scheme and the Early to Mid-Career Fellowships Program.

Shanthi is a sought-after presenter and workshop facilitator having built research impact knowledge and capacity amongst over 3,000 academic and clinician researchers, policymakers and consumer representatives through 118 workshops, 44 one-on-one coaching and over 60 in-person and online presentations since 2017. She has been invited to speak about research impact at the Network for Advancing and Evaluating the Societal Impact of Science (AESIS) International Conference, to the Australian Council of the Deans of Science Research Leaders Network and at the Reframing Research Success workshop organised by the Australian Academy of Sciences. She has also led the development of a suite of publicly available, online resources to support the application of FAIT to cardiovascular research projects in basic science, clinical trials and translational research

Professor Michael Nilsson

University of Newcastle

Professor Michael Nilsson, MD, PhD, FAFRM (RACP) is an internationally recognized leader in rehabilitation medicine and translational neuroscience. He is Emeritus Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and Director of the Centre for Rehab Innovations (CRI) at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He has held senior academic and clinical leadership roles in Sweden and Australia. His research has advanced understanding of long-term recovery after neurological and musculoskeletal conditions highlighting the role of, for example, environmental enrichment, stress modulation, and neuroplasticity. Big data sets from Swedish patient-, population- and conscription registries have been utilised in translational rehabilitation research programs.  A champion of translational science, he has led several collaborations that have contributed to new models of rehabilitation care and influenced best practice globally. He holds academic affiliations and senior advisory roles with LKC Medicine, Singapore, La Trobe University, Melbourne, and the University of Gothenburg and was recently elected chair of the Research Committee of the Asia-Oceanian Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

Professor Helene Polatajko

University of Toronto

Dr Polatajko is an internationally acclaimed rehabilitation science scholar and educator and a valued mentor. She has well over 300 publications, has done over 500 presentations in more than 20 countries. Prominent among her contributions are co-authorship of the Canadian occupational Performance Measure that has been translated into over 30 languages, and the two Enabling Occupation books that form the basis of occupational therapy practice in Canada. She is also the creator of the CO-OP Approach, an intervention used internationally that offers an evidence-based, cognitive perspective on occupational performance. Dr Polatajko has been granted numerous national and international awards and distinctions including the Canadian Muriel Driver Lectureship, Fellowship to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Induction into the Americal Occupational Therapy Academy of Research, being given an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Western Ontario and being made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Dr Polatajko’s research has focused on measurement and intervention. Both the measures she has been instrumental in creating, e.g., The COPM, P-ACS and PQRS, and the intervention approaches she has researched, e.g., Sensory Integration, Process Orientated Approaches and CO-OP have had a major impact in the field.

Professor Leonid Churilov

University of Melbourne

Professor Churilov is Professor of Biostatistics at Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne. In 2022 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and has co-authored over 500 publications in the areas of modelling methodology and clinical applications. He is a recipient of international and national awards from the Operational Research professional societies of the USA, Japan and Australia, in addition to a Victoria Fellowship, and NHMRC and ARC grant awards. Professor Churilov is an internationally recognised expert in the use of health analytics and statistical modelling for decision support in clinical and health care systems.

Professor Dominique Cadilhac

Monash University and The Florey

Professor Dominique Cadilhac (PhD, MPH, BN) is a senior researcher who focuses on improving patient care and outcomes in stroke working at Monash University and The Florey. Her leadership roles include Vice President of the Australian and New Zealand Stoke Organisation and Executive Director for the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry. Her skillset includes epidemiology, implementation research, and economic evaluation. She has published >400 articles, contributed to practice guidelines and policy development.

Professor Vincent Thijs

The Florey

Professor Vincent Thijs is a neurologist and clinician researcher specialised in acute stroke treatment, stroke prevention, stroke in the young, and genetics of stroke.

For more than 20 years Vincent has worked at some of the world’s leading health services as a clinician. Vincent has led large stroke units in Belgium and Australia and is currently the Director of Neurology at Austin Health and head of Stroke Theme at The Florey.  Passionate about driving improved access and outcomes in stroke care, particularly for young patients, Vincent has been involved in the leadership of large, international multicentre, collaborative studies.

Vincent strives to establish and maintain productive and professional clinical and research networks to drive advancements in stroke care both in Australia and internationally. Education and mentoring PhD and early career researchers is a priority in Vincent’s career.

Professor Chetwyn Chan

The Education University of Hong Kong

Professor Chetwyn Chan is Vice President (Research and Development) and Peter T. C. Lee Chair Professor of Psychology. He obtained a PhD in educational psychology in 1995 from the University of Alberta, Canada. Professor Chan has been an Elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association since 2008 and a Fellow of the Hong Kong Psychological Society since 2007.

In 2008, in recognition of his contribution to psychology and rehabilitation sciences, Professor Chan received the Global Leadership in Rehabilitation Science Award from Virginia Commonwealth University in the United States. In 2011, he received the Alumni Honour Award from the University of Alberta in recognition of his influence in research and education development in rehabilitation in Asia. In 2018, Professor Chan and his research team won the First Prize in Science and Technology from the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine on post-stroke cognitive assessment and intervention innovation. In 2019, his research team won the Second Class State Scientific and Technology Progress Award from the State Council of the People’s Republic of China for integrating Chinese medicine into innovative post-stroke rehabilitation.

Professor Chan’s research work focuses on exploring mechanisms underlying human learning, particularly perceptual and cross-modal learning employing brain imaging, electroencephalograms, and behavioural methods. He also applies the mechanisms to understand the behaviours of people with disabilities and older individuals, and design interventions to enhance the functional capabilities of these individuals. He has published more than 200 research papers and secured more than $20 million in competitive research and development grants. Professor Chan is the chief specialty editor of Frontiers in Rehabilitation Science and an associate editor of Journal of Sports and Health Science.