Dr. Anthony Nasser is a research and teaching academic in physiotherapy at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), specialising in the assessment and management of musculoskeletal conditions, with a particular focus on complex hip and buttock pain conditions such as proximal hamstring tendinopathy, gluteal tendinopathy and ischiofemoral impingement. With over 15 years of clinical experience, Anthony brings a strong practitioner’s perspective to his research and teaching. He is a titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist with the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA), a recognition of his expertise in the field.

Anthony transitioned to academia following a diverse career in musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy. His research program is dedicated to improving diagnosis, management, and rehabilitation outcomes for musculoskeletal conditions affecting the hip and buttock region. He is passionate about translating cutting-edge scientific evidence into practical, patient-centred strategies that enhance clinical decision-making and improve health outcomes

Anthony leads curriculum initiatives at UTS, integrating evidence-based practice, clinical authenticity, and emerging digital technologies to prepare future physiotherapists for a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. In 2023, Anthony won a university wide award from the Australian Awards for University Teaching. The award recognised his long-standing contributions to student learning. Anthony has been involved in teaching physiotherapy at several leading universities across Australia, and has worked at UTS since 2017. 

"I am passionate about physiotherapy and try to share with students just how rewarding this career can be," Anthony said.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (physiotherapy) from the University of Sydney and a Clinical Master of physiotherapy, in the field of sports, from the University of Queensland. Anthony completed his PhD through La Trobe University.

Anthony is a reviewer for a number of specialist journals in Sports Medicine including the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, The Scandinavian Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Clinical Rehabilitation,  Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy in Sport.

Dr. Rafael Zambelli Pinto is an Associate Professor at UTS, a physiotherapist, and a researcher specialising in musculoskeletal conditions. He has published over 150 papers in physiotherapy and medical journals, with a research focus on innovative approaches to managing chronic musculoskeletal conditions in adults and older populations. Committed to advancing evidence-based practice, he integrates research into clinical decision-making through educational initiatives.

Rafael was awarded his PhD from the University of Sydney (2010–2013) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Pain IMPACT/Neuroscience Research Australia, University of New South Wales (2023–2024). His previous roles include Project Manager at the Pain Management Research Institute, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia (2013–2014); Lecturer at São Paulo State University, Brazil (2014–2017); and Senior Lecturer at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil (2017–2024).

From 2019 to 2024, Rafael served as Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy and has been the Secretary of the International Society of Physiotherapy Journal Editors since 2019.

Associate Professor Joshua W. Pate is a physiotherapist and paediatric pain researcher at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is the Responsible Academic Officer (Research) in Physiotherapy and leads the 39-member UTS Health AI Research Node.

Josh's research examines how children, families, educators and health professionals understand pain; how these concepts influence communication, care and recovery; and how education can improve pain management. He is best known for the Concept of Pain research program, which combines child-derived measurement, educational design and knowledge translation. His broader research investigates responsible uses of generative artificial intelligence in health communication, education and assessment.

A/Prof Pate has published 51 peer-reviewed papers, attracting 838 Google Scholar citations as of July 2026. He has contributed as a named investigator to more than AUD $1.6 million in competitive funding across government, philanthropic, international and university schemes, including major MRFF and MayDay Fund programs.

He contributes to international health initiatives as Health Lead for the UNICEF Insight Report on Behavioural Data Science and previously served as an external reviewer of the World Health Organization Guideline on Chronic Pain in Children.

Josh received the 2025 Engagement Australia Excellence Award for Outstanding Leadership in Engagement and the 2024 NSW Young Tall Poppy Award. His work is characterised by collaboration with children, families, clinicians, educators and lived-experience contributors, and by a commitment to making rigorous research accessible and useful beyond academia.

Elise is a Physiotherapist and Lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney. Elise completed a Bachelor of Health Science/Master of Physiotherapy in 2013 with Western Sydney University. After working clinically for several years, Elise completed post graduate study, obtaining a Master of Research at Western Sydney University. Elise is completing her PhD which is exploring the role of resilience on patient behaviour and engagement when experiencing injury and illness. Elise’s research aims to help clinicians better understand how patient perceptions, barriers and enablers influence engagement in treatment and health outcomes.  

Elise has worked clinically with a range of population groups, in both inpatient and outpatient settings, whilst developing her teaching and research skills. Elise will be involved in the delivery of the Prevention and Rehabilitation in the Community and Specialist Practice subjects at UTS. She also leads and coordinates Acute Care Physiotherapy. 

Bruno Tirotti Saragiotto is an Associate Professor and Head of the Physiotherapy discipline at the Faculty of Health. Bruno has published over 120 research articles and has over 6,000 citations for his work. The overarching focus of his research is on telehealth for chronic pain conditions, artificial intelligence in healthcare, and implementation science. He has been awarded over $4.5 million in research grants from the NHMRC/MRFF, Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Brazil), the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil). 

He is also an editor at the Cochrane Musculoskeletal group and associate editor at the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy and the Chiropractic and Manual Therapy journal. He hosts the podcast Physio Frontiers, which aims to bridge the gap between research and practice, and is part of the steering committee of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database.

Bruno is passionate about teaching physiotherapy and supervising research-focused master's and PhD students. He also has strong collaborations in Australia, Canada, Brazil, USA, Netherlands, Denmark, and New Zealand.

Evin is a physiotherapist and lecturer with over 12 years of experience working in a variety of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine settings.

He is recognised by the Australian Physiotherapy Association as a Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist which represents highly developed physiotherapists who have advanced expertise and experience in musculoskeletal clinical practice.

Evin shares his time between teaching at the University and being the principal physiotherapist at a GP medical practice in Bondi.

"1 in 7 patient visits to a general practitioner in Australia present with a musculoskeletal injury. I believe Physiotherapy plays a crucial role in reducing the burden of disease within the community. Our roles, responsibilities and scope of practice place us in an empowering position to have an early and significant impact on patient health and outcomes".

Dr Mark Overton is a Senior Lecturer and Physiotherapist who has worked clinically in interdisciplinary pain management, musculoskeletal and rehabilitation settings for 10+ years. He completed his PhD at the University of Otago in New Zealand, where he led the Understanding Knee Osteoarthritis Pain Experiences (U-KOPE) study. This study involved collecting psychosocial and lifestyle factors related to the knee osteoarthritis pain experience using an intensive smartphone daily diary method (Ecological Momentary Assessment). Participants in this study also underwent Quantitative Sensory Testing to assess their ‘pain sensitivity’ and explore potential predictors of knee osteoarthritis outcomes.

Mark’s current areas of research interest include:

• Pain
• Knee Osteoarthritis
• Low Back Pain
• Quantitative Sensory Testing
• Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment
• Technology-based interventions
• Artificial Intelligence 
• Psychosocial and lifestyle factors
• Physical activity, exercise and education interventions
• Supported self-management interventions
• Interprofessional rehabilitation
• Occupational health

Please feel free to get in touch regarding any research supervision or collaboration opportunities. 

Lucy is a Physiotherapist and Lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Lucy has clinical experience in both public and private hospitals, working with a variety of conditions in the acute, rehabilitation and outpatient setting. Lucy’s clinical interests are in caring for individuals with neurological conditions to improve function and promote independence.

Lucy is currently completing her PhD investigating the effect of proprioception on function in healthy individuals across the lifespan and individuals with neurological conditions.

Lucy is passionate about teaching and enjoys seeing students confidence and clinical reasoning skills grow.

My research interests are in: | Neurorehabilitation | Proprioception | Outcome measures for physiotherapy rehabilitation

Dr Jack Reeves is an ECR and Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the University of Technology Sydney, and a Postdoctoral Researcher of the Surgical Outcomes Research Centre (SOuRCe) at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and of the Sydney Clinical Trials Centre at The University of Sydney. He is an Associate Editor at the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy and Guest Editor of a "Prehabilitation in Cancer" special issue at BMC Cancer.

Jack's research focuses on prehabilitation and rehabilitation strategies to improve outcomes for people undergoing cancer surgery, alongside a continuing interest in the non-pharmacological management of chronic respiratory disease. He is currently Lead Investigator of PREdiCT, a prospective cohort study of >1200 participantsspanning 35 sites across 19 countries that aims to improve risk stratification for people undergoing major gastrointestinal cancer surgery. Despite recently being awarded his PhD (July 2026), Jack has authored 23 peer-reviewed journal articles (18 as first or second author) with the majority published in Q1 journals including World Journal of Surgical Oncology, British Journal of Anaesthesia, Annals of Surgical Oncology, and Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Journal. He has contributed to 8 grants totalling $310,770 in research funding, holding Chief Investigator status on 5 of these totalling $67,770.

Besides his PhD, Jack holds a Master of Public Health and Master of Health Leadership and Management from UNSW, a Master of Physiotherapy from UTS, and a Bachelor of Exercise Science from ACU. Jack has delivered 11 oral presentations at academic and professional events, 7 by invitation, including two national lectures for the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

Updated July 2026

Carolyn is a registered nurse with clinical experience and post graduate certificates in Spinal Injuries and Emergency Nursing. She was awarded her PhD in 2019 following which she was recognised on the 2019 Chancellors list. Carolyn has also worked as a medical researcher and advisor in the television industry. She joined the University of Technology in 2007 to begin working as a clinical facilitator. In 2010 she combined hospital based clinical facilitation with working in the university clinical simulation environment. Carolyn was intimately involved in the design and development of two clinical laboratory and simulation facility building upgrade projects. During this time, the UTS Faculty of Health clinical laboratories were transformed into state of the art facilities that are able to provide cutting edge technology with unrivaled authentic learning experiences within 16 discrete clinical laboratory spaces.

Carolyn worked as the Manger, Simulation and Laboratories in a combined role where she provided leadership, coordination and support to the Faculty of Health for the range of undergraduate and post graduate simulations offered by UTS Health, requiring the provision of advice on the development, delivery, assessment and evaluation of best practice scenario-based learning activities. In October 2018 Carolyn moved into a full time role as a Lecturer in Nursing and then in Jan 2020 moved in the role of Director, Health Simulation. and was then invited into the role of Acting Deputy Head of School Work Integrated Learning. She is currently working as a Senior Lecturer at the WHO Collaborating Centre based at UTS.

Carolyn's interfaculty partnerships include the Faculty of Science and the Graduate School of Health Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Orthoptics, Speech Pathology and the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology to provide simulated learning experiences for their student cohorts and to produce quality learning and teaching focused research. 

Toby Newton-John is Professor of Clinical Psychology, and Interim Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health. 

He is an internationally recognised clinical psychologist who has been treating and researching psychological aspects of chronic physical illnesses for 30 years. He is particularly interested in the psychological processes involved in coping with chronic disease and how couples cope when one of them suffers from a long-term physical health condition.

Most of Toby’s work, as clinician and academic, has involved addressing the challenges for people living with chronic pain, but he has also researched HIV, stroke and diabetes. He is passionate about taking what is known from mental health research and testing to see whether the ideas can be applied to these physical domains. His research has involved examining how the social environment can influence long-term adjustment to chronically painful conditions.

In his extensive career as a clinical psychologist, Toby worked in world-leading pain clinics at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, and the ADAPT pain program at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney.

Now full-time in academia, he sees his role as training and inspiring the next generation of clinical psychologists. He particularly enjoys supervising research students and working with them to explore research ideas they are interested in pursuing.

Toby has published over 90 peer reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews on the psychology of chronic pain and has lectured in six countries. He regularly provides expert commentary on pain management to the media.

He is a member of the Editorial Boards for the Canadian Journal of Pain and The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and an Associate Editor of Australian Psychologist. He is a reviewer for specialist journals including Pain, Clinical Journal of Pain, and the Journal of Health Psychology. 

Toby is a member of the Australian Pain Society, the International Association for the Study of Pain, and the Australian Clinical Psychology Association.

Franziska Trede is a Professor of Higher Education and Professional Practice in the Education Portfolio of the office of the DVC Education and Student at UTS. Franziska is the past President of the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) and a Principal Fellow of Advance HE. 

At UTS, she leads the UTS wide Professional Education and Practice Network, and she is the course coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and Learning. In this graduate certificate Franziska teaches the following subjects: student agency and teamwork, practising inclusion:working and teaching for social justice, evidencing academic practice.

Her research interests include professional learning, social justice education, professional identity development, professional voice, agency, educating the deliberate professional, employability and the educational partnership between university and external partners. She has conducted numerous funded research projects in the area of workplace learning, agency, leadership and enhancing learning with technology.

Franziska has published 1 co-authored book and 8 co-edited books and over 100 peer-reviewed book chapters and journal papers. She serves on the editorial boards for Studies in Continuing Education and Active Learning in Higher Education. 

Franziska has supervised PhD candidates to completion who have won the University Medal and Faculty Prizes.

She has a track record in producing multi-media resources from her research program. She has produced self-paced online modules for interprofessional and academic leadership and a self-paced module for practitioners who supervise university students in their workplace. She has also developed trigger films of workplace learning scenes accompanied by teacher guides to build capacity for professional agency in students, academics and workplace supervisors.

Franziska has presented her work on local, national and international platforms and was invited keynote speaker, visiting professor and workshop facilitator in higher education institutions in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and UK.

Professor Emma Power is a speech pathologist and academic at the University of Technology Sydney.  She has worked in the area of communication disability following acquired brain injury (ABI) for over 28 years in a variety of clinical and academic positions.

“I was very interested in the brain – what happened when things went awry like a stroke, and how it affected someone’s ability to communicate. Communication is such an integral part of everything we do,” Emma said.

Emma started her clinical career working with people with neurological conditions - such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and progressive conditions like dementia and Huntington’s Disease. She then became involved in acquired brain injury research. Her particular interest is in implementation research.

“We have all this great research but on the ground, clinicians are really pushed for time and it’s so challenging to get research into practice,” she said. “How do we get every person getting the best possible evidence-informed care?”

For Emma, all her work is ultimately about the well-being of her clients, their family and supporters and the success of the clincians that work with them, even her award-winning teaching.

“I enjoy the challenge of seeing students grapple with information and remind them that they are crucial for the future of the profession. But the other stakeholders of my teaching are also people with communication impairments and clinicians. I am teaching for and with them too". 

Emma said "It’s about the learning and translation beyond a week in class for students, for the wider benefit of our clients and health services - that's the ultimate end goal”.

“Translating knowledge and concepts into clinical best practice or enabling students to do that is all part of the same picture. This knowledge includes emerging evidence and technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI)”. 
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Emma has over 160 peer reviewed publications and has been awarded $33.4+ million grant funding from sources such as MRFF, NHMRC, iCare, and the Stroke Foundation. 

Emma has supervised over 70 research students over her career, with 24 higher degree research students and 29 first class Hons students (two University Medals) to completion. Currently she supervises 8 HDR students in areas such as ABI, sexuality, digital health, co-design and implementation science.

Emma has led research on the development of post-stroke aphasia best practice guidelines and the development of the Australian Aphasia Rehabilitation pathway. She has also developed efficacious face to face and online training programs for communication partners of people with TBI, (TBI Express, TBI Connect, Social Brain Toolkit), dementia (Dementia Connect) as well as aphasia. She is recognised internationally and nationally for her research in acquired communication disorders and implementation science. Emma believes it is critical to work with people with lived experience, clinicians and health services / organisations to co-design meaningful research and teaching that has impact.

Emma has won awards for excellence in implementation science and Vice Chancellor Learning & Teaching Awards for her curriculum development and teaching in neurogenic communication impairments (USYD) and Interprofessional Learning Introductory modules (UTS). Emma and her team were awarded an Australian Award for University Teching (AAUT) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for a School-wide interdisciplinary interprofessional learning curriculum in allied health. 

Emma disseminates her learnings to a wide variety of audiences with 31 international and 80 national invited keynotes presentations/workshops on aphasia, congitive-communication disorders, accessbility, codesign, implementation and digital health. Emma has pioneered dissemination of clinically relevant knowledge on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in over 30 seminars and workshop nationally and internationally in the last 3 years. She also contributed to the Speech Pathology Australia position statement in thical use of AI. 

In 2023, Emma was awarded Fellow of Speech Pathology Australia in recognition of her long-standing excellence and wide-ranging achievements and contribution to the profession. Emma is also an elected Board Director of Speech Pathology Australia and current Chair and president of the association. 

Emma completed a 6-year term on the Stroke Foundation Research Advisory Committee and is a current member of the Stroke Foundation Living guideline working party (aphasia, cognitive communication disorder, and carer training).

I am a sport data scientist, biomechanics researcher, and educator working at the intersection of applied analytics, movement science, and meta-research. My work focuses on translating cutting-edge data science—especially functional data analysis (FDA)—into real-world applications across high-performance sport, health, and defence. I currently lecture in sports data science at the University of Technology Sydney and serve as a research lead on several national initiatives, including the CSIRO Sports AI Consortium.

My academic contributions include over 40 peer-reviewed publications and the co-authorship of the first accessible book on FDA in biomechanics. I supervise a range of PhD students working on projects that range from AI-driven skill acquisition to biomechanics-informed performance optimisation. I've led capability-building programs in data science for Defence, co-designed national research infrastructure, and continue to consult to and engage with the sport industry elite sport, for practical, problem centred research.

Whether developing curriculum, co-leading national grants, or mentoring the next generation of sport data scientists, my goal is to help shape a future where evidence-based decision-making is embedded, accessible, and impactful, within sport and beyond.

Dr Lucy Bryant is a Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology at UTS, and a certified practising speech pathologist. She has over a decade of experience working with children and adults across community, private practice and university clinics, supporting them to develop their communication. Her passion grew from a belief that everyone should have access to the basic human right of communication, and all that comes with it in terms of social, educational, and workplace opportunities. She has a particular interest in langugae development and rehabilitation across the lifespan, and how people process, understand, and express meaning. Her work has a significant focus on technology and the opportunities for communication access and inclusion that come from new and evolving communication and information technologies. 

Lucy completed her PhD at the University of Newcastle, Australia (July 2018), examining the implementation of discourse (language sample) analysis in clinical practice for people with aphasia following stroke. In her clinical practice and research, she has focused on how we understand and formulate messages and meaning in the brain, especially after brain injury, stroke or other disability. Her work in this space helped to launch the international collaboration Focusing on the Quality of Spoken Discourse in Aphasia (FOQUS Aphasia) with colleagues in the USA and UK.

Lucy has a strong clinical and research interest in the role of technology in society and communication, and is exploring developments in technology, particularly Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Her work with technology teams at UTS and through industry has led to innovative new applications to support language learning, recovery, and access for people with communication disability across the lifespan. Lucy is the Theme Lead for Professional Practice and Education in the UTS INSIGHT Digital Health Collaborative. Her role relates to collaborative approaches to upskilling health students and professionals in the effective use of technology in their roles, to benefit all Australians who access the health system.

Her current work is split between teaching, research and working in the speech pathology clinic at UTS that gives free treatment to the public and provides students with clinical experience. Lucy’s intersecting roles across these domains give her the unique opportunity to conduct clinically meaningful research and educate the next generation of speech pathologists to support language learning, and use technology in ways that will improve access to communication.

David is an expert in primary healthcare services for disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable (underserved, priority) patient populations with complex needs in Australia (e.g. people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (First Nation Peoples), older adults, children and young people, people living in rural/ regional and remote, lower socioeconomics, LGBTIQ+, individuals affected by complex chronic and life limiting health conditions including but not just limited to disability, and person and families affected by multiple risk factors).

He is ranked 3rd in the Asia-Pacific region in primary care (SciVal 2020-2024, by outputs), 7th internationally in rural health (ScholarGPS, by quality, 2021-2025), top 1% of international researchers in both health policy and management, and public health (ScholarGPS, by productivity, 2021-2025), top 1% in implementation science in healthcare practice (Scival), with 3.5 times higher than the world-average research impact in evidence-based medicine (InCites Category Normalised Citation Impact, July 2023). David and his team have been awarded over $10 million in competitive grants and tenders.

David's research has had a significant real-world impact. For instance, his earlier work on evaluating the health policy of rural doctors dispensing drugs was referenced by World Health Organization guidelines on country pharmaceutical pricing policies, OECD's One Health Framework and as background note for the 2014 OECD Global Forum on competition issues in the distribtion of pharmaceuticals, Texas Public Policy Foundation's Doctor-to-Patient medication program, and Cochrane's systematic review on delivery arrangements for health systems; and, has influenced changes to the Australian Government policy in approval of community pharmacy. Similarly, his work on biosimilars has contributed to the Australian Biosimilar Awareness Initiative and was picked up by the media during the then-TransPacific Agreement negotiation. His recent research on rural general practice management of high-acuity caseloads is cited in the Pan American Health Organization's essential health services policy, Generalitat de Catalunya policy on primary care, the Allen+Clark afterhours evaluation report to the Australian Government, and informed a current program of work on rural primary care disaster management, and changed the previous phase of "GP-type patients in Emergency". The commissioned work on Indigenous youth mental health is "highly influenced" and included in the Closing the Gap resource toolkit. The minority population with disability care work is included in the WA Disability Health Framework 2015-25, further demonstrating the practical implications of David's work.

David's dedication to primary healthcare reform and patient care is not just academic; it is rooted in over a decade of hands-on experience in rural and remote Australia. His time in these areas was marked by efforts to influence primary healthcare reform and improve patient care, a testament to his commitment to collaborative partnership and understanding of the healthcare needs of diverse populations.

Massimo Piccardi is a professor of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning at the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), that he joined in 2002.

Over his career, Prof Piccardi has been the author or co-author of over two hundred scientific papers in international journals and conference proceedings and several book chapters. Since relocating to Australia from Italy in 2002, he has been the principal investigator of many advanced research projects including two ARC (Australian Research Council) Discovery Projects and an ARC Linkage Project, and a chief investigator in another Linkage Project and four Linkage Infrastructure Projects. Prof Piccardi has also received significant funding from several Cooperative Research Centres (CMCRC, FACRC, DHCRC).

Prof Piccardi serves as a member of the Editorial Board of the Artificial Intelligence In Medicine journal and has served as as an Associate Editor for several other journals in the past (IEEE Transactions on Big Data, CVIU, IVC, MVAP). He is a senior member of the IEEE, a member of its Computer and Systems, Man and Cybernetics Societies, a member of the International Association for Pattern Recognition, a member of the Association for Computational Linguistics, and has served as the 2023-2024 president of the Australasian Language Technology Association (ALTA). In 2022, Prof. Piccardi has been a recipient of the inaugural IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Contributor award.