Mary Galea | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1951 (age 72–73) |
| Citizenship | Australian |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Awards | Victorian Honour Roll, 2014 Member of the Order of Australia, 2019 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroscience, physiotherapy, rehabilitation |
| Institutions | The University of Melbourne |
Mary Pauline Galea (born 1951) is an Australian physiotherapist and neuroscientist at University of Melbourne. She resides in Melbourne, Australia. Galea is a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne's Department of Medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and a Senior Principal Fellow in the Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health. She was foundation professor of clinical physiotherapy and director of the Rehabilitation Sciences Research Centre at the University of Melbourne and Austin Health. She is internationally recognised for her work in spinal cord injury and rehabilitative interventions. [1]
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Galea established the Rehabilitation Sciences Research Centre [2] in 2004, where she acted as director. Her research focuses on interventions for the promotion of recovery after spinal cord injury. [3] In 2009, Galea led a series of multi-site clinical trials investigating exercise as an intervention to improve hand function and aid recovery after spinal cord injury. The five year 'Spinal Cord Injury & Physical Activity (SCIPA) program was funded as part of the Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative, and was designed to examine the impact of exercise in spinal cord rehabilitation. [4] Seven spinal Units were established across Australia and New Zealand, implementing randomised controlled clinical trials of novel rehabilitation strategies directed at neuromuscular activation of lower limbs. [5]
Galea was instrumental in establishing the Royal Melbourne Hospital's Hand Hub, with funding by the Department of Health. [6] The Hand Hub uses robotic devices, sensors and gaming technology to provide intensive hand and arm therapy to patients for rehabilitation following stroke or other neurological injury.
Galea has held honorary professorships The University of Sydney, Discipline of Exercise and Sport Science, The University of Queensland, School of Health and Rehabilitative Sciences, Brisbane, Australia (2011–2013). She was adjunct professor at James Cook University, School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, Townsville, Australia from 2010 to 2013. She is adjunct professor at Victoria University, Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living. She is a chief investigator in the Spinal Research Institute. [1]
In 2007, Galea was awarded the prestigious Churchill Fellowship, by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. [7] [8] To mark International Women's Day, in 2014, Galea was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women by former Victorian Premier Denis Napthine and the former Minister for Women's Affairs, Heidi Victoria. [9]
Galea was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2019 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to medical education in the field of clinical physiotherapy, and to professional associations". [10]
In 2020 Galea was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. [11]
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease prevention, and health promotion. Physical therapist is the term used for such professionals in the United States, and physiotherapist is the term used in many other countries.
Spasticity is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance with a combination of paralysis, increased tendon reflex activity, and hypertonia. It is also colloquially referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, or "pull" of muscles.
A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions.
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Physical therapy education varies greatly from country to country. Worldwide, physical therapy training ranges from basic work site education in hospitals and outpatient clinics to professional doctoral degree and masters programs.
Kristjan T. Ragnarsson is an American physiatrist who focuses on the rehabilitation of individuals with disorders of the central nervous system. He is the Dr. Lucy G. Moses Professor and Chair of Rehabilitation Medicine at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
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A wheelchair trainer or wheelchair treadmill is an apparatus that allows a manual wheelchair user to simulate linear (translational) travel while remaining stationary in a manner similar to an ambulatory person walking or running on a treadmill or a cyclist pedaling a bicycle on a bicycle trainer. The rear wheelchair wheels are placed in contact with vertical or horizontal rollers which may also be attached to flywheels, mechanical resistance or braking mechanisms, motors and various speed and force sensors. Flywheels may be sized to provide a user of a certain mass with a rotational inertia equivalent to their translational (linear) inertia in order to more realistically approximate actual wheelchair propulsion.
Upper motor neuron syndrome (UMNS) is the motor control changes that can occur in skeletal muscle after an upper motor neuron lesion.
When treating a person with a spinal cord injury, repairing the damage created by injury is the ultimate goal. By using a variety of treatments, greater improvements are achieved, and, therefore, treatment should not be limited to one method. Furthermore, increasing activity will increase his/her chances of recovery.
Mary Puthisseril Verghese (1925–1986) was a physician in India who was among the earliest pioneers of Physical medicine and rehabilitation in the country. Mary Verghese was instilled in a home where love and respect were two main factors in their close knit family. She was caring of others and wanted to give back to her community in any way that she could. In 1963, she took charge of what was the first department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with an inpatient facility in India at the Christian Medical College, Vellore. She was instrumental in expanding the services of the department with the establishment of the first inpatient rehabilitation institute of the country in 1966. In recognition of her contributions to the field of medicine, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1972.
Julie Bernhardt is an Australian physiotherapist and clinician scientist, known for her work in the field of stroke recovery. She has been a principal research fellow and an NHMRC senior research fellow and clinical head of the Stroke Division at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne.
Mary Elizabeth Bartlett Bunge was an American neuroscientist who researched a cure for paralysis at the University of Miami, where she was a professor of cell biology.
Sarah Elizabeth Lamb is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Exeter, and the Mireille Gillings Professor for Health Innovation. She is also an Honorary Departmental Professor at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford and was the Foundation Director of the Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit.
Milos R. Popovic is a scientist specializing in Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) and neurorehabilitation. As of 2018, he is Director of the KITE Research Institute at UHN Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI), and a Professor with the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto.
David James Burke is an Australian neurologist and clinical neurophysiologist. He has held senior positions at the Prince of Wales Hospital, University of New South Wales and University of Sydney. He led one of two teams that formed the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, which was renamed Neuroscience Research Australia in 2010. His career has included a focus on the role of spinal cord circuits in the control of movement, the excitability of peripheral nerve axons in health and disease, and other areas of clinical neurophysiology.
Sarah Dunlop is an Australian researcher working in neuroplasticity, neuroscience and community programs for people with spinal cord injury.
Simon Gandevia is from Melbourne, Australia. He studied at the University of New South Wales where he received three research doctorates: PhD, MD, and DSc. Gandevia's current research focuses primarily on the relationship between the human brain and movement. His work contributes to various sub-fields within medicine particularly focusing on pathological mechanisms, such as neurology, cardiorespiratory medicine and rehabilitation. In addition, he worked with many editorial boards such as the Journal of Physiology. Gandevia had supervised and trained several doctoral students. Gandevia also writes about research ethics and quality of experimental procedures in order to facilitate the development of concepts about ethics in human experimental studies. In 1998, Gandevia was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science in 2016.
Louise Mary Burke, is an Australian sports dietitian, academic and author. She was the head of sports nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) throughout its existence from 1990 to 2018 and in 2018 was appointed Chief of AIS Nutrition Strategy. Since 2014, she holds the chair in sports nutrition in the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University.
Vivian K. Mushahwar is a Palestinian-Canadian biomedical engineer. She is a Canada Research Chair in Functional Restoration at the University of Alberta, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.