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Dr Ben Barry is an allied health professional working clinically in aged care with Wesley Mission Queensland.

Dr Barry has a research background in adaptations of the nervous system to exercise and ageing. His research interests have progressed to health professional education, spanning digital health, interprofessional education and workforce development. Dr Barry's clinical work as a physiotherapist and exercise physiologist with a focus on healthy ageing links nicely with his PhD thesis on "Resistance training and movement control in older adults".

Dr Barry has extensive experience teaching allied health (exercise physiology), medical science and medical students. This has included coordinating degree programs and courses, leading teaching teams and discipline-wide curriculum reviews, expanding and enhancing clinical placement programs and student clinics, and innovations in online teaching of health professionals.

Dr Barry completed postdoctoral training in the Neurophysiology of Movement Laboratory at the Department of Integrative Physiology, the University of Colorado - Boulder USA, and subsequently worked for a decade at the School of Medical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, as well as holding an honorary appointment at Neuroscience Research Australia, before returning to The University of Queensland in 2017. He has a track record of external research funding and postgraduate research supervision as well as several teaching awards.

Associate Professor Sjaan Gomersall is Associate Director and Principal Research Fellow at the Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation at School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences and a Teaching and Research academic in Physiotherapy at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland. Established in 2022, the Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation (HWCRI) is a collaborative, co-funded research centre by The University of Queensland and Health and Wellbeing Queensland. The HWCRI combines world class research expertise in physical activity, nutrition and health at The University of Queensland, with the reach and capacity of Health and Wellbeing Queensland to integrate, deliver and evaluate evidence-based programs that provide scalable, equitable access to improve the health and wellbeing of all Queenslanders (and beyond).

Associate Professor Gomersall is an expert in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health. Her research has focused on understanding, measuring and influencing physical activity and sedentary behaviour using a variety of methods and with a range of populations, with a focus on adults, the prevention and management of chronic disease and physical activity promotion in healthcare settings. Sjaan has a strong track record for multi-disciplinary collaborations and industry partnerships, with specific expertise in partnering with healthcare organisations to build capacity in research and physical activity behaviour change, to evaluate the impact of healthcare services and to co-design and test innovative solutions to gaps in service delivery. Dr Gomersall is a nationally and internally recognised leader in physical activity and health. She is the President-Elect of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health, Co-Lead for the Physical Activity in Healthcare Special Interest Group for the Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity, a Consultant for Physical Activity for the World Health Organisation and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Activity, Sedentary and Sleep Behaviours.

A life-long fascination in sciences provided me with the inspiration to graduate in exercise physiology (University of Sherbrooke, Canada, 2004), complete a PhD in physiology/biophysics (University of Sherbrooke, 2009) and continue in my current role as a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) of The University of Queensland. I am a physiologist first and foremost with a particular interest in understanding how skeletal muscle cell normally functions so as to try and elucidate what changes or factors contribute to various forms of muscle weakness with ageing, inactivity or various chronic diseases.

During my previous postdoctoral appointment at La Trobe University (Melbourne, 2010-2017), I have gained considerable experience using the "mechanically skinned muscle fibre" technique in animal muscle. Importantly, I have developed this technique for the first time in human muscle which allows the exciting opportunity to investigate cellular mechanisms of muscle weakness in different clinical population. This is vitally important since most of our existing knowledge on muscle function comes from studies on muscles obtained from animal models. This technical breakthrough has been recognized by editorials of different leading scientific journals in the field of Physiology. I’m now a world recognized expert of this technique which has immense potential for examining any number of physiological questions and even allows for biochemical analyses of any protein of interest in the same cell.

Dr Shaun O’Leary is a Senior Fellow in Physiotherapy between the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Queensland (UQ), and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) Physiotherapy Department and Neurosurgical/Orthopaedic Screening Clinics. He is also a Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist as awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapists. Dr O’Leary’s combined academic and clinical track record underpins his conjoint UQ/RBWH appointment. His service to health is broad, spanning the supervision of clinical research (clinician-initiated, research higher degree, honours, coursework masters), clinical education and mentoring across all levels of the physiotherapy profession (undergraduate, postgraduate, professional development and specialisation), with a particular interest and role in developing clinician-scientist career pathways in Australian public health. Dr O’Leary also serves as a councillor and senior examiner for the Australian College of Physiotherapists, and is the Chair of the colleges Fellowships Program Standing Committee.

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Hons) (1993) University of Queensland (UQ), Master of Physiotherapy Studies (Musculoskeletal) (2000) UQ, Doctor of Philosophy (Physiotherapy) (2005) UQ, Fellowship of the Australian College of Physiotherapists by Specialisation (Musculoskeletal) (2008).

PUBLICATIONS AND SUPERVISION: Dr O’Leary has over 100 publications including 90 original research articles, 6 invited review articles, 4 book chapters, 2 mainstream clinical text books translated to multiple languages, and 1 international patent. He has supervised 8 research higher degree (7 PhD and 1 MPhil) students to completion and has 4 current students (3 PhD, 1 MPhil), and has supervised 14 honours and 11 masters coursework research projects to completion. Dr O’Leary has delivered presentations at 23 National and 23 International Conferences.

INTERNATIONAL PROFILE: Dr O’Leary has established research collaborations with researchers in the USA (Northwestern University, Chicago), UK (Birmingham University), Sweden (Umea University and Linköping University), Belgium (Ghent University), and Denmark (University of Southern Denmark). Dr O’Leary is also a renowned clinical educator having delivered numerous hands-on clinical workshops in Australia and internationally.

MAJOR FUNDING SUPPORT: Dr O’Leary has to date obtained over AUD$1.6 million in research funding.

Dr Jenna L. Taylor obtained her PhD in Exercise Physiology from The University of Queensland in 2019 as an NHMRC postgraduate research scholar. She then completed a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship in the United States at The Mayo Clinic with the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. She is now a Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Physiology with the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at UQ and heads up the Physiology and Ultrasound Laboratory for Science and Exercise (PULSE). Her interest in cardiovascular disease stems from her clinical experience as an exercise physiologist and dietitian working in a hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation program. Broadly, her research interests involve the effect of exercise training and intensity on improving cardiovascular and brain health, in the settings of healthy ageing and risk reduction for cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia. She is currently the PI on an NIH-funded Clinical Trial (1R21AG073726) investigating the influence of exercise training and intensity on cognitive function and cerebral blood flow regulation in patients with cardiovascular disease.