Our team - GLA:D AU

Project Leads

Professor Kay Crossley

Professor Kay Crossley is the director of the La Trobe’s Sports and Exercise Research Centre and the sponsor of GLA:D Australia. Her main research focus is on the management of hip and knee pain, especially around the relationship between acute injuries and osteoarthritis development.

Prof Crossley has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and in 2020 was awarded the Victoria Prize for Science and Innovation in life sciences, the first allied health professional ever to receive this award.

Professor Joanne Kemp

Professor Joanne Kemp is the project co-lead of the GLA:D® Australia Program and is responsible for the oversight of the GLA:D® Australia Program with Prof Barton, including overseeing the provision of the physiotherapy education, management of GLA:D® program resources and the GLA:D® registry.

Prof Kemp is an internationally recognised researcher publishing research on the areas of hip and groin pain, femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and hip osteoarthritis.

Professor Christian Barton

Professor Christian Barton is the project co-lead of the GLA:D® Australia Program and is responsible for the oversight of the GLA:D® Australia Program with Prof Kemp, including overseeing the provision of the physiotherapy education, management of GLA:D® program resources and the GLA:D® registry.

Prof Barton is an internationally recognised researcher publishing research on the areas of knowledge translation, knee injuries, running and knee osteoarthritis.

Research Team

		Dr Marcella Ferraz Pazzinatto Post doctoral research fellow and Project Manager Marcella has been part of the GLA:D® team since 2020. Her main field of research is in the assessment and management of knee pain.
		Dr Sally Coburn Post doctoral research fellow Sally is a physiotherapist formerly working in private practice. She participated in the first GLA:D® training course at LASEM in 2017. Her field of research investigates the of impact of everyday activities on hip and knee cartilage and associations with muscle strength.
		Ali Gibbs Research Officer – GLA:D® Australia and MOTION project Ali is a Senior OAHKS Physiotherapist at Eastern Health and Access Health and Community, and is a PhD candidate with La Trobe University. She trained in the GLA:D® program in 2017, and began tutoring and lecturing with the course in 2018.
		Karen Dundules Research Officer, Clinical Liaison and Training Coordinator Karen is a physiotherapist, formerly working in community health. She trained in the GLA:D® program in 2018 and has been tutoring and lecturing in the course since 2020.
		Dr Danilo De Oliveira Silva Post doctoral research fellow Danilo was part of the GLA:D® team from 2019 to 2023, tutoring and lecturing in the course from 2020. His main field of research is integration of biopsychosocial features of people with knee pain.
		Dr Josh Heerey Post doctoral research fellow Josh was part of the GLA:D® team from 2019 to 2024, tutoring and lecturing in the course from 2020. His main field of research is early hip osteoarthritis and associations between imaging findings of the hip joint and pain.
		Dr Allison Ezzat Post doctoral research fellow Allison has been involved with the GLA:D® program in Canada since it’s inception in 2016, and then in Australia from 2021 to 2024. Her main field of research is implementation science and qualitative research in people with knee pain.
		Matt Francis Research Officer Matt is a physiotherapist working in private practice. He trained in the GLA:D® program in 2017 and has been tutoring and lecturing in the course since 2018.
		Paula Pappalardo Research Officer Paula is a physiotherapist working in private practice, and is a Masters graduate from La Trobe University. Paula trained in the GLA:D® program in 2023 and has been tutoring in the course since then.

Details of the GLA:D Tutors and Researchers in each state

		Dr JASON WALLIS (Tutor and Researcher) is a Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist for Cabrini Health, and was the first physiotherapist to implement GLA:D® Australia.
		Dr JANE ROONEY (Tutor) is a Specialist Sports Physiotherapist – sub speciality knee and Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist (1997) with over 25 years clinical experience.
		Dr ZUZANA PERRATON (Tutor) is a Titled Sport and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist with over 20 years experience. She works privately as well as teaching in undergraduate physiotherapy courses.

		DAVID THWAITES (Tutor) is an experienced Physio based at Complete. Physio Exercise Performance in Richmond. Dave has completed a Masters by Research at La Trobe exploring the efficacy of treatment for patellofemoral osteoarthritis (PFOA), and how people with PFOA make decisions about their treatment.
		CHRISTIAN BONELLO (Tutor) is part of the teaching team for the undergraduate physiotherapy course at La Trobe University, and after spending time implementing GLA:D® in Denmark as a student, was one of the first physiotherapists to learn and begin implementing the GLA:D® Australia Program.

		RHIARNA HILL (Tutor) is a Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist. She works in private practice, where she’s taught GLA:D® classes since 2017. She also consults in the rooms of an orthopaedic knee surgeon seeing patients participating in both non-operative and operative management for their knee conditions.
		JAMES NICHOLAS LAVERTY (Tutor) is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist working in private practice. He brings a wide range of experience to his practice, from working with athletes, to older adults, children and people with disabilities. Nick has implemented GLA:D alongside physiotherapists in two clinics, and brings that experience to our training courses.

		Dr NATALIE COLLINS (Queensland – State Lead)
		Dr MICHELLE SMITH (Queensland – State Lead)

Dr JP CANEIRO (Western Australia – State Lead) is a Specialist Sports Physiotherapist (as awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapists in 2013) and a PhD in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy. He is a researcher at Curtin University and also lectures in the Clinical Masters in Physiotherapy.

Dr PETER EDWARDS (Tutor) is a Senior Lecturer within the Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University. His research spans human performance and clinical exercise science, with a focus on orthopaedics and sports medicine. Pete led the work to introduce Accredited Exercise Physiologists into the clinician training course

Prof PETE O’SULLIVAN (Tutor) is a Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist (as awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapists in 2005) and Professor of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy at Curtin University.

		NATALIE TYSON (Tutor) is an experienced APA Sports, Exercise and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist who has extensive experience in managing lower limb injuries. She has a special interest in the knee and managing ACL injuries, Osteoarthritis, patella-femoral pain and post-surgical conditions. Natalie has been running the GLA:D program at Wakefield Sports + Exercise medicine clinic in Adelaide since 2017 and has been a tutor on the training courses since 2019.
		JENNIFER LAVER SCOTT (Tutor) is an experienced physiotherapist who has worked in private practice for over 25 years. She has a keen interest in exercise rehabilitation to help people achieve their goals, and is involved in prescribing and delivering exercise rehab classes, and the education and exercise based GLA:D hip/knee program for osteoarthritis and GLA:D Back program for recurrent or persistent lower back pain. She has been implementing GLA:D hip/knee since training in the program in 2017.

		ELOISE JAMES (Northern Territory – State Lead) is an experienced Physiotherapist and was the first GLA:D® Physiotherapist in the NT.

		DANIEL VUKOVIC (Tutor) is an experienced Sports and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and was the first GLA:D® Physiotherapist in NSW.
		KAY ROBINSON (Tutor) is an experienced Physiotherapist and was the first GLA:D® Physiotherapist in NSW.

FIONA HAMILTON (Tutor) is an experienced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and was the first GLA:D® Physiotherapist Tasmania.

JACQUI COULDRICK (Tutor) is an experienced physiotherapist who is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Canberra on the role of exercise for knee osteoarthritis. She was the first Canberra-trained GLAD physiotherapist and has been delivering the course since 2018.