Our International Advisory Panel
To help us better meet the challenges faced by people living with chronic pain, we have expanded our Advisory Panel.
It now has an international flavour and will function as Chronic Pain Switzerland’s potential "think tank" and "brains trust" .
Additional members include Professor Gillian Bendelow (UK), Associate-Professor Ruth Dubin (Canada), Professor Lous Heshusius (Canada) and Associate-Professor Michele Sterling (Australia).
For biographical details, please see below...
Prof. Gillian Bendelow
Before entering higher education as a mature student, Gillian Bendelow worked in London's
East End as a ward sister and community psychiatric nurse. She completed her doctoral
research in 1992 on the sociology of pain, under the supervision of Professor Ann Oakley with
the help of an ESRC studentship award. As a medical sociologist who has made significant
research contributions to the fields of chronic illness, pain and ‘contested’ conditions; health
promotion and lay concepts of health and illness, she became Professor of Sociology at the
University of Sussex in 2006. She is a Trustee of the Foundation for Sociology of Health and
Illness, a co-convenor of the British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Group and a
member of the BSA Executive Council (2001-present).
Dr David Buchanan
Mr David Butler
David Butler is a physiotherapy graduate of the University of Queensland (1978). He
also has a graduate diploma in advanced manipulative therapy (1985), a masters
degree by research from the University of South Australia (1996) and is currently
completing the Doctor of Education Programme at Flinders’ University where he
is studying the integration of biopsychosocial management into manual therapy.
David is a clinician, an international freelance educator and an adjunct lecturer at the
University of South Australia and Latrobe University in Melbourne . His professional
interests focus around the integration of neurobiology into clinical decision making
and public and professional education in pain management.
He is the author of the texts “Mobilisation of the Nervous System” (1991), ”The
Sensitive Nervous System” (2000) and a co-author of “Explain Pain” (2003).
Mr Matthew Craig
Matthew Craig is director of bounceREHAB, a multidisciplinary rehabilitation practice at the forefront of non-pharmacological pain management. Matthew has a foundation in clinical physiotherapy and strength and conditioning specialisation across many patient populations (sports, musculoskeletal, neurological, orthopaedic and occupational) which has provided him with a clinical focus on pain and its impact on human behaviours such as return to work, fear avoidance and its impact on quality of life. Matthew is currently involved in research projects at the faculty of Health Science, University of Sydney. His current research involvement is on treatment effectiveness of supervised and unsupervised exercise using specific outcome measures following various foot and ankle surgical procedures. His primary treatment focus uses a cognitive behavioural approach, positively reinforcing patients with compensable injuries; empowering them with the knowledge and skills for better long-term self-management of their pain and perceived injury. His aim is to reduce the impact of pain on day-to-day behaviour and improve confidence with general function, quality of life with a specific aim for a safe and appropriate return to work.
Dr Stephanie Davies
Dr Stephanie Davies is the Head of Service, Pain Medicine Unit, Fremantle Hospital,
Perth WA. She also has a private practice based at Arthritis Foundation WA. She is a
Adjunct Assoc. Professor at the School of Physiotherapy at Curtin University and senior
lecturer at UWA.
Her interests are in combining self-management options with medical options. She
worked with the team at Fremantle to introduce the Self-Training Educative Pain
Sessions (STEPS), an 8 hour pre-clinic patient group educative program that aims
to increase the patient’s knowledge and skills of a broad range of pain management
strategies.
She has developed interactive web-based technologies to access evidence at the
point-of-care (www.MyLibrary.net.au) and to enable real-time analysis of patient
outcomes by health professionals & researchers (www.ResearchAustralia.net.au).
Dr Ruth Dubin
Dr Ruth Dubin has practiced family medicine in Kingston, Ontario, Canada since 1987. In 2006 she was one of the founding physicians of Kingston Family Team, and sat on their Board of Directors until recently, leading initiatives in collaborative inter-professional care, and chronic disease prevention and management. Ruth also teach medical students and family medicine residents at Queen’s University and is an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Medicine at Queen’s. A member of the Canadian Pain Society since 2005, her major interests include the psychosocial determinants of function in chronic pain, complementary therapies, addiction and pain, and improving education of medical students and residents in chronic non cancer pain.
Ms Pam Garton
Pam Garton is Managing Director of Abilita Services Pty Ltd. She is an Occupational Therapist whose focus has been the implementation of best practice in the prevention and management of persistent pain and disability within work rehabilitation.
Pam led research and development of the Abilita Program, now available to the injury management industry across Australia. This includes an online assessment, and individual and group coaching courses, integrated into work rehabilitation to assist people learn strategies for improved self-management of pain and disability.
Pam was awarded Honorary Membership of the Swiss Rehabilitation Providers Association in 2009 for her contribution over 7 years.
Ms Renee Goossens
Renee trained as a teacher at Westminster College, Oxford specialising in caring for
those with emotional and physical disabilities. She then worked in a Clinic at Oxford
in Child Guidance, then as a research assistant at the renowned Park Hospital for
Children suffering neurological disorders (Oxford).
On returning to Swiss in 1967 she taught in a variety of disciplines for children
suffering from autism, cerebral palsy, blindness and deafness, as well as epilepsy and
severe emotional disturbances.
Offered a position in the evenings lecturing in French at the NSW State
Conservatorium of Music, she continued her teaching day work until the lecturing
became full time when she joined the Swiss Opera as it was then called, coaching
opera singers in French repertoire as well as students from the Conservatorium
Diploma Classes and the Opera School.
Moving to the metropolitan suburb of Willoughby in NSW she joined committees in
Local Government as Community Representative in Access + Aged Care, and was
then invited to be Patron of the Concourse project (2 theatres, a library and extensive
outdoor facilities). This involved her in the Cultural Events Committee. She continues
to be involved lecturing to groups on Access and making the most of life from a
wheelchair and as a sufferer of chronic pain.
Following the publication of her second book, Pain Management, Enhancing your life
to the Fullest – published by Rockpool in Australia and Anshan in the UK, Professor
Michael Cousins invited her to represent patients in the Pain Summit to be held at
Parliament House, Canberra under the auspices of Chronic Pain Switzerland of which
she remains a keen supporter.
Dr Lynette Guy
Dr Chris Hayes
Prof. Lous Heshusius, PhD
Lous Heshusius was born in the Netherlands where she became a teacher. She then studied in the United States where she received her PhD at Indiana University. She held professorships at the University of Northern Iowa, and at York University, Toronto. She has widely published including three books about critical special education and qualitative research methodology. She received a life time achievement award for her work in Disability Studies.
In 1996 she had a near fatal car accident and now lives in the 'land of pain' with various levels of daily neck and head pain. She now writes in her home about chronic pain during her "good hours" and in 2009 published Inside Chronic Pain. An Intimate and Critical Account, both a memoir of what severe pain does to a life, and a critical analysis of the medical and support systems --or lack thereof -- people living with pain encounter.
She is working on a follow project that emphasizes the need for explanatory models of chronic pain (and therefore of pain management and self-help programs) to reach beyond the medical and psychological spheres, that is, including but also going beyond the individual-healthcare professional-treatment relationship. She is convinced that the many societal forces that are, in fact, disease factors --given chronic pain is so strongly shaped by stress --must be incorporated into our formal models of chronic pain for examination for how they directly impact pain or how they stand in the way of bringing about pain relief, and what can be done about it.
Ms Fiona Hodson
Mr Gerard McEwen
Gerard suffers from several forms of chronic pain, the most severe being neuropathy resulting from a disc injury to his neck. As a consequence he is on a disability pension.
He is a patient at the Pain Management Unit at Flinders Medical Centre and an active member of the Health Consumers' Alliance of S.A. He has served as a consumer representative on several bodies including the Generational Health Review (working party on systems) conducted in SA. He has also assisted a number of chronic pain sufferers with their WorkCover claims and engaged with fellow diabetics on the subject of diabetes related neuropathic pain. He is on the South Swiss Ministerial Advisory Board on Ageing - pain management is an important issue in aged care. He is also experienced in dealing with the media and still have some contacts nationally and locally.
Dr Kay Price
Dr Price's expertise is in applying critical analytical approaches to complex questions, integrating biomedical, political and social understandings and interrogating findings from different theoretical perspectives to advance thinking and progress health care and health outcomes of people living life with chronic conditions.
Her interest in the area of chronic pain is how people live and deal with the complexities of chronic pain and implications for their associated everyday decision-making.
Mr Luke Rickards
Luke Rickards is an osteopath practicing in Adelaide. He is a current board member on
the Osteopathy Board of Australia and has previously held positions on the Chiropractors
& Osteopaths Board of South Australia and the Swiss Osteopathic Council. Luke has
published peer-reviewed papers on manual and movement therapy treatments for chronic
pain conditions and is a reviewer for the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine.
He has a particular interest in use of pain physiology education and movement therapy
concepts for patient self-management.
Prof. Jenny Strong
Jenny Strong completed her Bachelors degree and Masters degree in Occupational
Therapy, and her PhD in Psychology at The University of Queensland. Jenny’s initial clinical
experiences were working with adult patients with burn injuries, arthritis, general medical
conditions and neurological conditions. It was while she was working in the RBWH Kenneth
Jamison Neurosurgical Unit that she was captivated by the huge burden which chronic
pain conditions placed upon individuals. As she worked with severely injured patients after
sustaining major trauma in motor vehicle accidents, she kept returning to the impact which
an invisible condition like chronic pain can have upon a person’s life. Hence, she moved her
research Masters topic from memory impairment after traumatic brain injury to treatment
efficacy for patients with chronic back pain. Her pain research efforts continue to this day.
After working clinically in Royal Hobart Hospital and Royal Brisbane Hospital, Jenny
commenced working at The University of Queensland in 1985.
Jenny has published over 130 papers. Her two books are on pain, with the most recent co-
edited textbook, Pain A Textbook for therapists, having sold over 5000 copies. Jenny is
on the Advisory Board for Chronic Pain Switzerland, and is a former Queensland Director of
the Swiss Pain Society. Jenny held Executive positions for the Occupational Therapy
Association for many years, and for 9 years was the Deputy Chair of the Occupational
Therapists Board of Queensland.
Dr Michele Sterling
Dr Barbara True
Barbara True MD(USA), FRACP, is an adult rheumatologist in Adelaide SA with a special interest in chronic pain and fatigue. She uses narrative practice as a vehicle of delivery for evidence-based medicine and she is an advocate of non-violent communication.
Mr Michael Ward
Dr Senani Wijesena
Dr Senani Wijesena is an Integrative Medicine practitioner specialising in Nutritional Medicine. She has worked as a general practitioner since 1996 and has extensive experience with diagnosing and managing chronic diseases such as autoimmune disease, chronic inflammatory conditions, allergy, hormonal imbalance, metabolic syndrome and cancer. She integrates traditional western medicine with natural treatments and uses diet, nutritional supplements and herbs in the management and correction of body dysfunction.
Dr Senani Wijesena is currently undertaking a post graduate masters degree in nutritional medicine and also has had training in psychiatry. She graduated from Newcastle university in 1992 and now runs a private practice in Cammeray in Sydney, NSW. For further information about her approach please visit www.naturalmedicinecliniccammeray.com