All Menzies Memorial Scholars
L
LIISA LAAKSO1991 Menzies Scholar in the Allied Health Sciences
Menzies Memorial Scholars Association:
Secretary/Treasurer 2009-2011, President 2011-
Education
BPhty (Hons), PhD, GradCertHlthMgmnt (QH)
Other awards and achievements
Australian Physiotherapy Association (Qld Branch) Award for Contribution to Physiotherapy Research – 2001
Current:
Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Griffith University.
Career history/highlights:
1981: Graduated BPhty (1st Class Honours) from The University of Queensland.
Worked in a number of clinical positions in hospitals and private practices throughout 1980-90s (including Physiotherapist / Senior Physiotherapist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospitals – 1982-85 and 1988-2002; and St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney – 1986-87).
1991 Menzies Memorial Scholar (Allied Health): Funded PhD studies to completion in 1992/93.
Graduated with PhD in 1995 in field of physiotherapy (chronic pain and laser therapy).
Graduated with Graduate Certificate in Management (QH) from Queensland University of Technology in 1999.
1999-2002: Clinical Lecturer (conjoint appointment between The University of Queensland and Royal Brisbane Hospital).
2002-present: Lecturer, Senior Lecturer then Associate Professor at Griffith University (Gold Coast campus).
Professional affiliations
Director, Board of Australian Physiotherapy Association
President-elect, World Association for Laser Therapy
Vice-President, Australian Medical Laser Association
Fellow, American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery
Member, Board of World Confederation of Physical Therapy International Society for Electrophysical Agents in Physical Therapy
Areas of Professional Interest
eHealth technologies for prevention and management of chronic disease
Physiotherapy professional issues e.g., education research
Palliative and cancer care
Laser therapy (and other electromagnetic radiations)
Recreation/Interests
I enjoy watching all sports, play lawn bowls and paint with oils when I have spare time.
Apr 2006
DR ADRIAN LISTON
2005 NHMRC/RG Menzies Fellowship
Dr Adrian Liston from the Division of Immunology and Genetics at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU was awarded the 2005 NHMRC/RG Menzies Fellowship. Adrian took up his Fellowship in 2006 at the Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Washington. His study is "Genetic characterisation of factors affecting generation of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells”.
Mar 2006
ANGELA
LOPES
2011 RG Menzies Scholar to Harvard
Angela Lopes holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace) with First Class Honours and the University Medal and a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) from the University of Sydney. Angela has worked on various consulting projects on the issue of climate change and sustainability and the associated commercial and political difficulties in introducing technologies.
Angela will undertake an MBA (Strategy and Business Development) at Harvard Business School.
Jun 2011
DR ANNE LOWELL
1990 Menzies Scholar in the Allied Health Sciences
After graduating as a Speech Pathologist in 1980 I worked in Victoria, the Northern Territory and South Australia for ten years. I became increasingly interested in the developmental and educational effects of conductive hearing loss due to otitis media (middle ear infections) particularly for Indigenous Australian children - a group with an extremely high prevalence of otitis media (as high as 100% in some communities).
As employment opportunities in that area were limited but research funding relatively abundant at the time I began a PhD in 1990 and in that year I was awarded the Menzies Scholarship in Allied Health. My field work was conducted in a remote island community off the coast of Arnhemland - quite a contrast to the environment most Menzies scholars experience! The findings of this study identified many positive features of communicative interaction within this community which supported children with hearing loss and raised many questions about cultural differences in language socialisation.
This led to another study looking at communication at home to better understand why some children appeared less disadvantaged by their hearing loss than we, as outsiders, might assume. The assumptions many of us hold about communication and socialisation were repeatedly challenged in these studies and led to other work which would enable the experts - Aboriginal people themselves - greater participation in identifying and addressing their children's needs.
Subsequent projects moved away from a specific communication focus but Aboriginal participation remained a crucial feature with increasing the opportunity for Aboriginal control over both research and practice as the central objective in every project. I have been very lucky to have had many Aboriginal co-workers who were all exceptionally patient - and persistent - teachers. They helped me to begin to understand how deeply ethnocentric our (Western) views of communication - and most other aspects of life - are. As a result, so much Indigenous knowledge and practice is excluded from our view. I became increasingly aware of the importance of good collaborative practice and an understanding of power and how to let it go - for those of us socialised in Western academic and professional cultures this is not an easy task and I'm still struggling with the challenge.
My most recent work has moved back to communication again - to a study of intercultural communication between health staff and their Aboriginal clients. We found extensive miscommunication in encounters between health staff and renal patients from remote communities which, inevitably, has serious consequences for the quality of care. Staff and clients are highly motivated to work together to address these problems and supporting this process is my current priority.
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