OA SIG Steering Committee

Prof. Kim Bennell (Co-Chair)

Prof. David Hunter (Co-Chair)

Prof. Rana Hinman

Professor Kim Bennell (Co-Chair)

Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor & NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Department of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Victoria Prof Kim Bennell leads the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine and the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Translational Research in Musculoskeletal Pain. She is also a fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. Her research focuses on non-drug, non-surgical management of hip and knee osteoarthritis as well as ways to address evidence-practice gaps around uptake of pain management and lifestyle interventions by clinicians and patients. She has current trials investigating different remotely delivered models of service delivery in general practice and the health insurance setting with Medibank Private and various treatments including platelet rich plasma injections and yoga. Kim has over 350 peer-reviewed publications including clinical trials published in JAMA, Ann Int Med and BMJ, and has more than $25 million in grant funding including a current NHMRC Program grant in Musculoskeletal conditions with investigators at the Universities of Sydney and Queensland. She has supervised more than 25 PhD students to completion and was a co-recipient of the 2018 Australian Council of Graduate Research Award for Excellence in Research Supervision. Kim has been on the Board of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International since 2008.

Professor David Hunter (Co-Chair)

Florance and Cope Chair of Rheumatology, Chair of Institute of Bone and Joint Research, Professor of Medicine, University of Sydney Professor Hunter is a rheumatology clinician researcher whose main research focus has been clinical and translational research in osteoarthritis (OA). He is the Florance and Cope Chair of Rheumatology and Professor of Medicine at University of Sydney and the Royal North Shore Hospital and Consultant Rheumatologist at North Sydney Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Centre. He is ranked as the world’s leading expert in osteoarthritis on Expertscape.com since 2014. He is on the editorial board for Arthritis and Rheumatology, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, Arthritis Care and Research and part of the review committee for OA for the American College of Rheumatology, EULAR and OARSI scientific meetings. Dr Hunter has over 400 peer reviewed publications in international journals, numerous book chapters, is the section editor for UpToDate Osteoarthritis and has co-authored a number of books, and recently completed his second book on self management strategies for the lay public.

Professor Rana Hinman

ARC Future Fellow, Centre for Health, Exercise & Sports Medicine, Department of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Victoria Rana is a physiotherapist, Professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on musculoskeletal health, primarily osteoarthritis of the knee and hip joints. A major area of her research is the development and/or evaluation of non-drug non-surgical treatment strategies for osteoarthritis, in particular exercise and biomechanical interventions such as orthoses, footwear and gait modification. Her clinical trials have been published in leading medical journals, including JAMA, BMJ and Ann Int Med. Rana’s research is increasingly focused on strategies to support positive behavior change in people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions, particularly adherence to exercise, as well as the evaluation and implementation of remote models of service delivery using the telephone and/or internet. Rana has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and has received over $17 million in grant funding. She is an Editorial Board Member of Journal of Physiotherapy.