Professor Lorimer Moseley AO

I am fascinated by humans. That fascination has led me to become a physiotherapist, then a neuroscientist, a pain scientist and a science educator. After working as a physiotherapist for seven years, I combined my clinical work with research - a PhD at the University of Sydney Pain Management Research Institute and research positions at the University of Queensland, University of Sydney and Oxford University, UK. My official qualifications are: DSc, PhD, FAAHMS, FACP, HonFFPMANZCA, HonMAPA, BAppSc(Phty)(Hons). In 2020, I was made an Officer of the Order of Australia, for "distinguished service to medical research and science communication, to education, to the study of pain and its management, and to physiotherapy, to humanity at large." I was appointed University of South Australia's Inaugural Chair in Physiotherapy, and Professor of Clinical Neurosciences, in 2011 and was honoured to be appointed an unaugural Bradley Distinguished Professor in 2021.

I established and lead the non-profit grassroots movement called Pain Revolution, which is committed to a bold but realistic vision that all Australians will have access to the knowledge, skills and local support to prevent and overcome persistent pain. Our annual Flagship Event is the Pain Revolution Rural Outreach Tour. 'Pain Rev' as we call it, is run by a small gaggle of Outstanding People and we have won local and international prizes. Our ongoing capacity-building programs - Local Pain Educator Program and Local Pain Collectives Project, aim to (i) embed in rural and regional communities the capacity to prevent and overcome persistent pain, and (ii) develop local pain networks to provide sustainable capacity. Learn about Pain Revolution here: painrevolution.org.

I am the Chair of PainAdelaide Stakeholders' Consortium, which brings together Adelaide's pain researchers, clinicians and consumers to 'put our heads together' for persistent pain.

I lead the Body in Mind Research Group within IIMPACT. This research group investigates the role of the brain and mind in chronic pain. Pain is a huge problem - it affects 20% of the population and costs western societies about as much as diabetes and cancer combined.  We have a major public engagement and education focus, with our articles and videos attracting over 13 million reads/views, including being on repeat in hospitals and community health centres in several countries. Body in Mind, or 'BIM', research is supported by MRFF and NHMRC Grants and industry funding, and many BIMsters have NHMRC scholarship or fellowship support. We have eight nationalities and several disciplines represented. Perhaps our big five projects at the moment involve (i) a worldwide project to better collect data about social determinants of pain outcomes - that's led by Dr Emma Karran who, by the way, is outstanding; (ii) a public messaging co-designed campaign and evaluation project in rural SA and Victoria - that's called EQUIPP and it is led by Dr Louise Wiles who, by the way, is excellent; (iii) co-designed adolescent pain management project called INTEGRATE that's led by Dr Carolyn Berryman who, by the way, is stellar; (iv) co-designing pain programs for refugees in re-settlement countries - that's got Ruth Appiah and Karma Phuentsho at the helm and they are, by the way, top notch; (v) the SELF project exploring how socialising pain and injury in early childhood might be protective against chronic pain in later life - that's led by Dr Sarah Wallwork who, by the way, is excellent.  I also co-lead PETAL, which you can learn about here: www.petalcollaboration.org

I led the establishment of UniSA's Innovation, Implementation & Clinical Translation in Health ('IIMPACT in Health') and was Director from inception until 2023. IIMPACT has grown to about 100 researchers, publishing over 500 scientific articles a year, with a research income of about $2m a year. The research in IIMPACT centres around taking a truly 'biopsychosocial' to a range of significant health conditions, and the primary role that allied health professionals play in discovery and treatment. Central to IIMPACT has been an 'innovation to implementation' approach, led by clinical and consumer needs, with both playing important roles in every phase of the research journey.

For those of you keen on 'metrics', here you go: Total number of papers - a bit over 400; Google scholar H-index - about 106; Average Field-weighted citation index - 1.9 - 3.1 in the fields in which I am most active (for my papers I sneak a 'G' in before Lorimer, just to give a nod to my dad, after whom I am named and who is, by the way, a legend)(oh - the name I go by - Lorimer - yeah that's my mum's middle name, so she is covered and is, by the way, a national treasure); competitive grant funding - about $25 million over 20 years. You can suss out my papers on googlescholar via this ridiculously long link: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=O9a6ieoAAAAJ&hl=en.

I supervise PhD students and host post-doctoral fellows. Expressions of interest in joining our group should be directed in the first instance to tracy.jones@unisa.edu.au. We have many such expressions of interest each year so it is best to make contact at least 12 months in advance.

I co-developed, with David Moen and Sam Chisolm, a consumer facing resource called Tame the Beast - go to www.tamethebeast.org, which is now available in Spanish.

I established bodyinmind.org in 2009 and was Chief Editor until we handed it to the IASP.  This library of over 900 blog posts is now hosted on their consumer/clinician facing website called RELIEF. You can visit that library here: www.iasp-pain.org/content-type/body-in-mind/

Pain revolution website - I mentioned it above, but really, it's definitely worth a look, particularly if you are challenged by pain or want to become a local pain educator - www.painrevolution.org

I have authored or co-authored several books. Some of them are really quite good. You can find them here: https://www.noigroup.com/shop/

Please note that I receive royalties for these books. I have no financial interest in the publisher noigroup.com. I do however, have relevant disclosures - in the last five years, I have received support from the following entities: Reality Health (which is a very cool virtual reality based pain education platform, developed primarily by my good mates Nige and Martin), Kaiser Permanente, ConnectHealth UK, Institutes of Health California, workers compensation and Veterans affairs agencies in Australia and abroad, AIA Australia, Arsenal Football Club, Carlton, Melbourne and North Melbourne Football Clubs, the International Olympic Committee. Professional and scientific bodies have reimbursed me for travel costs related to presentation of research on pain at scientific conferences/symposia. 

I am an unpaid Director of the non-profit Pain Solutions Research Alliance.

I live and work on Kaurna Country.

Australian Academy of Health & Medical Science

Australian Physiotherapy Association

Faculty of Pain Medicine, Australia New Zealand College of Anaesthetists

International Association for the Study of Pain

Australian Pain Society

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of Sydney

• Bachelor of Applied Sciences University of Sydney