Rate My Professor Cathy Said

Professor Cathy Said is the inaugural Professor of Physiotherapy at Western Health and the University of Melbourne in the Melbourne School of Health Sciences. She holds a PhD and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy. With over 25 years of experience as a physiotherapist specializing in neurological and gerontological rehabilitation, her research focuses on fall prevention, gait and balance disorders, exercise interventions, physical activity promotion for older adults, and rehabilitation for people with neurological conditions including stroke. She has been Chief Investigator on several National Health and Medical Research Council-funded randomized controlled trials examining rehabilitation outcomes, physical activity optimization in hospitalized older adults, and telehealth-delivered exercise programs post-stroke.

Said serves as Project Director for the Allied Health Professionals research project at the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science and is an Honorary Fellow at the National Ageing Research Institute. She chairs the Physiotherapy Research Foundation Grant Review Committee and the Victorian Health Research Translation Collaboration Falls Prevention Committee. As a key participant in the global task force, she contributed to the landmark World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management for Older Adults published in 2022. Her influential publications include 'World guidelines for falls prevention and management for older adults: a global initiative' (Age and Ageing, 2022), 'Fit for purpose. Co-production of complex behavioural interventions. A practical guide and exemplar of co-producing a telehealth-delivered exercise intervention for people with stroke' (Research Involvement and Engagement, 2022), 'Secondary prevention of stroke. A telehealth-delivered physical activity and diet pilot randomised trial (ENAbLE-pilot)' (BMJ Open, 2023), and numerous papers on biofeedback gait training, hospital falls prevention, and equity in clinical trials for diverse communities. She has developed evidence-based resources such as Safe Exercise at Home for older people.