Rate My Professor Jodie Dakic

Dr. Jodie Dakic is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiotherapy within Monash University’s Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. She serves as Co-Director of the Physiotherapy Program Curriculum and Women’s and Men’s Pelvic Health Stream Lead. Dakic holds a Bachelor of Physiotherapy with First Class Honours from the University of Melbourne, awarded in 2002, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy from the same institution in 2018. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne, with her thesis examining pelvic floor disorders in exercising women and female athletes. With over 20 years of clinical experience as a physiotherapist, her career includes 14 years with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), where she was Director of Athlete Medical Services, Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee, and continues as a Research Consultant. Other appointments encompass roles with Tennis Australia, the Australian junior softball team at the Youth Olympics, the Victorian softball team, and her private practice, Pelvic Strength Physiotherapy.

Dakic’s research interests center on the impact of pelvic floor disorders on women’s participation and performance in sport and exercise, current screening and management practices in sports organizations, injury epidemiology and prevention, and women’s health in elite sport. Key publications include “Experience of Playing Sport or Exercising for Women with Pelvic Floor Symptoms: A Qualitative Study” (Sports Medicine - Open, 2023), “Screening for pelvic floor symptoms in exercising women: a survey of 636 health and exercise professionals” (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2023), “Women’s preferences for pelvic floor screening in sport and exercise: a mixed-methods study integrating survey and interview data in Australian women” (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2023), and “Effect of Pelvic Floor Symptoms on Women’s Participation in Exercise: A Systematic Review” (Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 2022). She has earned awards such as the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Early Career Researcher Publication Prize (Jenny Keating Prize for Nursing and Allied Health, 2024), Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Research from the University of Melbourne (2023), and International Continence Society Conference Best Paper in Conservative Management (2021). Dakic contributes to the Australian Institute of Sport Female Performance and Health Initiative and the Hologic WTA Women’s Health Taskforce, advancing pelvic health strategies for female athletes.