Rate My Professor Philip Bolton

Professor Philip Bolton is an Honorary Professor in the Discipline of Human Physiology in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy at the University of Newcastle. He was awarded his PhD in 1989 from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales for research on the central connections of primary afferent nerves from the neck, supervised by Professor David Tracey. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Physiology from the University of New England, a Doctor of Chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic, and a Master of Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Newcastle. Following postdoctoral training in systems neurophysiology at the Rockefeller University in New York City, investigating interactions between vestibular and neck sensory inputs and vestibulo-autonomic reflexes, and further training in spinal cord neurophysiology at the University of Newcastle, he accepted a tenured academic position in the Discipline of Human Physiology within the Faculty of Medicine (now the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing) in 1993. He served in key roles including Head of Discipline of Human Physiology, Program Coordinator of the Bachelor of Biomedical Science, Deputy Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, and Assistant Dean (Community). Over more than 25 years, he taught undergraduate and postgraduate students in Medicine, Allied Health disciplines such as Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology, Nursing, and Biomedical Sciences. He held visiting scientist appointments at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Otolaryngology, the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute (NeurRA) in Sydney, and the Bosch Institute at the University of Sydney.

Professor Bolton's research specializations center on the mechanisms responsible for signs and symptoms associated with head and neck injury and dysfunction, to inform better diagnostic protocols and treatment strategies for persistent pain and dysfunction in these areas. His academic interests include musculoskeletal physiology, neuroscience, pain, somatoautonomic and somatosensory physiology, and the spine. Key publications include 'A preliminary repeated measures study of the effect of an imposed posture on the pose of the head and upper and lower neck of seated humans' (Gait & Posture, 2025), 'What are the temporal and physical characteristics of locally applied vibration that modulate balance in older adults? - A systematic review of the literature' (Gait & Posture, 2024), 'A Systematic Review of the Diagnostic Criteria Used to Select Participants in Randomised Controlled Trials of Interventions Used to Treat Cervicogenic Headache' (Headache, 2020), 'Neck movement but not neck position modulates skin sympathetic nerve activity supplying the lower limbs of humans' (Journal of Neurophysiology, 2018), and 'Skin Sympathetic Nerve Activity is Modulated during Slow Sinusoidal Linear Displacements in Supine Humans' (Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2016). He has secured 30 research grants totaling $1,011,288 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2021. Retired from full-time academic duties, he remains research active in an honorary capacity.