Rate My Professor Selina Parry

Professor Selina Parry is Professor of Physiotherapy in the Department of Physiotherapy, Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She holds the position of Al and Val Rosenstrauss Fellow and serves as Director of Engagement and Advancement for the School of Health Sciences. Parry earned her PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2015 and a Bachelor of Physiotherapy with Honours from the same institution. With over ten years of clinical experience as an ICU physiotherapist, she advanced from Senior Lecturer to Professor, undertaking postdoctoral research focused on improving health outcomes for patients post-critical illness.

Her research interests center on intensive care rehabilitation and recovery, including identifying patients at highest risk of poor outcomes after ICU admission and co-designing multi-faceted rehabilitation strategies with patients and families to optimize return to work and usual activities. Parry specializes in cardiorespiratory physiotherapy, exercise and rehabilitation post-critical illness, acute cardiorespiratory conditions, exercise oncology, physical activity, and mental health outcomes for ICU survivors. She has secured major awards such as the 2022 Al and Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship at the Cooper Foundation, providing five years of support for early to mid-career researchers, and the 2020 Churchill Fellowship. Key publications include "Physiotherapy management for COVID-19 in the acute hospital setting: clinical practice recommendations" (Journal of Physiotherapy, 2020), "Ultrasonography in the intensive care setting can be used to detect changes in the quality and quantity of muscle and is related to muscle strength and function" (Journal of Critical Care, 2015), "The impact of extended bed rest on the musculoskeletal system in the critical care environment" (Extreme Physiology & Medicine, 2015), "Standardized rehabilitation and hospital length of stay among patients with acute respiratory failure: a randomized clinical trial" (JAMA, 2016), and "Assessment of impairment and activity limitations in the critically ill: a systematic review of measurement instruments and their clinimetric properties" (Intensive Care Medicine, 2015). With more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and over 7,000 citations, her contributions have shaped clinical practices in critical care physiotherapy, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parry is dedicated to educating future physiotherapists in cardiorespiratory practice.