Multi-million dollar funding for RECOVER

21 Sep 2017

RECOVER

Research into recovery from motor vehicle accidents will benefit from an additional $3.8 million in funding.

The Motor Accident Insurance Commission has provided the funding to the RECOVER Injury Research Centre, extending the current research contract until August 2019.

RECOVER will also be fully consolidated into UQ’s Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, with the transfer of a stream of research from Griffith University.

The announcement coincides with the recent appointment of a new Director of RECOVER.

Professor Deborah Theodoros, from the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, commenced in the role on 1 September 2017.

Professor Theodoros will also lead research on telerehabilitation, exploring the delivery of rehabilitation services to people in rural Queensland, and those who are unable to attend clinics due to limited capacity to travel.

Professor Theodoros is a Chief Investigator on UQ’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) in Telehealth and has received over $10 million in related research grants from the NHMRC and industry sources over the past 15 years.

RECOVER also welcomes Professor Michele Sterling who has transferred her research on whiplash injury from Griffith University.

Professor Sterling brings an NHMRC CRE on Road Traffic Injury Recovery and a number of other grants, as well as a team of researchers, to the new RECOVER.

A third stream of research will be led by Associate Professor Venerina Johnston, whose expertise is on return to work and social roles following injury.

Associate Professor Johnston has a rich background in occupational rehabilitation and injury management from the perspective of the insurer, provider and employer.

UQ Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences Executive Dean Professor Bruce Abernethy said the funding would allow the Centre to continue to produce breakthrough research.

"The work done by the RECOVER team has been shown to lead to better outcomes after injury caused by road traffic crashes,"; Professor Abernethy said.

"It is only through ongoing research that it will be possible to develop more effective treatments to lessen the physical and psychological suffering that can arise following injury."

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