75 noteworthy physiotherapists

The 75 noteworthy physiotherapists being recognised are being announced via World Physiotherapy's social media platforms, with one announced each day through September - November 2026. As they are announced they are being added to this page.

Ahmed Al Kharusi
Oman

Oman

Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed Al Kharusi is an Omani physiotherapist, educator, academic leader, and president of the Oman Physical Therapy Association. He qualified as a physiotherapist from the Institute of Health Sciences in 1999 and began his career working in government hospitals across Oman.

In 2005, Ahmed returned to the Institute of Health Sciences as a clinical tutor. He completed a master’s degree in Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia in 2006 and, in 2010, took on leadership of the physiotherapy programme. In this role, he contributed to the development of the programme into a bachelor’s degree.

Ahmed completed his doctorate in physical therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University in 2016. In 2018, he was appointed associate dean of the Health Sciences programme at the College of Health Sciences.

In 2022, Ahmed joined the University of Nizwa in Oman as assistant professor and associate dean of the School of Rehabilitation and Medical Sciences. He has contributed to the development of a range of health professional education programmes at the university, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, respiratory therapy, and central sterilisation technologies.

His work in postgraduate education has included the development of master’s programmes in health professions education, health leadership, and physical therapy.

Alongside his academic and leadership roles, Ahmed continues to work in clinical practice as a physiotherapy consultant. As president of the Oman Physical Therapy Association, he combines his experience in education, clinical practice, and professional leadership to support the continued development of physiotherapy in Oman.

Ildikó Balogh
Hungary

Hungary

Ildikó Balogh is a Hungarian physiotherapist, educator, and professional leader whose career has made a significant contribution to physiotherapy education, professional development, and healthcare in Hungary.

Born in Tatabánya, Hungary, in 1954, Ildikó graduated as a physiotherapist in Budapest in 1975. She went on to gain qualifications in special education and psychopedagogy in 1983, healthcare management in Amsterdam in 1991, and human resources management in 2000.

Ildikó began her professional career in 1975 in a newly established developmental neurology and neurohabilitation department. From 1982, she introduced teaching in this field within physiotherapy education in Budapest, beginning a longstanding academic career.

Her international professional development included training in the Bobath concept/Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT) in the United States in 1993, and she became an international instructor in the Terrier technique of joint and soft-tissue mobilisation.

She later introduced the subject of Functional Analysis and Assessment of the Musculoskeletal System, playing a major role in reforming physiotherapy education at bachelor’s level in Hungary and establishing university-level master’s education in physiotherapy. Her academic career was further enriched by international study visits to institutions across Europe and the United States. She completed her university career as an associate professor.

Alongside the theoretical and practical education of physiotherapy students, Ildikó played a significant role in the training of other health professionals, including health visitors, dietitians, rehabilitation engineers, and medical device technicians. She also taught medical and dental students, and rehabilitation medicine specialists.

In addition to her teaching activities, her scientific work was also significant. Her professional achievements include contributions to 10 books and book chapters, 22 publications, as well as numerous regular scientific presentations.

Ildikó’s contribution to the profession also extended into leadership. The Association of Hungarian Physiotherapists was founded in 1989 under the leadership of Zsuzsa Gardi and became a World Physiotherapy member organisation in 1995. Ildikó became involved in the association’s leadership in 1999, working alongside its founding president, before becoming president in 2001 and serving until 2005. She served her second term as president from 2020 to 2026.

Through her university and association roles, Ildikó has helped strengthen international relationships and contributed to developments within the Hungarian healthcare system. During her first term as president, she helped reform the association’s professional activities and journal. She was also actively involved in the wider professional engagement that contributed to the establishment of the Chamber of Hungarian Health Care Professionals.

Under the transformation of Hungary’s healthcare system. new professional colleges were established. Ildikó served on national - colleges representing rheumatology and nursing before an independent professional college, Movement Therapy–Physiotherapy was formed, with Ildikó as its founding leader.

In this role, and as a founding member of the Hungarian Organisation for Quality Assurance in Healthcare, Ildikó helped strengthen physiotherapy’s representation within the national healthcare system and contributed to wider efforts to improve healthcare quality.

During her second term as president of the Association of Hungarian Physiotherapists, Ildikó initially focused on maintaining the organisation’s activities through and after the COVID-19 pandemic and revitalising its professional work. A later priority was renewing the association and encouraging greater involvement from a younger generation of physiotherapists.

Although retired from academia, Ildikó continues to work in temporomandibular joint physiotherapy at the Faculty of Dentistry of Semmelweis University.

Throughout her career, Ildikó has combined clinical practice, education, professional leadership, and healthcare development. Her contribution to reforming physiotherapy education, strengthening professional representation, and supporting the development of future generations has helped shape physiotherapy in Hungary over more than five decades.

Ulrich Betz
Germany

Germany

Ulrich Betz is a German physiotherapist who has spent his career working at university hospitals in Würzburg, Ulm and, since 1991, Mainz. His clinical focus is the treatment of pain and functional disorders of the musculoskeletal system, supported by extensive postgraduate training. Following his three-year vocational training, he studied physiotherapy when university-level education in the field became available in Germany. He subsequently completed a Doctor rerum Physiologicarum (Doctor of Physiological Sciences) at Mainz University Medical Centre.

Since 2009, Ulrich has been founding director of the Institute of Physical Therapy, Prevention and Rehabilitation at the University Medical Centre of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The Institute supports the academic development of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language therapy, combining patient care, research, and teaching, and treating approximately 650 patients each day.

His work as head of the institute inspired a major research interest in healthcare service analysis, particularly the interprofessional optimisation of care processes and increasing patient activity during illness. Through his work on process optimisation in hip and knee arthroplasty – the PROMISE project – Ulrich obtained his habilitation, a postdoctoral academic qualification enabling independent university teaching and research. This represented a pioneering development for physiotherapy in Germany.

The PROMISE project demonstrated the positive effects of process optimisation, including shorter hospital stays and lower costs alongside improvements in patients’ functional ability and independence. Ulrich subsequently applied this knowledge to other patient groups, developing the ‘medizin aktiv’ approach to promote physical activity during treatment and maximise the established benefits of exercise.

His second area of research focuses on the spine and evaluation of physical therapy models. His doctoral research included quantitative analysis of trunk geometry and electromyographic recording of back muscle activity in different sitting and standing positions. His investigations now include quantitative gait analysis using rasterstereography.

Ulrich has authored numerous articles in specialist books and scientific journals, and has presented his research internationally. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Physio Deutschland and the PT, a specialist journal for physiotherapists, and regularly contributes to media discussions about health topics including back pain and foot health. His work has been recognised with the Science Award of the German Central Association of Physiotherapists (ZVK) and the ‘Stein der Weisen’ Award from Physio Deutschland.

Throughout his career, Ulrich has worked to develop academic structures for physiotherapy research and collaboration with other disciplines. Since 2020, the institute has operated the Interprofessional Study Centre for Movement Research in collaboration with the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. From 2023-2026, four physiotherapists obtained doctoral degrees there. Ulrich aims to establish a clinically-oriented physiotherapy degree programme at Mainz University Medical Centre, providing clinically focused academic education in line with World Physiotherapy requirements and global best practice.

Kari Bø
Norway

Norway

Kari Bø is a Norwegian physiotherapist, sport/exercise scientist, researcher, and educator whose career has made a significant contribution to pelvic floor rehabilitation, women’s health, and exercise science internationally.

Kari trained as a physiotherapist at the College of Physiotherapy in Oslo, graduating in 1979, while also studying exercise and sport science at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. She went on to complete a master’s degree in sport science in 1984 and a PhD in 1990, before being appointed professor of exercise science in 1997.

Her academic leadership has included serving as pro-rector (vice head) of the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences from 1998 to 2001 and rector (head) from 2013 to 2017. She also held a long-term role as project leader at Akershus University Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and served on the board of its pelvic floor centre.

A major focus of Kari’s career has been research into pelvic floor dysfunction and women’s health. Her work has covered the treatment of incontinence, low back and pelvic girdle pain, exercise during pregnancy and after childbirth, diastasis recti abdominis, measurement methodology, fitness, and women’s health more broadly.

She has published more than 365 peer-reviewed scientific papers and delivered more than 390 invited international keynote presentations. She has supervised 26 completed PhD candidates, as well as numerous master’s students, and continues to supervise doctoral research.

Kari has also played an important role in translating research into physiotherapy education and practice. Since the early 1990s, she has developed and overseen postgraduate education in pelvic floor dysfunction on behalf of the Norwegian Physiotherapist Federation and has delivered postgraduate courses for physiotherapists internationally.

Her leadership has also extended across the profession. From 1999 to 2007, Kari served as the first vice president of World Physiotherapy’s specialty group, the International Organization of Physiotherapists in Pelvic and Women's Health (IOPPWH). She served for eight years as vice president of the Norwegian Council for Physical Activity, advising the Norwegian Minister of Health on physical activity, fitness, and health, and was vice president of the Norwegian Physiotherapy Association’s sports physiotherapy group from 2003 to 2007.

Kari has contributed to research and policy development through several national and international roles; she served on the Norwegian Research Council’s programme committee for clinical research and represented the council within Science Europe. From 2017 to 2020, Kari served on the board of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences following an appointment by the Swedish government.

Her international academic work has included visiting fellow and visiting professor roles at institutions in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, the UK, and Brazil. She has also maintained a long-term guest professorship at the University of São Paulo’s medical school in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.

Alongside her academic work, Kari has been committed to making evidence-based information about exercise, pelvic floor health, pregnancy, and women’s health accessible to the wider public. She has contributed to books, articles, and exercise programmes, including resources distributed widely in Norway and internationally. Her Corewellness exercise programme was translated into 15 languages and distributed to more than 500,000 women.

Her research has also received significant international recognition. In 2014, one of her randomised controlled trials on pelvic floor muscle training was recognised as one of 15 top physiotherapy trials in the PEDro database, selected from more than 25,000 studies. In 2015, she received World Physiotherapy’s Mildred Elson Award for her contribution to research and education in pelvic floor function, dysfunction, and women’s health.

In 2016, Kari received the International Continence Society Lifetime Achievement Award for her research and education on pelvic floor health and incontinence. She was made an honorary member of the Norwegian Physiotherapy Association in 2019 and received the Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association Women’s Health Research Award in 2024. She is also an honorary member of physiotherapy organisations specialising in women’s health in Norway, Brazil, and Chile.

Kari’s interest in movement extends beyond her professional work, shaped by a lifelong background in dance, rhythmic gymnastics, coaching, and exercise instruction. In 1989, she developed the Norwegian Aerobic Fitness Model, combining aerobic exercise, flexibility, strength training, and relaxation, and has continued teaching exercise classes in her local community for more than three decades.

Throughout her career, Kari has combined research, education, professional leadership, and public engagement to advance understanding of pelvic floor rehabilitation, exercise, and women’s health. Her work has helped strengthen the evidence base for physiotherapy practice, develop generations of researchers and clinicians, and improve awareness of pelvic floor and women’s health internationally.

Georges Boueiri
Lebanon

Lebanon

Georges Boueiri is a Lebanese physiotherapist, educator, and professional leader whose career has played an important role in the development of physiotherapy in Lebanon and internationally. He holds a Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) diploma from Saint Joseph University in Beirut and is fluent in Arabic, English, and French.

Georges began his career in private practice and went on to lead the physiotherapy department at Pasteur Hospital in Lebanon, where his work included treating patients and providing home-based physiotherapy.

Alongside his clinical work, he supervised physiotherapy students from several universities. In 1991, he also began teaching at universities in Lebanon, marking the start of a longstanding commitment to physiotherapy education that continues today.

In 1987, Georges founded the Physical Therapists Association of Lebanon (PTAL) and became its first president. Through his leadership and advocacy, he helped drive significant developments in physiotherapy education, regulation, and professional recognition in Lebanon.

His efforts contributed to the introduction of Law 96/99 in 1999, which established university-level education as the minimum standard for physiotherapy training in Lebanon, requiring a four-year bachelor’s degree. He also contributed to Law 305/2001, which established the Order of Physiotherapists and made membership compulsory for physiotherapists practicing in the country.

Following the establishment of the Order, PTAL became the Order of Physiotherapists in Lebanon (OPTL), later the Lebanese Order of Physiotherapists (LOPT), with Georges elected as its first president. His leadership of the profession continued for decades, including 20 years as president, 17 years as chief executive officer, and six years as president of the disciplinary council. He also spent more than 25 years supervising and editing the organisations’ journals, Physiomedia and Scientific Physiomedia.

Between 1990 and 2010, Georges served on several official committees within the Lebanese Ministry of Health, contributing to national standards and oversight in areas including orthotics and prosthetics and the evaluation and classification of physiotherapy centres.

Georges played an important role in connecting Lebanese physiotherapy with the international profession. In June 1991, he represented Lebanon at the World Physiotherapy general meeting in London, where PTAL was admitted as a member organisation, making Lebanon the first Arab country in the Middle East to become a World Physiotherapy member.

This began a longstanding relationship with World Physiotherapy. From 2000 to 2002, he served on the Professional Issues Working Group in the Europe region, contributing to the development of core professional standards for physiotherapy. He also regularly participated in World Physiotherapy and Europe region general meetings, congresses, and events organised by member organisations.

His international engagement was closely linked to his leadership across the Arab region. In 1996, he became a founding member of the Arab Confederation for Physical Therapy (ACPT), becoming its president in 2004. Following the introduction of a rotating presidency in 2007, he was elected secretary general and was re-elected to the role in 2025. Through the ACPT, Georges supported physiotherapy organisations in several Arab countries to become World Physiotherapy member organisations and translated several World Physiotherapy materials into Arabic.

In 2004, Georges collaborated with Sandra Moore, then president of World Physiotherapy, to inaugurate the National Institute of Physiotherapy, the continuing professional development centre of the Lebanese Order of Physiotherapists. Sandra delivered the Institute’s first continuing professional development activity, focused on marketing in physiotherapy.

His international contribution also extended to French-speaking physiotherapy organisations. In 2003, Georges was a founding member of the International Federation of French-Speaking Physiotherapy Organisations (FIOPF). He served as vice president and is now honorary vice president. He also organised the federation’s first general meeting in Beirut.

Between 1988 and 2025, Georges delivered lectures across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and North America. He also organised and contributed to more than 67 congresses, seminars, and scientific and professional workshops, bringing together physiotherapists from Lebanon, the Arab region, French-speaking communities, and the wider international profession.

Georges continues to contribute as an adviser to the Lebanese Order of Physiotherapists, La Sagesse University in Beirut, and other local and regional organisations.

His career reflects a sustained commitment to strengthening the professional foundations of physiotherapy in Lebanon through education, regulation, continuing professional development, and international representation. Through his longstanding involvement with World Physiotherapy and leadership within Arab and French-speaking physiotherapy organisations, he has also helped build stronger connections between physiotherapists in Lebanon and the wider global profession.

Bernadette Bryan-Frankson
Jamaica

Jamaica

Bernadette Bryan-Frankson is a Jamaican physiotherapist, educator, entrepreneur, and clinical leader whose career has has been defined by movement: restoring it in the people she serves, advancing it within her profession, and extending it into areas where rehabilitation gaps remain.

Her journey in physiotherapy began in 1978, when she entered the School of Physiotherapy in Kingston. Four years later, she was seconded to the school, beginning a longstanding contribution to physiotherapy education. She later taught management in physiotherapy practice on the master’s programme in physiotherapy at The University of the West Indies, working with students from across the Caribbean, including Guyana. Teaching and mentorship have remained constants throughout her career.

Her service to the Jamaica Physiotherapy Association began in 1981 through fundraising and education activities. She later served as vice-president from 2009 to 2010 and president from 2010 to 2011. Following Jamaica’s representation at the 2011 World Physiotherapy Congress in Amsterdam, and inspired by Marilyn Moffat, then president of World Physiotherapy, Bernadette worked with colleagues to develop early proposals aimed at advancing professional autonomy and direct access to physiotherapy in Jamaica.

Recognising that her clinical training alone had not prepared her to manage a healthcare business, Bernadette completed a Diploma in Health Management at The University of the West Indies in 1989, followed by an MBA from the University of New Orleans in 1998.

Choosing marketing as an elective at a time when Jamaican health professionals faced restrictions on advertising prompted her to consider how physiotherapists could ethically increase public understanding of the profession. This interest later shaped her work in public education, media engagement, and the promotion of lesser-known areas of physiotherapy practice.

In 2009 she earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy from Nova Southeastern University, reflecting a commitment to lifelong learning that she later embedded within her own organisation.

As founder, chief executive officer, and clinical director of Physical Therapy Solutions Ltd, Bernadette set out to demonstrate that a Jamaican-owned private practice could deliver individualised rehabilitation to international standards while also creating employment and developing healthcare professionals.

The practice grew into a comprehensive service encompassing orthopaedics, neurological rehabilitation, pelvic health, lymphoedema management, aquatic rehabilitation, and other specialist areas. Her entrepreneurial outlook was strongly influenced by her mother, whose resourcefulness and perseverance demonstrated what could be built from modest beginnings.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 marked a significant period in Bernadette’s leadership. Rather than focusing solely on the survival of the business, she strengthened its systems, team capability, service diversification, and operational resilience while retaining employees. The experience reinforced her belief that even a small healthcare business can contribute to wider society by preserving livelihoods, sustaining essential services, and providing stability during periods of national vulnerability.

Throughout her career, Bernadette has sought to develop services in areas where specialist expertise was limited. She helped advance pelvic health physiotherapy in Jamaica and developed specialist expertise in lymphoedema rehabilitation, while mentoring physiotherapists, nurses, and rehabilitation assistants.

Public education has also been an important part of her work. Through contributions to Jamaican newspaper, The Gleaner, appearances on Kool FM radio, and presentations to medical organisations, she has helped bring physiotherapy into broader public and interdisciplinary conversations and increase awareness of the range of services physiotherapists can provide.

Her willingness to explore new areas of rehabilitation has continued throughout her career. In 2024, inspired by experiences with her own dogs and recognising a gap in rehabilitation services for companion animals, she completed certification through the Canine Rehabilitation Institute and established Paws for Physio, Jamaica’s first canine rehabilitation unit. As Jamaica’s only certified canine rehabilitation therapist, she has since extended this work through virtual canine and feline rehabilitation services across the Caribbean.

More than four decades after entering the profession, movement remains a defining theme of Bernadette’s career: restoring it for the people and animals she serves, helping move the profession forward, and developing services in response to unmet rehabilitation needs.

Her career reflects a sustained commitment to innovation, access, professional development, and expanding the possibilities of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. She continues to explore new models of care, including opportunities in the virtual space, while mentoring and supporting the development of others.

Dina Brooks
Canada

Canada

Dina Brooks is an internationally recognised rehabilitation scientist, physiotherapist, educator, and academic leader whose work has transformed the fields of pulmonary rehabilitation, chronic disease management, and rehabilitation science. She currently serves as Executive Vice-Dean and Associate Vice President (Academic) at McMaster University, where she is also Professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences.

Over a career spanning more than three decades, Dina has established herself as one of Canada's leading rehabilitation researchers. Her research has advanced the understanding and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary rehabilitation, physical activity, balance and falls prevention, stroke rehabilitation, and chronic disease management. Her scholarship has influenced clinical practice, rehabilitation policy, and patient care nationally and internationally. She has authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications, secured more than 150 research grants, and supervised and mentored dozens of doctoral, master's, and postdoctoral trainees who now hold leadership positions around the world.

Prior to joining McMaster University, Dina spent nearly three decades at the University of Toronto, where she served as Professor, Graduate Coordinator of the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, and Acting Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy. Her academic leadership has been characterised by a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellence in education and research.

As an academic administrator, she has championed strategic growth, interdisciplinary collaboration, equity, diversity, inclusion, indigenous engagement, and reconciliation. She played a key role in creating McMaster University's integrated Bachelor of Health Sciences programme in Humanities and Rehabilitation Sciences, demonstrating her commitment to cross-disciplinary education and student success.

Dina Brooks is equally recognised for her leadership within the health professions community. She has served as President of the Canadian Thoracic Society, Chair of Canadian Respiratory Health Professionals, Co-Chair of the Canadian Respiratory Conference, Chair of the International Scientific Committee for the World Physiotherapy congress in 2017, and Treasurer of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. As Scientific Editor of Physiotherapy Canada, she helped elevate the profile and impact of Canada's flagship physiotherapy journal, including achieving indexing in PubMed Central and expanding the journal's international reach.

Her contributions have been recognised through numerous honours, including the European Respiratory Society Lifetime Achievement Award, the Thomas L. Petty Distinguished Pulmonary Scholar Award, the Canadian Thoracic Society Honorary Lecture Award, Fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, a World Physiotherapy International Service Award in research, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa. She has also received multiple awards for excellence in teaching, mentorship, research, and professional service.

A passionate mentor, Dina Brooks has dedicated her career to supporting students, trainees, and junior faculty, particularly women and members of under-represented groups. Her mentorship has shaped the careers of future clinicians, researchers, educators, and leaders across Canada and internationally, and she is known for fostering inclusive environments where individuals can thrive and reach their full potential.

Beyond academia, she is deeply engaged in community service. She has volunteered with newcomer and refugee mentorship programmes, drawing on her own lived experience as a refugee to support others navigating new beginnings. She has also served on community and health-related boards, promoted healthy living through community initiatives, and advocated for equitable access to education, healthcare, and opportunity.

Throughout her career, Dina Brooks has exemplified excellence, compassion, and service. Her enduring impact on physiotherapy, health professions education, and the lives of patients and learners continues to shape the future of healthcare in Canada and around the world.

Alberto Cairo
Italy

Italy

Alberto Cairo is an Italian physiotherapist whose career has focused on rehabilitation, disability inclusion, and humanitarian work.

After obtaining a degree in law from the University of Turin, Alberto trained as a physiotherapist. From 1988 to 1990, he worked in Juba, now in South Sudan, at a centre for children with disabilities.

In 1990, he joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan, initially working as a physiotherapist at the ICRC hospital for war-wounded patients. He became head of the physical rehabilitation programme in 1992.

Over the following 30 years, Alberto contributed to the establishment of seven rehabilitation centres across Afghanistan and the development of a programme combining physical rehabilitation with social inclusion through education, vocational training, microfinance, and employment.

Central to the programme is its policy of ‘positive discrimination’, through which people with disabilities are employed and trained to deliver services for others with disabilities. More than 800 men and women with disabilities have been employed through the programme to date, creating what Alberto describes as ‘a programme of people with disabilities, for people with disabilities.’

Sport later became another part of the programme, notably wheelchair basketball, with both men’s and women’s teams, as well as football and volleyball.

Overall, the rehabilitation programme has supported more than 250,000 people.

Since 2022, Alberto has worked with NOVE Caring Humans, an Italian non-governmental organisation, supporting women, children, and people with disabilities, and is now its president. He continues to collaborate with the ICRC in Kabul.

His humanitarian work has received international recognition. Alberto was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, received the Henry Dunant Medal in 2013 and the Nansen Refugee Award – Asia in 2019, and was awarded honorary Afghan citizenship in 2019. He was also awarded the World Physiotherapy Humanitarian Award in 2007.

Alberto has dedicated his life to humanitarian work, restoring mobility and dignity to thousands with an approach to rehabilitation that combines clinical care with social inclusion, employment, education, and participation.

Tony Chang
Suriname

Suriname

Tony Chang is a Surinamese physiotherapist, educator, professional leader, and advocate for healthy ageing whose career has spanned clinical practice, physiotherapy education, professional development, and international collaboration.

Born in Paramaribo, Suriname, in 1947, Tony moved to the Netherlands in 1968. After initially working at an accounting firm, he changed direction and enrolled in physiotherapy training at the St. Maartenskliniek in Nijmegen in 1969. He graduated in Delft in 1973.

Later that year, Tony returned to Suriname with his family and joined the Ministry of Public Health, working at the Academic Hospital Paramaribo until 1995. His clinical work covered a broad range of areas, including neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiac, and pulmonary rehabilitation, sports physiotherapy, occupational health and ergonomics, pre- and postnatal care, care for older people, and pain management using acupuncture.

He also contributed to the education of other healthcare professionals by teaching nursing students practical skills including patient transfer techniques and gait assistance, and actively supporting the training of health educators.

Tony has been an active member of the Surinamese Association for Physiotherapy (SVF) since 1974. Between 1974 and 2004, he served as president for a total of 23 years across non-consecutive terms. In this role, he acted as spokesperson for the profession in discussions with the Ministry of Public Health and other medical professional associations and contributed to the drafting of the Medical Professions Act.

Tony’s involvement with World Physiotherapy began in 1982, when he started representing SVF at its general meetings, and continued for decades through regular participation in general meetings and world congresses.

In 1991, he became one of seven co-founders of the World Physiotherapy North America Caribbean (NAC) region. He later served as chair of the region from 2004 to 2007, contributing to stronger collaboration and professional development across member organisations in the region.

From 1980 to 1999 Suriname experienced severe economic hardship and significant loss of skilled professionals, including physiotherapists. In 1996 Tony established a physiotherapy education programme at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Anton de Kom University of Suriname (AdeKUS) and served as its director. The programme responded to an urgent need to strengthen the profession and develop a sustainable local physiotherapy workforce.

Developing the programme required building local teaching capacity and establishing a new model of physiotherapy education. Support came from regional and international partners, including the World Physiotherapy NAC region, the University of Saskatchewan, Health Volunteers Overseas, and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).

In 2007, AdeKUS began a 10-year collaboration with Flemish universities in Belgium, with Tony serving as project leader. A key aim of the programme was to further develop the four-year BSc physiotherapy programme into a five-year BSc-MSc pathway, strengthening physiotherapy education and academic development in Suriname.

Tony later served as secretary of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and continued to support the development of physiotherapy education and research. He obtained a PhD in Medical Sciences, specialising in gerontology, from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in 2009. His dissertation, ‘Ageing with joy!’, reflected a longstanding interest in ageing and health.

Although he retired from AdeKUS in 2016, Tony has continued to support students completing their theses and encourage the development of physiotherapy research.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led him to stop working in private clinical practice, but he has remained professionally active. His current work includes promoting healthy and active ageing, delivering lectures, providing advice, and contributing to the development of government policy for older people in Suriname.

Throughout his career, Tony has helped strengthen physiotherapy in Suriname through clinical practice, professional leadership, education, and international collaboration. His contribution to establishing physiotherapy education in the country and to the development of the World Physiotherapy NAC region has helped create opportunities for future generations of physiotherapists and strengthen the profession both nationally and regionally.

Mildred Elson
United States

United States

Mildred O. Elson (1900–1987) was an American physiotherapist and a pioneering leader in the development of the profession nationally and internationally. She was the first executive director of the organisation now known as the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and played a central role in establishing World Physiotherapy. She was elected its first president in 1951 and served as founding president from 1953 to 1956.

Mildred was a charter member of the association that became APTA in the early 1920s. She began her physiotherapy career at the Mayo Clinic in 1922 before moving to Wisconsin General Hospital in 1926 and later the Curative Workshop in Milwaukee. She became the first president of the association’s Wisconsin Chapter, serving from 1932 to 1936.

She later joined Northwestern University Medical School as an instructor in its physiotherapy programme, where she remained until 1944. Alongside this role, she served as editor-in-chief of Physical Therapy Review, now PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal, from 1936 to 1944.

In 1944, Mildred became the first executive director of the national association, a role she held until 1956. During this period, she helped strengthen the organisation and expand its international engagement. She was instrumental in organising advisory services for physiotherapists travelling to the United States for postgraduate training and for American physiotherapists visiting other parts of the world.

Her commitment to international collaboration was particularly significant. In the late 1940s, Mildred chaired the International Committee to Form a Federation of Physical Therapy Societies, contributing to the creation of World Physiotherapy. She also helped organise international conferences, including the third Inter-American Congress on Rehabilitation in Guatemala and the First and Second Institutes of Rehabilitation Problems in Puerto Rico. She played a major role in establishing the Puerto Rico School of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, which became an important training centre for professionals from across Latin America.

Mildred also served as a national consultant in physiotherapy to the US Veterans Administration and the US Army’s Women’s Medical Specialist Corps, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Health Council.

Her contribution to the profession was recognised with numerous honours. She became an honorary member of APTA in 1956 and, in 1964, delivered the inaugural Mary McMillan Lecture. She also received honorary doctorates from Boston University and Sargent College, her alma mater.

Mildred’s legacy continues through World Physiotherapy’s highest honour, the Mildred Elson Award. Established in 1987 to recognise outstanding leadership and significant contributions to the development of physiotherapy internationally, the award was named in her honour, and Mildred was its first recipient. The award reflects her profound influence on the profession and the central role she played in establishing international collaboration as a cornerstone of World Physiotherapy.

Prue Galley
Australia

Australia

Prue Galley was born on 9 September 1944 in Brisbane, Australia, and attended St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Brisbane from 1949 to 1961.

She graduated with an honours degree in physiotherapy from the University of Queensland in 1965. She later completed a bachelor’s degree in education in 1972 and a Master of Educational Studies degree in 1978.

After graduating, Prue worked as a clinician in Brisbane before moving to London in 1968 to work at Westminster Hospital. While there, she studied at the Western Cerebral Palsy Centre with Berta Bobath.

Prue returned to the University of Queensland in 1970, taking up a lecturing position and working as a clinical teacher for many years.
In August 1975, she presented the paper Ethical principles and patient referral at the 14th Biennial Congress of the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA), setting out the case for responsible first contact practice. At the time, physiotherapists in Australia could not work with patients in a professional capacity except on referral by a registered medical or dental practitioner.

The profession had followed this referral ethic since 1906, but Prue argued that advances in physiotherapy education and professional practice meant physiotherapists had much more to offer the community and that the time had come for change.

Her paper was published in the September 1975 issue of The Australian Journal of Physiotherapy. Although controversial, it stimulated considerable discussion and debate across the profession. On 14 August 1976, the longstanding referral ethic was rescinded, enabling physiotherapists in Australia to practice as first contact practitioners.

Prue continued to contribute to the debate, writing Patient referral and the physiotherapist, which was published in The Australian Journal of Physiotherapy in 1976. She was later invited by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) to write Physiotherapists as First-contact Practitioners – New Challenges and Responsibilities in Australia for its journal, Physiotherapy, published in August 1977.

In 1977, Prue returned to London on study leave, where she studied choreology at the Benesh Institute and gained an Advanced Diploma in Choreology (Clinical).

In 1982, Churchill Livingstone published Human Movement: An Introductory Text for Physiotherapy Students, which Prue co-authored with Aura Forster. A second edition followed in 1987.

Following surgery to remove an acoustic neuroma in 1991, Prue returned to the University of Queensland, where she continued teaching and conducting research until her retirement in 2005.

Throughout her career, Prue served on several APA state and federal committees. She received the APA Queensland Branch President’s Award in 2005, and, in 2009, the Australian Physiotherapy Association conferred Honoured Membership on her.

World Physiotherapy, then the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, presented Prue with its International Service Award for Practice in 2011 and in 2012, she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

In 2014, Prue was invested as a Dame in the Order of St John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller.

Barbara Gödl-Purrer
Austria

Austria

Barbara Gödl-Purrer is an Austrian physiotherapist, educator, and professional leader whose career has focused on advancing physiotherapy practice, education, and professional development, as well as a passionate advocate for the profession in Austria. She has made notable contributions to pelvic health physiotherapy, postgraduate education, and the development of professional competencies and career pathways for physiotherapists in Austria.

Barbara’s interest in physiotherapy began during an au pair stay in France, where she cared for a disabled child and accompanied them to physiotherapy sessions. She went on to train at the School of Physiotherapy in Salzburg, qualifying as a physical therapy assistant in 1979.

From 1979 to 1982, Barbara worked in thoracic physiotherapy at the University Children’s Hospital in Graz, gaining experience in interdisciplinary care and contributing to internationally recognised research. She subsequently studied sports sciences at Karl Franzens University Graz from 1982 to 1984.

Barbara developed her specialisation in functional kinetics at the Rehabilitation Center Bad Ragaz in Switzerland in 1984–85, later qualifying as an international instructor. After returning to Austria, she became the leading physiotherapist at the State Hospital Deutschlandsberg and lectured at the Academy of Physiotherapy Graz.

In 1990, Barbara established a private physiotherapy practice specialising in gynaecology, obstetrics, urology, and proctology, at a time when specialised physiotherapy in these areas was still developing. She continues to operate the practice today.

She also established a postgraduate education institute in Graz, organising courses with international experts and helping strengthen links between physiotherapists in Austria and the wider international professional community.

From 2006 to 2018, Barbara was a full-time lecturer at FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in Graz. She completed a Master of Science in Physiotherapy at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh in 2014 and played a key role in developing Austria’s first national profiles of competencies for physiotherapy. This included specialised competency profiles for gynaecology, urology, and proctology, published in 2016 and 2017 - milestones that significantly shaped the profession’s future in Austria.

Barbara has also served on the presidium of Physio Austria, leading initiatives to professional development and education. She has been instrumental in creating career pathways and curricula for physiotherapists specialising in pelvic health, including the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Pelvic Health at FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences.

Continuing her own professional development, Barbara completed certification as a Fascial Manipulation Specialist at the School of Fascial Manipulation Stecco in Padua, Italy, in 2025.

After more than four decades in physiotherapy, Barbara remains active in clinical practice and is dedicated to fostering the development and recognition of the profession in Austria. Her work has been driven by a commitment to elevate physiotherapy as an essential, respected part of healthcare teams and to ensure future generations receive the education and career opportunities needed to thrive internationally.

This lifelong journey reflects Barbara‘s passion for personal growth, professional excellence, and advancing physiotherapy for the benefit of individuals and healthcare systems alike.

Urvashy Gopaul
Mauritius

Mauritius

Urvashy Gopaul is a physiotherapist, researcher, and assistant professor at the University of Montréal, Canada. She is also a researcher at the Technopole in Pediatric Rehabilitation at the Marie Enfant Rehabilitation Centre (CRME), part of the Azrieli Research Centre at CHU Sainte-Justine.

She completed her physiotherapy education at the University of Mauritius and holds an MSc in Physiotherapy–Neurorehabilitation from the University of Nottingham, UK, and a PhD in Physiotherapy from the University of Newcastle, Australia. She spent seven years as a lecturer and senior lecturer at the University of Mauritius, where she led the physiotherapy education programme, before completing postdoctoral research at the KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute–University Health Network.

Her professional journey has been shaped by a fascination with the complexity of the brain and the many ways neurological conditions can affect human function. Her early experience as a neurological physiotherapist gave her first-hand insight into the challenges of recovery after stroke and the limitations of conventional approaches in addressing the complexity of neurological rehabilitation. These experiences shaped a career spanning research, education, and professional leadership, with a focus on improving rehabilitation and recovery for people living with neurological conditions.

Her research explores the interaction between somatosensory, motor, and cognitive processes involved in upper-limb function. Working with both paediatric and adult neurological populations, she combines restorative rehabilitation approaches with advanced technologies, including robotic training, haptic and pressure-sensing technologies, and neuromodulation techniques such as spinal cord stimulation, to develop more comprehensive and personalised approaches to recovery.

Urvashy pioneered a complex upper-limb intervention combining robotic gaming, sensor-based grasp retraining, and functional task practice to target somatosensory and motor recovery after stroke. She has also developed haptic sensor-based measurement protocols to characterise somatosensory-motor function and grasp deficits.

Her research also includes activity-based therapy combined with spinal cord stimulation following spinal cord injury. This work received the award for most outstanding platform presentation from the North America Caribbean region at the World Physiotherapy Congress 2023.

Alongside her research, she has contributed to strengthening the physiotherapy profession and promoting evidence-informed rehabilitation. She co-founded the Physiotherapy Association of Mauritius and served as its vice chair. Her community engagement and professional education work has included national stroke awareness campaigns in Mauritius and initiatives supporting rehabilitation professionals, people living with stroke, and their families in Canada.

She has contributed to the Canadian Stroke Best Practice Recommendations and international consensus recommendations on somatosensory assessment and rehabilitation, helping to bring greater attention to an area that remains underrepresented in stroke care.

Internationally, Urvashy has worked to strengthen rehabilitation capacity and expand access to rehabilitation knowledge and expertise. Through the World Stroke Organization, she has supported the development and dissemination of post-stroke rehabilitation knowledge across a range of healthcare contexts, including India, Malaysia, Armenia, and Egypt. She has also contributed to professional education through the World Stroke Organization Academy, promoting standardised assessment and evidence-informed approaches to stroke rehabilitation.

Her international leadership has been recognised through the World Stroke Organization Future Leaders Programme and the International Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Alliance Emerging Leaders Programme.

Looking ahead, Urvashy aims to continue exploring how rehabilitation technologies can be meaningfully integrated with restorative approaches to optimise recovery and expand what is possible in neurorehabilitation. She believes rehabilitation should continue to push the boundaries of recovery, enabling people to regain function and independence and participate more fully in everyday life.

Rik Gosselink
Netherlands

Netherlands

Rik Gosselink is a Dutch physiotherapist who obtained his bachelor's degree in physiotherapy in 1979 and his PhD degree in 1993 in Human Movement Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam with a dissertation titled ‘Breathing exercise in patients with chronic obstructive disease – an experimental study on the efficiency of breathing.’

From 1979 to 1992, he was working as a physiotherapist and researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Hospital in Amsterdam. In 1992 he moved with his young family to Leuven in Belgium and in 2001 was appointed as full professor in Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy at the University of Leuven. From 1994 to 2004, he was head of the Department of Physiotherapy at the university hospital Leuven. He also served as dean of the Faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences of the university from 2005 to 2013 and as vice-rector for Student affairs and Sports from 2013 until 2017. Since 2021, he is an emeritus professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy. He is currently a member of the ethical committee of the university and the university hospitals, and a member of the committee for scientific integrity of the university.

In 2021, he was appointed as affiliated professor of the Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

His area of research, clinical practice, and academic education is exercise physiology, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation in patients with acute critical illness, as well as in patients with chronic pulmonary disease. The focus of his clinical research was on the important role of limb and respiratory muscle weakness in the symptoms of dyspnea, fatigue, and exercise limitation in these patient populations. Specifically, his contribution was in the evaluation of clinical tools for the assessment of muscle strength and of the effectiveness of various (muscle) training methods. Throughout his career as a physiotherapist, he remained actively involved in the clinical practice of patients with acute and chronic respiratory conditions. This allowed him to keep in contact with patients, his profession, and the exchange between research and clinical practice.

Within his academic career, Rik has supervised 20 PhD students and welcomed many research fellows from outside of Belgium, including from the Netherlands, Greece, South Africa, Congo, Germany, Brazil, Thailand, China, and Poland.

Since 1990, he has participated in many international conferences around the world as an invited speaker and organised postgraduate courses for the Dutch Paramedical-Postgraduate Institute, the European Respiratory Society, and the Belgian Respiratory Society. In 2018, he organised the 5th European conference in Leuven on weaning and rehabilitation in critically ill patients.

Anita Gross
Canada

Canada

Anita Gross is a Canadian advanced practice physiotherapist, associate clinical professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, and clinician-scientist specialising in musculoskeletal and manual physiotherapy. Her career has combined clinical practice, research, education, mentorship, and professional leadership.

Anita graduated from the University of Toronto in 1982 and completed postgraduate advanced practice training at Curtin University, Western Australia, in 1988. She joined McMaster University in 1989, where she has contributed to teaching, research, and programme leadership. Her roles have included clinical skills instructor and tutor, research supervisor, and membership of MSc and PhD thesis committees at McMaster and Western University. She led McMaster University’s Advanced Orthopaedic Manual and Manipulative Physical Therapy (OMPT) Program for a decade and served as programme director until 2025.

Anita has contributed to the international physiotherapy profession through more than 15 years of service with World Physiotherapy and the International Federation of Manual and Musculoskeletal Physical Therapists (IFOMPT), representing the Canadian Academy of Musculoskeletal and Manual Physical Therapy (CAMPT). As chair of the IFOMPT/IOPTP Task Force on Paediatric Manipulation, she contributed to international discussion and guidance in this area of practice.

Her international research collaborations include the Cervical Overview Group, the Head and Neck, Shoulder, Arm (HaNSA) Research Initiative, the Which Exercise for Low Back Pain? (WELBack) randomised controlled trial, and the Spinal Paediatric Alliance on Research and Knowledge in Manual Therapy (SPARK-MT).

A consistent focus of Anita’s research has been translating evidence into clinical practice. She founded and continues to coordinate the Cervical Overview Group; an international research network focused on synthesising and translating evidence relating to cervical spine disorders. She has contributed to the development of assessment and treatment approaches including the HaNSA Research Initiative and Augmented Reality Integrated Sensorimotor Exercise (ARISE) software.

Her research spans paediatric to older adult populations and includes clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, epidemiological studies, and qualitative and quantitative research. She has an h-index of 53 and has supported the development of clinicians and researchers through supervision, teaching, and mentorship.

Alongside her academic and research roles, Anita continues to practice as an orthopaedic manipulative physiotherapist with ProActive Health Physiotherapy. This ongoing clinical work helps keep her research and teaching closely connected to contemporary patient care.

Throughout her career, Anita has combined clinical practice with research, education, and mentorship, helping to strengthen evidence-informed musculoskeletal physiotherapy and support the development of future clinicians and researchers.

Mirjana Grubišić
Croatia

Croatia

Mirjana Grubišić is a Croatian physiotherapist and professional leader whose career has focused on professional autonomy, regulation, education, research, and the recognition of physiotherapy within Croatia’s healthcare system.

After completing her physiotherapy education, Mirjana began her clinical career at the Šalata Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospital Centre Zagreb.

In 1990, she established Privatna praksa fizikalne terapije Mirjana Grubišić, the first private physiotherapy practice in Croatia. At a time when autonomous private physiotherapy practice was not clearly established, this required discussions with the Ministry of Health to secure recognition of a physiotherapist’s ability to practise independently. The experience shaped Mirjana’s subsequent work on professional autonomy and the rights of physiotherapists to develop their own practices.

As president of the Croatian Physiotherapy Association from 2002 to 2009, Mirjana played a leading role in advocating for dedicated legislation governing physiotherapy practice. This included sustained engagement with the Ministry of Health, the Croatian Parliament, and other government institutions on the professional status and regulation of physiotherapists.

These efforts contributed to the adoption of the Act on Physiotherapy Practice in 2008. The Act established a regulatory framework covering physiotherapy education, professional practice, rights and responsibilities, autonomous practice, and continuing professional development. It also provided the legal basis for the establishment of the Croatian Council of Physiotherapists.

The Croatian Council of Physiotherapists was established in January 2009, and Mirjana has served as its president since its creation. The Council introduced licences for autonomous practice, renewed every six years and linked to continuing professional development requirements, connecting professional autonomy with accountability and the maintenance of professional competence.

At her initiative, Standards for Physiotherapy Practice were developed and approved by the minister responsible for health in 2009. She later coordinated the development of Croatia’s first clinical guidelines in physiotherapy in 2010–2011 and served as editor of Kliničke smjernice u fizikalnoj terapiji (Clinical Guidelines in Physiotherapy) in 2011.

Education has been another important focus of her work. Mirjana proposed the development of further university education for physiotherapists at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka. Following continued advocacy for academic progression in physiotherapy, a graduate university programme was launched in 2012, enabling physiotherapists to obtain a master’s degree and creating pathways into doctoral study, research, and academic careers.

From 2017 to 2020, Mirjana chaired the committee responsible for developing Croatia’s Occupational Standard for Physiotherapists. The standard defined key competencies, professional activities, and requirements for the profession, and was subsequently entered into the Croatian Qualifications Framework Register.

Mirjana has also contributed to national healthcare legislation. Since 2009, she has participated in working groups responsible for drafting and amending Croatia’s Health Care Act. During development of the revised Act adopted in 2018, she advocated for clearer recognition of physiotherapy at different levels of healthcare. The final legislation explicitly included physiotherapy within primary healthcare and enabled its provision at secondary healthcare level.

The 2018 Act also removed a restriction that had allowed a physiotherapist in private practice to employ only one healthcare professional from the same profession. This enabled private physiotherapy practices to employ multiple physiotherapists and develop further. Almost three decades after establishing Croatia’s first private physiotherapy practice, Mirjana had contributed to legislation expanding similar opportunities for other physiotherapists.

Her work has also addressed access to physiotherapy within the public healthcare system. She initiated efforts to establish a Network for Physiotherapy Services within primary healthcare as part of Croatia’s Public Health Service Network, with the aim of creating opportunities for physiotherapists to contract services more independently within the national health insurance system.

Another major area of Mirjana’s work has been the academic and scientific recognition of physiotherapy. In 2021, as president of the Croatian Council of Physiotherapists, she initiated and co-led the formal process for physiotherapy to be recognised as a distinct scientific branch within Croatia’s national classification system.

Following a multi-year process, physiotherapy was formally recognised in 2024 as a distinct scientific branch within clinical medical sciences in biomedicine and health. This built on earlier developments in graduate education and access to doctoral study, establishing a clearer academic and research pathway for the profession.

In 2023, Mirjana also initiated work to enable physiotherapists to become authorised court-appointed expert witnesses in physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Croatia now has its first authorised physiotherapist court experts, including Mirjana herself.
International engagement has been a continuous part of her career. Since 2003, Mirjana has represented Croatia at World Physiotherapy general meetings and has regularly participated in World Physiotherapy congresses. She has also worked to connect physiotherapists in Croatia with international professional, educational, and scientific developments.

Alongside her regulatory and policy work, Mirjana served as editor of the journal Fizioterapija from 2002 to 2015 and has contributed to numerous national and international professional meetings and congresses. Since 2009, she has also served as a member of the City of Zagreb Health Council, advocating for the development and accessibility of physiotherapy.

Mirjana’s career connects clinical practice, professional autonomy, legislation, regulation, education, research, and international engagement. From establishing Croatia’s first private physiotherapy practice in 1990 to contributing to the formal recognition of physiotherapy as a scientific branch in 2024, her work has helped create structures and opportunities that continue to shape the profession in Croatia.

Rinaldo Guirro
Brazil

Brazil

Rinaldo Roberto de Jesus Guirro is a Brazilian physiotherapist, professor, and researcher whose career has been dedicated to advancing physiotherapy through excellence in education, scientific research, professional leadership, and academic development.

After graduating in physiotherapy from the Federal University of São Carlos in 1990, he completed a specialisation in Orthopaedic and Traumatological Physiotherapy in 1993, earned an MSc in Bioengineering from the University of São Paulo in 1995, and completed a PhD in Oral Biology and Pathology at the University of Campinas in 2000.

Rinaldo began his academic career in 1992 at the Methodist University of Piracicaba, where he taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and coordinated the Graduate Programme in Physiotherapy. Since 2008, he has been a faculty member at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP), teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Throughout his academic career, he has supervised undergraduate research, master’s dissertations, doctoral theses, postdoctoral fellows, and university extension projects, supporting the development of researchers, academics, and future leaders in physiotherapy.

His research focuses on electrophysical agents used in rehabilitation, including photobiomodulation, therapeutic ultrasound, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, and shortwave diathermy. He has also carried out research on the development and validation of assessment methods, dosimetry protocols, and instrumentation for physiotherapy, helping strengthen the evidence base for clinical practice.

Rinaldo has published widely in national and international peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to books, book chapters, and scientific conferences internationally. He is co-author of the textbook Dermatofunctional Physiotherapy, which contributed to the development of this specialty in Brazil.

Community engagement has been an important part of his academic work. Through the organisation of scientific meetings, continuing professional development courses, professional training programmes, and collaboration with healthcare institutions and scientific societies, Rinaldo has supported the dissemination of research and its translation into clinical practice.

He has held a range of leadership roles within the Brazilian physiotherapy community. These have included president of the Brazilian Association for Research and Graduate Education in Physiotherapy (ABRAPG-FT), co-editor of the journal Fisioterapia e Pesquisa, vice president of ABRAFITO São Paulo, and roles with regional and federal physiotherapy and occupational therapy councils.

Rinaldo has also contributed to national postgraduate education policy and evaluation. He served as associate coordinator and coordinator of Area 21 of Brazil’s Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), covering physical education, physiotherapy, speech-language pathology, and occupational therapy, and was a member of the CAPES Scientific and Technical Council for Higher Education.

At the University of São Paulo, Rinaldo has held leadership positions in both postgraduate and undergraduate physiotherapy education, including vice coordinator and coordinator of the Graduate Programme in Rehabilitation and Functional Performance and of the Undergraduate Physiotherapy Programme at FMRP-USP. He currently serves as academic coordinator of the Physiotherapy Service at the Teaching Health Centre of FMRP-USP, leading work in curriculum development, professional education, clinical care, and research.

Across more than three decades, Rinaldo has combined research, education, professional leadership, and clinical development to strengthen physiotherapy in Brazil. His work has supported scientific innovation, the education and mentorship of physiotherapists and researchers, and the development of technologies and therapeutic approaches that inform contemporary clinical practice.

Rajib Hasan
Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Rajib Hasan is a physiotherapist, administrator, policymaker, and academic from Bangladesh whose work has focused on the development of physiotherapy and rehabilitation services, professional regulation, and disability services.

From January 2008 to December 2012, Rajib served as president of the Bangladesh Physiotherapy Association (BPA), becoming the organisation’s youngest president. During his tenure, he was involved in efforts to protect the rights of physiotherapists to independent practice in Bangladesh.

Rajib later became the first disability adviser and specialist to the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. In this role, he initiated the Integrated Disability Service Centre programme through the National Disability Development Foundation under the Ministry of Social Welfare.

His work contributed to the creation of 824 posts for rehabilitation professionals across the programme, including consultant physiotherapists, clinical physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapy assistants, and audiometry and optometry technicians. These professionals provide rehabilitation services through 103 Integrated Disability Service Centres and 45 mobile therapy and rehabilitation vans across Bangladesh.

Rajib has also been closely involved in the development of professional regulation for rehabilitation disciplines in Bangladesh. From 2016, he advocated for the establishment of the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council, which was formally established through legislation passed by the Bangladesh Parliament in 2018. The legislation created a framework for the regulation, recognition, and protection of rehabilitation professions.

He currently serves as deputy director for planning at the National Disability Development Foundation and deputy registrar of the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council. Through these positions, he contributes to professional governance, standards, and interdisciplinary collaboration across rehabilitation professions.

Alongside his policy and administrative work, Rajib contributes to physiotherapy education as guest faculty in the Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation at Jashore University of Science and Technology, bringing his experience across rehabilitation services, policy, and professional regulation into an academic setting.

After completing a PhD in the United States, he began a second doctoral research project examining approaches to reducing disease burden among people with disabilities in Bangladesh. He is also developing an approach called HEDRIC, focused on clinical rehabilitation service management and the relationship between rehabilitation, health, and social inclusion.

Through his work across professional leadership, advocacy, disability services, policy, regulation, education, and research, Rajib has delivered a measurable impact to the development of rehabilitation services and the recognition of rehabilitation professions in Bangladesh.

Emmanuel Babatunde John
Nigeria

Nigeria

Emmanuel Babatunde John is professor of health professions and immediate past dean of the Myers School of Nursing and Health Professions at York College of Pennsylvania, USA, having completed his four-year term as dean on 30 June 2026. His career has been defined by a commitment to developing world-class infrastructure for physiotherapy in Africa, and for more than 25 years he has worked to help build it.

Born and trained in Nigeria, Emmanuel earned his BSc in physiotherapy from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, in 1994 and practised in Kano while serving as an associate lecturer at Bayero University’s Federal School of Physiotherapy. He went on to earn a PhD in rehabilitation science from the University of Kansas Medical Center in 2006, a DPT from Alabama State University in 2015, an MBA from Louisiana State University Shreveport in 2016, and an MPH in global health from Liberty University in 2020. In 2017, he completed the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Education Leadership Institute fellowship programme.

His academic career in the USA progressed through roles at Howard University, Radford University, Touro University Nevada, and Chapman University, before he joined York College of Pennsylvania as dean. He is among the few Nigerian-born physiotherapists to have led a US health professions school as dean.

Some of Emmanuel’s most significant contributions to the profession have been made beyond his institutional roles. In 1999, while based in Kano, he founded the Nigeria Physiotherapy Network, the first online platform connecting Nigerian physiotherapists globally. He has personally designed, deployed, and sustained 12 major digital platforms for the profession. These include the World Physiotherapy Africa region website and conference abstract system from 2008 to 2022, the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy digital ecosystem, and the first websites and continuing professional development systems for Nigeria’s Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board; work which was all completed pro-bono.

At the 2014 World Physiotherapy Africa region congress in Zambia, Emmanuel proposed Vision 2020 and Vision 2030, the first continental education standards for physiotherapy in Africa, which were subsequently adopted by the Africa region. He brokered the first online transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy (tDPT) programme between the University of Michigan-Flint and Nigerian physiotherapists, enabling more than 28 physiotherapists to obtain doctoral degrees without leaving Nigeria. The Federal Government subsequently adopted the DPT as Nigeria’s entry-level model.

Emmanuel self-funded travel to Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, and across Nigeria to design curricula, recruit faculty, provide textbooks, and support the development of physiotherapy programmes. He also collaborated remotely to establish Cameroon’s first entry-level BSc physiotherapy programme. He served as a pro bono curriculum consultant to Jimma University in Ethiopia, supporting its four-year BSc in physiotherapy programme, approved in 2004, and virtually co-chaired the 2022 World Physiotherapy Africa region conference in Benin.

A library at Nnamdi Azikiwe University was named in his honour, and in 2010 he donated an e-library valued at more than 1.5 million naira to the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. In 2024, the APTA Academy of Education awarded him the Cerasoli Lectureship, one of the highest honours in US physiotherapy education. He is also a fellow of the American Heart Association and the Institute of Management Consultants.

Emmanuel credits the grace of God for the opportunities he has received and acknowledges the support of his wife, Toyin, and their family throughout his career. He also acknowledges his spiritual parents, reverends Kola and Funke Ewuosho, and his mentors, particularly professors Chukuka Sam Enwemeka and Joseph A. Balogun.

Throughout his career, Emmanuel has combined academic leadership with a deep commitment to advancing physiotherapy in Africa. He has invested his own time and resources in building digital infrastructure, developing education standards and programmes, supporting institutions, and creating opportunities for physiotherapists to advance their education. His contribution has helped strengthen physiotherapy education, infrastructure, and professional development across Africa, leaving a lasting impact on the profession and the people it serves.