STAYING STRONG WITH ARTHRITIS TEAM


We are a national group of health professionals such as physiotherapists and researchers who work with community to develop information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living with arthritis. 

The team includes Aboriginal researchers (Brooke Conley, Jane Linton, Charmaine Green, Jonathan Bullen and Ryan Prehn) and non-Aboriginal researchers with experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and/or musculoskeletal pain research including arthritis (Ivan Lin, Samantha Bunzli, Penny O’Brien and Jennifer Persaud). The team included Aboriginal people living with arthritis in Victoria and Western Australia who participated in two Community Advisory Groups.

Brooke Conley

Brooke is a proud Ngyiampaa woman, physiotherapist and PhD Candidate at the University of Melbourne.

Jonathan Bullen

Jonathan is a Wardandi Noongar man from WA’s southwest, and Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, Indigenous Advancement at Curtin University. His research has a focus on the intersection of physical and psychological well-being of Aboriginal Australians.

Penny O’Brien

Dr Penny O’Brien is a post-doctoral Research Fellow, Project Coordinator and social scientist who currently holds positions at the Department of Surgery and the Department of Medicine and Radiology, University of Melbourne. For more information about Penny and her researcher, click here.

Wanda Flanagan

Wanda is a Ngoonooru Wajarri woman who lives at home on Country in Meekatharra, Western Australia.  Wanda has experience in health care (mental health, social and emotional wellbeing)  and in research, including arthritis and to improve Aboriginal health care communication through clinical yarning.

Jane Linton

Jane is a Gumbaynggirr woman living on Country on the North Coast of NSW. She is a physiotherapist and a PhD candidate through the University Centre for Rural Health (UCRH).

Ivan Lin

Ivan is a physiotherapist and researcher in Jambinnu/Geraldton, Western Australia, He works at the WA Centre for Rural Health (University of Western Australia) and the Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service. To read about Ivan’s research, click here.

Jennifer Persaud

Jennifer is an Advanced Scope Physiotherapist and founder of 'hello jp'- a health consultancy focussing on project management and eLearning. Jennifer has extensive experience in physiotherapy clinical practice, healthcare leadership and education across the hospital, not-for-profit and university sectors. Jennifer was the Project Manager for the SMSS project.

Charmaine Green

Dr Charmaine Papertalk Green is a Research Fellow with The University of Western Australia's WA Centre for Rural Health. Dr Green, a Wajarri, Badimaya and Wilunyu woman of the Yamaji Nation, is visual artist, author, poet, photographer, storyteller, social science researcher and academic who shares her cultural knowledge in many different spheres.

Samantha Bunzli

Sam is a physiotherapist and researcher in Meanjin/Brisbane at Griffith University and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. For more about Sam and her research, click here.

Ryan Prehn

Ryan is a Worimi man, writer, poet, and early career researcher, living on Wurundjeri Country.

COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUPS

We acknowledge the invaluable contributions of 8 Aboriginal people living with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and/or gout from either Victoria or Western Australia. They met several times over the course of the project and provided feedback on the projects results and the education resources.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We extend our sincere gratitude to the communities at each project site – the Wurundjeri and Yamaji peoples, as well as all Aboriginal peoples* who actively participated in and contributed to the project. Their invaluable insights and collaboration were instrumental in creating these resources.

Additionally, we appreciate the project advisors, health professionals, and researchers for their expertise, and guidance including from:


  • National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)

  • Arthritis & Osteoporosis Western Australia

  • Arthritis clinician specialists

  • Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation representatives.

We acknowledge and thank the organisations for their ongoing support of this project, including: The University of Melbourne, Western Australia Centre for Rural Health (University of Western Australia), Griffith University, Curtin University, University Centre for Rural Health (University of Sydney), Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, 
The Torch (Victoria) and Yamaji Arts (Western Australia).

We also acknowledge and thank the expert advisors on this project, in particular, Professor Mandana Nikpour, Rheumatologist at University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney.

The SMSS project was financially supported by the Australian Commonwealth Government through a grant administered by Arthritis Australia (GA76063). The Staying Strong with Arthritis website was supported by Arthritis and Osteoporosis Western Australia who provided funding and guidance.

*No Torres Strait Islander peoples were able to be recruited as part of this project.