About Us
Motion Connect brings together clinicians, researchers, engineers, data scientists and consumers from across Australia and New Zealand who share a common goal: improving mobility, function and quality of life for children and adults with movement challenges. By combining expertise, technology and national collaboration, we are working towards a future where treatment decisions are increasingly informed by better evidence, deeper insights and more personalised care.
Meet Our Team
Prof Chris Carty
Chief Investigator and
Deputy Head of School Research,
School of Medicine, Griffith University
Prof Chris Carty
Chief Investigator and
Deputy Head of School Research –
School of Medicine, Griffith University
https://experts.griffith.edu.au/7899-chris-carty
I am Deputy Head (Research) in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Griffith University and a Professor in Orthopaedic Research within the Australian Centre for Precision Health and Technology (PRECISE). I lead a translational research program focused on improving outcomes for children with cerebral palsy and related childhood movement disorders.
My research integrates advanced movement analysis, rehabilitation technologies, and clinical data to address complex challenges in childhood disability, with a strong focus on cerebral palsy, lower limb deformity, and movement impairment. I work across multidisciplinary partnerships spanning university, healthcare, and industry to develop and implement evidence-based, scalable solutions that improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes.
A core component of my program is the development of enabling technologies and research infrastructure, including biomechanical analysis platforms, digital health systems, and medical device innovation. This work is designed to bridge the gap between discovery and real-world clinical care and to support system-level improvements in the management of childhood disability.
I currently lead a major MRFF-funded program, National data infrastructure to inform treatment in cerebral palsy, which is establishing a national data linkage across Australia’s clinical gait analysis services to enable personalised diagnosis and clinical management for children with cerebral palsy, and to support the development of predictive simulation and decision-support technologies for orthopaedic care. I have a strong track record of building research capability within health systems, leading initiatives that support clinicians across medical, allied health and nursing disciplines to engage in research within Queensland Health.
In 2017, I was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to investigate the application of 3D printing in paediatric deformity correction. I continue to lead medical device research and development programs in collaboration with the Advanced Design and Prototyping Technologies Institute (ADaPT), translating engineering innovation into clinical solutions.
As a research leader, I focus on building integrated programs that combine discovery, technology, and implementation to transform outcomes for children with cerebral palsy and related conditions.
Vision: To transform outcomes for children with cerebral palsy by delivering technology-enabled, scalable clinical solutions and national research infrastructure that close the gap between discovery and real-world care.
Dr Elyse Passmore
Head Biomedical Engineer
Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
Dr Elyse_Passmore
Head Biomedical Engineer
Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne
About RCH gait lab
https://www.rch.org.au/gait/
About MCRI research team
https://www.mcri.edu.au/research/research-areas/clinical-sciences/orthopaedics
Dr Elyse’s Profile
https://www.mcri.edu.au/researcher-details/elyse-passmore
Dr Elyse Passmore is the Head Biomedical Engineer of the Gait Analysis Laboratory at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) and a Clinician Scientist Fellow in the Developmental Imaging Group at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI).
Elyse completed her PhD in 2017 at the University of Melbourne on musculoskeletal biomechanics in children with gait pathology. Her research focusses on developing digital tools to objectively measure and analyse motor function in children to provide diagnostic information, develop treatment plans and evaluate efficacy of novel therapies.
This includes 3D motion analysis, video images, medical imaging, machine-learning and computational simulations. Elyse is also a Clinical Data Champion in the Centre for Health Analytics, RCH.
Elyse is a Clinical Scientist Fellow generously funded by the Good Friday Appeal.
Dr Luca Modenese
Senior Lecturer,
Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales
Dr Luca Modenese
Senior Lecturer
Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering
https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/luca-modenese
Dr Luca Modenese is a Senior Lecturer in Biomechanics in the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering and recipient of a prestigious UNSW Scientia Fellowship for 2022-2026. He was awarded a degree (summa cum laude) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Padua in 2008 (Department of Industrial Engineering). After a brief period as Research Assistant, Luca started his doctoral training at Imperial College London, based in the Structural Biomechanics group. Luca received his PhD in 2013 and moved to Griffith University for a postdoc in the Centre for Musculoskeletal Research (now part of Menzie Health Institute Queensland), under the supervision of Prof. David Lloyd. During this period, he was awarded a visiting scholar fellowship to visit the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab at Stanford University. He also spent time as visiting researcher at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and at the University of Padua. In 2015, Dr Modenese moved to the Deparment of Mechanical Engineering of Sheffield University (INSIGNEO Institute for in silico Medicine). During this appointment, he was involved in the European Project MD-Paedigree and the EPSRC project MultiSim, developing methods to generate patient-specific musculoskeletal models. In 2017 Luca was awarded a prestigious Imperial College Research Fellowship for a project aiming to optimize the outcome of surgical interventions using a combination of advanced computational methods including patient-specific neuro-musculoskeletal modelling, finite element analysis and predictive simulations. He joined the University of New South Wales in 2022.
A/Prof Erich Rutz
Principal Investigator and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
A/Prof Erich Rutz
Principal Investigator and Orthopedic Surgeon – Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne
Associate Professor Erich Rutz is the Bob Dickens Chair in Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne.
View his University of Melbourne profile for further information.
https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/888520-erich-rutz
Professor
Alan Wee-Chung Liew
Head of School,
School of Information and Communication
Technology, Griffith University
Professor
Alan Wee-Chung Liew
Head of School
School of Information and Communication
Technology, Griffith University
https://experts.griffith.edu.au/7401-alan-weechung-liew
PROFESSOR ALAN LIEW is currently the Head of School, the School of Information & Communication Technology at Griffith University, Australia. Prior to joining Griffith University in 2007, he was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong.
His research interest is in the field of AI, machine learning, medical imaging, computer vision, and bioinformatics. He is currently leading and co-leading the AI4Health lab and the TrustAGI lab in the school, respectively, and is engaging with the Gold Coast University Hospital and Queensland Health on several collaborative projects. He has published extensively in these areas with two books and more than 300 journal and conference papers, and holds three international patents. Many of his journal papers are in high impact journals in their fields. He has an H-index of 51 (Google Scholar), 42 (Scopus).
He has also engaged actively in professional activities such as on the organizing committee or technical program committee of many conferences, on editorial boards, as assessor for nationally competitive research grants, and reviewers for many international conferences and journals. He is currently serving as an associate editor of IEEE Trans. Fuzzy Systems, Springer Nature Computer Science, and International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems, Machine Intelligence Research.
Professor Liew is a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Australia Computer Society and a senior member of IEEE (USA). He is also recognised in the Stanford University’s list of the World’s Top 2% Scientists (Computer Science: AI & Image Processing) for career-long impact since 2021.
Julie Choisne
Senior Research Fellow, Paewai Rangahau Matua Auckland Bioengineering Institute
The University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Prof Chris Carty
Chief Investigator and
Deputy Head of School Research –
School of Medicine, Griffith University
I have a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Paris, France, and a PhD in Biomechanics from Old Dominion University, VA, USA. After a 2-year post-doc at the Human Biomechanics Institute Georges Charpak, working on spine biomechanics, I decided to join the Auckland Bioengineering Institute as a research fellow to work on computational modelling of the human body.
My research follows three streams: 1) Prediction of the form-function musculoskeletal system in adult and paediatric populations, 2) Wearable sensors for motion analysis and 3) Bioengineering tools for pre-surgery planning aimed to improve clinical outcomes for paediatric orthopaedic surgeries. My research focuses on the mechanics of the musculoskeletal system and gait disorders, especially in the paediatric population. I combine experimental methods, imaging and computational modelling to answer clinical questions with the overarching goal of improving early assessment for better recovery. I have expertise in statistical shape modelling, machine learning, musculoskeletal modelling and Finite Element modelling.
Dr
John Walsh
Orthopaedic Surgeon
Queensland Children’s Hospital
John Walsh
Orthopaedic Surgeon
QCH
Insert bio here
Dr Fiona Russo
School of Business, Law, Humanities and Pathways (Management), University of Queensland
Prof Chris Carty
Chief Investigator and
Deputy Head of School Research –
School of Medicine, Griffith University
Dr Fiona F Russo MBA, PhD, SFHEA is a nationally and internationally recognised researcher in consumer and community engagement in health services, policy, and research. Her work centres on amplifying the lived experience of families—particularly those impacted by disability—to inform and improve health and disability service design and delivery. Dr Russo’s research spans paediatric health, disability services, and public health, with a strong emphasis on co-design and participatory methodologies. Dr Russo has Lived Experience of Disability as the mother of a daughter with complex disability.
Dr Anna Murphy
Manager/Biomechanist, Clinical Research Centre for Movement Disorders & Gait, Parkinson’s Foundation Centre of Excellence, Aged and Rehabilitation Division, Monash Health
Dr Anna Murphy
Manager/Biomechanist, Clinical Research Centre for Movement Disorders & Gait | Parkinson’s Foundation Centre of Excellence| Aged and Rehabilitation Division | Monash Health
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Monash Ageing Research Centre (MONARC) | Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Monash University
Dr Anna Murphy is a biomechanist with over 35 years experience in clinical gait analysis, research, and trial coordination and management. She is Manager/Biomechanist of the Clinical Research Centre for Movement Disorders & Gait, leading the Gait Laboratory at the Kingston Centre Monash Health for 20 years, and is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Monash University. Anna initiates research projects, fosters research with a broad range of collaborators, with the aim of enhancing therapeutic interventions related to gait disorders. Anna is also responsible for co-ordinating and managing phase 3 and phase 4 clinical trials and investigator led trials for the Movement Disorders Centre of Excellence (MDC) (Parkinson’s Foundation, USA). This clinical trial expertise in addition to her clinical knowledge and advanced skills in gait research defines her enthusiasm to expand gait related projects in adults with a gait impairment.
Prof Thor Besier
Principal Investigator and
Director, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
Prof Thor Besier
Principal Investigator and
Director Auckland Bioengineering Institute
Thor is a Professor at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and has a joint appointment with the Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Auckland. His research combines medical imaging with computational modelling to understand mechanisms of musculoskeletal injury and disease. The goal of this work is to provide clinicians with tools to assess musculoskeletal function and personalise treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Thor has published 170+ journal papers on these topics and spun-out two companies from his research, including IMeasureU (inertial sensing for human movement) and FormusLabs (orthopaedic pre-operative planning). Current research focuses on workflows to generate digital twins (Musculoskeletal Atlas Project), improving reproducibility of knee models with application to ACL reconstruction (KneeHub), and large-scale harmonisation of clinical gait data (MotionConnect).
University Bio: https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/t-besier/about
Dr Leanne Dwan
Director, Paediatric Gait Analysis Service of NSW and the Humpty Dumpty Paediatric Gait Analysis Laboratory, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network
Dr Leanne Dwan
PhD(Health Sc) MSc(Risk & Safety Sc) BAppSc(Ex & Sp Sc)
Director, Paediatric Gait Analysis Service of NSW and the Humpty Dumpty Paediatric Gait Analysis Laboratory
Dr Leanne Dwan is a clinical biomechanist and early career researcher. She is the director of the Paediatric Gait Analysis Service of NSW at the Children’s Hospital, Westmead. Dr Dwan has a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science, and a Masters in biomechanics where she investigated 3D measurement of upper limb movement in children. In 2021 she completed her PhD investigating measurement of hip health in children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease and Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis. Leanne’s vision for her research career is to address clinically relevant questions to assess and inform treatment outcomes for people with movement disorders.
Dr Michael H. Schwartz
Orthopedic Surgery,
University of Minnesota,
Center for Gait and Motion Analysis,
Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare
Dr Michael H. Schwartz
Orthopaedic Surgeon
University of Minnesota,
Center for Gait and Motion Analysis,
Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare
Prof Roslyn N. Boyd
Professor of Cerebral Palsy Research, Scientific Director of the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, Co-Lead of the NHMRC CRE Australian-CP-Health Network.
Prof Roslyn N. Boyd
Professor of Cerebral Palsy Research, Scientific Director of the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, Co-Lead of the NHMRC CRE Australian-CP-Health Network. Investigator of the Motion Connect Grant.
Prof Boyd is a Physiotherapists and Clinical Trialist, NHMRC leadership fellow, with training in Neuroscience (PhD), Physiotherapy (MSc) and Biomechanics (Pgrad dip Uni Strathclyde). Prof Boyd has conducted > 20 RCTs of interventions for children and youth with Cerebral Palsy including pertinent to this grant: FAST CP strength Training (J Gillett), Actives Strides (FES cycling, gait training), Lower limb RCT Botulinum toxin A for Gait, Hip displacement and studies that include artificial intelligence to measure infant movement (WISE Wearable Infant sensors in the home Environment) and several studies measuring Free living Physical Activity (Active Start, Participate-CP)
Ben Patritti
South Australian Movement Analysis Centre, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide
Ben Patritti
South Australian Movement Analysis Centre
Dr. Ben Patritti is a biomechanist with 20 years experience in clinical gait analysis in the USA (Dept. PM&R, Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston) and Australia (Div. Rehabilitation, Aged and Palliative Care, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide). He is currently the manager and biomechanist for the clinical gait analysis service delivered by the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network at the Flinders Medical Centre which serves paediatric and adult clients in South Australia and the Northern Territory. He holds an appointment of adjunct senior lecturer in the College of Medicine and Public Health of Flinders University. Ben collaborates with rehabilitation specialists, allied health professionals and biomedical engineers on research assessing the movement and functional impairments, including gait and mobility, of children and adults with neurological or musculoskeletal disorders, and the efficacy of interventions aimed at rehabilitating and restoring function in these populations.
Teresa Phillips
Clinical Leader & Rehabilitation Engineer, Queensland Children’s Motion Analysis Service (QCMAS), Queensland Children’s Hospital
Teresa Phillips
Clinical Leader & Rehabilitation Engineer, Queensland Children’s Motion Analysis Service (QCMAS)
Teresa Phillips is a rehabilitation engineer and clinical leader with over 20 years of experience in clinical gait and motion analysis for children. She leads the Queensland Children’s Motion Analysis Service (QCMAS) at Children’s Health Queensland, where she provides high-level clinical consultancy and strategic advice on standards of clinical practice, education, and research in motion analysis and state-wide service delivery.
Teresa is a Site Principal Investigator for the MRFF Motion Connect Grant. This work builds on her role as a founding member and current Group Leader of the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Motion Analysis Group (ANZ-CMAG), where she has helped drive the development of national clinical practice recommendations for gait and motion analysis laboratories across the region.
An Industry Fellow at the Queensland University of Technology’s School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Teresa combines her engineering background with deep clinical expertise, having led the design, commissioning, and relocation of motion analysis laboratory facilities and services throughout her career. She is a published researcher, with peer-reviewed work in journals including Gait & Posture and the ANZ Journal of Surgery, covering topics from paediatric gait deviations and surgical outcomes to biomechanical analysis of upper limb function.
Teresa holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Medical) from QUT and is passionate about translating motion analysis data into evidence-based pathways.
Oren Tirosh
Associate Professor
Clinical Biomechanics & Rehabilitation, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT
Teresa Phillips
Associate Professor
Clinical Biomechanics & Rehabilitation, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT
A/Prof Oren Tirosh is an esteemed biomechanist, with extensive clinical and research experience in integrated human biomechanics. Oren specialises in movement analysis, wearable sensor technology, 3-dimensional clinical gait analysis and rehabilitation. Oren focus on innovative MedTech solutions using his expertise in building web-based repository platforms with smartphone motion sensors applications for remote postural balance and functional assessments. He has 25 years of postural balance and gait research with practical experience in clinical gait analysis working in the gait laboratory at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and building digital health repository systems for orthopaedic joint replacement and anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction patients including the Western Health hospital and industry partners. Oren engage and support elite and community athletes such as F1 driver Mark Webber, Australian high jumper and 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eleanor Patterson, and Australian leading female marathon runner Sinead Diver.
Industry experience:
Senior lecturer in Biomechanics, Swinburne University of Technology.
Clinical staff & Senior Research Officer, Orthopaedics Unit, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.
Research Data Manager, Orthopaedics Unit, Western Health, Melbourne.
Postdoctoral & Research Fellow, Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (ISEAL), Victoria University, Melbourne.
Founder & Director, Motion3D Pty Ltd.
Nicolaos Darras
Research Assistant, Clinical Biomechanics Data Manager
Clinical Biomechanics & Rehabilitation
School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT
Nicolaos Darras
Research Assistant, Clinical Biomechanics Data Manager
Clinical Biomechanics & Rehabilitation
School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT
Nicolaos (Nikos) Darras is a clinical biomechanist and data manager with more than 20 years of experience in gait analysis, biomechanics research, and data systems. He has worked in clinical gait laboratories in Greece and Australia. Nikos served as Treasurer and later President of the Hellenic Society of Biomechanics (ELEMBIO), had longstanding involvement with ESMAC, and provided scientific input to Greece’s Central Board of Health (KESY) as an external expert. At RMIT University, he supports Motion Connect by assisting validating and transferring clinical biomechanics data and developing efficient, nationally consistent data-management workflows.
Michelle McGrath
Senior Medical Engineer and Team Leader of the Queensland Motion Analysis Centre (QMAC), MNHHS
Michelle McGrath
Senior Medical Engineer and Team Leader of the Queensland Motion Analysis Centre (QMAC)
Michelle McGrath is a Senior Medical Engineer and Team Leader of the Queensland Motion Analysis Centre (QMAC) with almost two decades of experience in three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis, biomechanics, rehabilitation engineering, and translational clinical research.
Michelle established and leads QMAC, Queensland’s dedicated adult 3D motion analysis service, integrating advanced movement analysis into clinical care and research. She has secured more than $2.9 million in research and infrastructure funding and led multidisciplinary initiatives supporting improved assessment and treatment of people with complex gait and movement disorders.
Her research focuses on clinical decision-making, rehabilitation outcomes, and the translation of motion analysis technologies into healthcare practice. Michelle is passionate about using engineering innovation and evidence-based research to improve outcomes for people living with movement disorders.
Ms Pam Thomason
Senior Physiotherapist and Manager, Hugh Williamson Gait Laboratory, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
Ms Pam Thomason
Senior Medical Engineer and Team Leader of the Queensland Motion Analysis Centre (QMAC)
Pam is the Senior Physiotherapist and Manager of the Hugh Williamson Gait Laboratory. Pam has extensive experience in paediatric physiotherapy, clinical gait analysis and clinical research. She has authored over 50 scientific papers and ten book chapters. Pam was the senior researcher and first author on the only RCT of multilevel surgery (MLS) published to date, along with a five year follow up study. She co-authored a 10-year multicentre trial of the outcomes of MLS published in 2017. Pam received the Gayle Arnold award for best scientific paper, from AACPDM in 2016. She has presented numerous workshops and courses both nationally and internationally. She has interest and expertise in rehabilitation strategies following interventions such as SDR and MLS. Pam is the gait laboratory liaison with the RCH Complex Movement Disorder Group. She is on the steering committee for Motion Connect, a network of collaborators across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand looking to improve the evidence base for orthopaedic management in children with cerebral palsy.
Dr Corey Joseph
Biomechanist, exercise scientist, researcher at Monash Health and Monash University
Dr Corey Joseph
Biomechanist, exercise scientist, researcher at Monash Health and Monash University
Dr Corey Joseph is a biomechanist, exercise scientist, researcher at Monash Health and Monash University. His work focuses on using three-dimensional motion analysis and advanced biomechanical modelling to improve assessment, treatment planning, and outcomes for children and adults with movement disorders. He leads research and service development initiatives that translate objective movement data into clinically meaningful information, supporting evidence-based decision-making in rehabilitation and disability care.
With a background spanning biomechanics, data analytics, and clinical research, Corey has experience developing innovative approaches to movement assessment across healthcare settings. He is passionate about bridging the gap between research and clinical practice through the application of technology, quantitative analysis, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His current work focuses on gait but also expanding the use of motion capture and movement analysis to enhance care for children with upper extremity neurological and musculoskeletal conditions.
Our Partners
