1-5 October 2009 Sydney Convetion Centre

Professor Rachelle Buchbinder is a rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist funded by an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship. She is Director of the Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Cabrini Hospital; Professor in the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University; and Joint Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group.

She combines rheumatology practice with clinical research in a wide range of multidisciplinary collaborative projects including clinical trials and systematic reviews of novel interventions for various musculoskeletal conditions; mass media campaigns for back pain; the Australian Rheumatology Association Database (ARAD), a national registry set up to assess the long term outcome of biological therapy for inflammatory arthritis; health literacy; and use of a linguistic framework for improving the quality of written patient information. She has received several prestigious awards for research excellence including the Volvo Award in 2001 for the best international clinical science paper relating to back pain, the Australian Rheumatology Association Parr Prize in 2004, and in 2007 she received a Commendation for the Premier’s Award for Medical Research in Victoria as well as the Monash University Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal.