Physical Rehabilitation and Exercise Approaches for Musculoskeletal Pain

Dr Caitlin Jones is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Sydney specialising in musculoskeletal pain and opioid safety. Trained originally as an occupational therapist, she completed her PhD in 2023 and now leads a research program spanning clinical trials, evidence synthesis, and database analyses on high-risk pain treatments.

She was first author of the OPAL trial (The Lancet, 2023), the first placebo-controlled trial of an opioid for acute spinal pain, which informed WHO guidelines and US federal and state opioid policy. Her work on spinal cord stimulator harms contributed to a national TGA device review. She currently works in developing safer pain management pathways after surgery and for back pain.

Caitlin holds leadership roles with OMERACT, including co-chair of its Fellows Program, and sits on the IASP Early Career Researchers Education Committee, where she chairs the Mentoring Subcommittee. She has authored 47 peer-reviewed publications and received the Australian Pain Society Rising Star Award (2025) and two Research Australia Discovery Award finalist nominations (2023, 2026).

Dr Chris Papic is a Research Fellow in musculoskeletal injury at The University of Queensland's RECOVER Injury Research Centre and a Clinical Exercise Physiologist (ESSA) with 10 years’ rehabilitation hospital experience. He co‑leads the 'Knowledge translation, education and implementation' theme at the Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research (CIPHeR) and serves on the International Association for the Study of Pain’s Early Career Network Collaboration Committee and Cochrane Rehabilitation Australia. His research aims to optimise pain care after traumatic injury through implementation science, with a particular focus on developing and implementing whiplash clinical practice guidelines and upskilling clinicians in psychologically informed exercise interventions.

Dr Aidan Cashin (PhD, BExPhys) is a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Scientia Senior Lecturer in the School of Population Health in the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW. He is forging a career as a clinical pain scientist with a focus on applying causal inference methods to drive evidence translation from clinical trials and observational studies to practice and policy. His research program is accommodated within the Centre for Pain IMPACT (Investigating Mechanisms of Pain to Advance Clinical Translation), which he is the Deputy Director. His research is focused on developing, testing, and optimising healthcare interventions to improve chronic pain management. Aidan also conducts methodological work that aims to improve research transparency and openness; he co-led the development of international consensus-based reporting guidelines for studies using mediation analysis and target trial emulation.

Giovanni Berardi, PT, DPT, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science at the University of Iowa. A physical therapist, researcher, and educator, Dr. Berardi conducts clinical and translational research focused on identifying biomarkers of pain and fatigue, evaluating the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions, and understanding the mechanisms underlying activity-induced pain and fatigue. His work aims to advance evidence-based rehabilitation and improve patient outcomes through the integration of research, education, and clinical practice. Dr. Berardi is also an investigator with the Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center (CTSDMC) in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, where he contributes expertise in study design, clinical operations, data management, and regulatory compliance for multi-site clinical trials. His research has been supported by a variety of external funding sources and is dedicated to developing effective, patient-centered approaches to rehabilitation and health promotion.