PhD Candidate
Matthew is a clinical scientist and physiotherapist, nearing completion of his PhD. Matthew’s PhD work aims to improve treatment for persistent back pain through improved understanding of current treatments and development of new treatments. Back pain is a common, costly and disabling condition. People experience little to no benefit, on average, from available treatments.
Medicines (given for pain relief) are the most common treatment, yet the research available to guide their use is lacking in some areas. Matthew’s research (within the Medicines for Back Pain program) uses published and unpublished sources of clinical trial information to fill these gaps and increase the research available to guide clinical decision-making.
Treatments targeting brain function are a promising, novel, approach to treatment of back pain. These treatments have been developed because research indicates the brain and nervous system are importantly involved in the back pain experience. We developed two treatment programs and tested them in the RESOLVE Trial). We have completed recruitment and are preparing to analyse the results.
You can follow Matthew’s research below and here.
In addition to his research focus, Matthew is passionately engaged with clinical practice and research more broadly. Matthew is an active member of the Australian Pain Society, Sports Medicine Australia, the Australian Physiotherapy Association and the Living Evidence Network. Matthew sits on the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) Education and Training Committee, which strives to facilitate the use of evidence in clinical and research practice. Matthew is an Ambassador for the Centre for Open Science and a founding member of OPeRA (Open Pain Research Appraisal and Advocacy). OPeRA members are early-career scientists working together to conduct meta-science (research on how research is done) and advocate for transparent and open scientific practice. Transparent and open practice is important to allow users of research to understand and evaluate research whilst they use it. You can follow (and join) OPeRA’s work here.
There are a growing number of studies using mediation analysis to understand the mechanisms of health interventions and exposures. Recent work has shown that the reporting of these studies is heterogenous and incomplete. This problem stifles clinical application, reproducibility, and evidence synthesis. The development and implementation of A Guideline for Reporting Mediation Analyses (AGReMA) will improve the standardization, transparency, and completeness in the reporting of studies that use mediation analysis to understand the mechanisms of health interventions and exposures.
AGReMA Publications
Cashin AG, McAuley JH, Lamb SE, Hopewell S, Kamper SJ, Williams CM, Henschke N, Lee H. (2020). Development of A Guideline for Reporting Mediation Analyses (AGReMA). BMC Med Res Methodol 20(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s12874-020-0915-5. PMID: 32013883
Medicines are the most common treatment for back pain. The aim of this program of research is to improve our understanding of the clinical effects of medicines.
Studies currently in progress:
Completed studies:
Medicines for Back Pain – Publications:
Medicines for Back Pain – Registrations of Study Protocols:
YANNICK GILANYI Research Associate : y.gilanyi@neura.edu.au
BRISHNA SHAH Research Associate : b.shah@neura.edu.au
JACK DEVONSHIRE Honours Student : j.devonshire@neura.edu.au
HARRISON HANSFORD Honours Student : h.hansford@neura.edu.au
THIAGO FOLLY Research Assistant
ANIKA HAIGH Research Assistant : a.haigh@neura.edu.au
PAULINE ZAHARA Clinical Trial Manager
DR IAN SKINNER Postdoctoral Research Fellow