PhD Candidate
Rodrigo Rizzo is a Doctoral Candidate at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and University of New South Wales (UNSW). He is a physiotherapist who has worked in the management of chronic pain for over 15 years. Rod became interested in understanding the effect of clinical hypnosis for chronic pain, and in 2018, he published the first randomized controlled trial combining clinical hypnosis with pain neuroscience education.
Supervised by A/Prof James McAuley and A/Prof Sylvia Gustin, Rod is using quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate mechanisms of interventions for treating back pain. Using qualitative research, he wants to understand people’s beliefs about treatments that target the brain for the management of back pain. Using quantitative analysis, he investigates whether and how interventions designed to change the nervous system work in patients with pain. Rod’s current projects include:
Rod is the lead organiser of the Centre for Pain IMPACT (investigating mechanisms of pain to advance clinical translation), which is a collaboration of pain researchers at NeuRA, who have a focus on encompassing basic science through to clinical and translational research.
Qualifications
Bachelor and Master of Science in Physiotherapy
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:
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
THIAGO FOLLY Research Assistant
ANIKA HAIGH Research Assistant
PAULINE ZAHARA Research Assistant
DR IAN SKINNER Postdoctoral Research Fellow