Bulletin

Issue: July 2004

Olympics

Physio students help at Paralympics

It's a busy year for La Trobe University Master of Physiotherapy student, Jenni Barron. Not only will she finish her degree in La Trobe's School of Physiotherapy and begin teaching second year Bachelor of Physiotherapy students in orthopaedics - but she will also play an important role at the Paralympics in Athens in September.

Ms Barron is Deputy Medical Officer and Chair of the Asia-Oceania Zone of the World Organisation of Volleyball for Disabled and one of the Organisation's international classifiers. As an international classifier, Ms Barron - who also holds a Masters degree in Health Science (Education) - will assess the level of disability of athletes competing in volleyball at the Paralympics, a role she also performed during the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

She has considerable experience in the Paralympic Games. Employed by the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee she worked within the SOCOG Medical Program at Games HQ for the 2000 Olympics as the medical coordinator for the Paralympic Games.

Another member of the La Trobe University community playing a role in Athens will be PhD candidate, Mr Gavin Williams. His role for the Paralympics is to assist in a process that will change the way athletes are classified for competition.

A physiotherapist in the Brain Injury Unit at Epworth Hospital, his area of interest is retraining walking, running and return to sport following traumatic brain injury. His PhD research is on the development of a high-level mobility scale for TBI called the HiMAT.

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