Brazilian PhD students gain global insight into musculoskeletal conditions

“I first came to Australia in December 2009 to commence my studies and work at The George Institute. I returned to Brazil in July 2010 to marry my lovely wife Marcia, who is also a researcher, and came back to Australia with me to also work at The George. Living in different countries for almost seven months made me realize that life is meaningless when you live far away from those that you love the most”. 

“I first came to Australia in December 2009 to commence my studies and work at The George Institute. I returned to Brazil in July 2010 to marry my lovely wife Marcia, who is also a researcher, and came back to Australia with me to also work at The George. Living in different countries for almost seven months made me realize that life is meaningless when you live far away from those that you love the most”. 

Husband and wife team Rafael and Marcia are part of the musculoskeletal research team at The George Institute for Global Health. Both successful students in Minas Gerais, Brazil, the couple also were awarded highly competitive CAPES Foundation Scholarships, under the Ministry of Education, Brazil. Such a scholarship allows them to pursue a PhD at a top ranked university anywhere in the world.

“I first heard about The George Institute from my Master’s supervisor in Brazil. I started following the latest musculoskeletal research publications from the Institute and I realised that this was definitely the best place to go abroad and get some experience with clinical research, while studying my PhD at Sydney University”, said Rafael.

Since his studies in physiotherapy, orthopaedics, sports physiotherapy and biomechanics, Rafael has wanted to learn more about clinical research. His particular area of interest is low back pain, which he says is a well-known condition but more studies are needed to better understand treatment and prognosis. At The George he is working with back pain expert Professor Chris Maher, and is currently participating in an international collaboration with researchers in Denmark. “The objective of this collaboration is to understand the role of physical activity  in the prognosis of people seeking care for chronic and persistent low back pain using data from a large Danish registry”, Rafael added. 

Marcia shared the same desire to work in clinical research, and her background in physiotherapy and ageing was also a perfect fit for a number of research projects underway at The George.

“Since I was student, I have been interested in working with older people. The number of older people is increasing dramatically in the world as a result of low fertility and increasing life expectancy. It is very important for older people to stay healthy and active, with good quality of life. Research needs to be done in ageing, to contribute to the understanding and application of exercise for older people”, said Marcia.

In addition to working on the falls research program, Marcia’s focus at The George is on the Physiotherapy Evidence Database, known as PEDro. PEDro is a free database for musculoskeletal professionals, that houses over 20,000 randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. It provides an independent quality rating for users to guide clinical practice.

On working at The George, Marcia says, “The George institute provides PhD students with the human and material resources which are necessary to develop high-quality research. It offers an intellectually exciting learning environment with high academic standards. We have access to top researchers in our field of interests. Furthermore, the staff are very friendly!”

Working together isn’t an issue for the pair, who are enjoying the streets of Sydney. “In Australia we can go everywhere and walk on the street without fear, this gives us an excited feeling of freedom and this is priceless. The thing that I don’t like is that Australia is far away from everywhere, including Brazil, which is 13000 km of distance! I miss my family and friends a lot, not to mention the warm Brazilian weather”, added Marcia.