Students of Florey Stroke: Liana Cahill

Name: Liana Cahill

Role, Group: PhD Student, Neurorehabilitation and Recovery

Supervisor(s): Prof Leeanne Carey, A/Prof Natasha Lannin

Email: Liana.Cahill@florey.edu.au 

Location: Level 2, Melbourne Brain Centre, Austin Campus, 245 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg, 3084 

Twitter: @LianaCahill 

Liana Cahill is an occupational therapist, researcher and lecturer.  She has practiced in neurological rehabilitation for over a decade in Australia, the United Kingdom and South Africa.  She holds a Masters of Public Health and is currently completing her PhD in the area of knowledge translation and upper limb stroke rehabilitation.  Her research base is at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and La Trobe University and she lectures in the School of Allied Health at Australian Catholic University. 

Tell us about your research.

I am researching strategies to increase research use by physiotherapists and occupational therapists with stroke patients to improve their outcomes.  I’m specifically interested in sensory function in the arm – the way that a hand can feel objects or textures – and how therapists can use neuroplasticity to improve a patient’s hand function when this sense if affected by their stroke.

Why is your research important? 

The quality and quantity of research in stroke rehabilitation has grown significantly in recent decades however this evidence has not transferred to practice to benefit patients.  Active strategies are required to overcome barriers to a change in practice and my research is trying to address and break down some of these barriers.

What would you like to do in the future?

I’d like to finish my PhD and become involved in other exciting research projects while continuing my much-loved role in teaching and coordinating curriculum for undergraduate university students.

What is your favourite thing about the Florey?

The meeting of minds that occurs in incidental open-office chats and in more formal presentation seminars, where such interesting ideas and projects are discussed.

What inspired you to pursue stroke research? 

While working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, a young stroke survivor was referred to me who needed rehabilitation for his hand after a stroke he’d experienced while travelling through South America.  He’d had a good recovery but was experienced a loss of sensation in his right hand which impacted on his grip, and he couldn’t tell when he reached into his backpack whether he was holding his iPhone or an apple.  As his therapist, I was frustrated that I couldn’t provide him with the cutting-edge therapy I knew was out there – I got in contact with Prof Leeanne Carey at the Florey and I’ve been involved in research since.

Research Project: Achieving practice change in stroke rehabilitation: a research translation study of upper limb therapy for sensory loss

This project is operating at 8 health sites in Victoria and NSW and involves training therapists up to deliver evidence-based sensory rehabilitation to stroke patients.