RESEARCHER PROFILE (Filmed May 2024)
Dr Matthew Wallen PhD, AES, AEP
Senior Research Fellow, Caring Futures Institute
College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Flinders University,
South Australia
Dr Matthew Wallen PhD, AES, AEP is a Senior Research Fellow in Cancer Survivorship, the Deputy Lead of the Cancer Survivorship Program, and a Senior Lecturer in Exercise Science and Clinical Exercise Physiology within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University, in South Australia. His clinical interest focuses on improving outcomes for people requiring major surgery, specifically (1) lifestyle interventions, including exercise, nutritional, and psychological support to improve the health and wellbeing of people prior to surgery, termed ‘prehabilitation’, (2) novel physical function assessments aimed at identifying people at risk of treatment-related complications, and (3) implementation of new models of care in cancer.
Since graduating from his PhD in 2017, Dr Wallen has published over 55 peer-reviewed articles, including international guidelines and position statements in cancer care and lifestyle-related conditions, in high-impact international journals such as CA: a Journal for Clinicians and The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine. He has attracted more than AUD$10 million in research income and has supervised research projects for 7 PhD students (1 completed, 6 on-going), 21 Master’s students (completed), and 3 honours students (completed). Dr Wallen is the Course Coordinator for the Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology at Flinders University, and currently advises for the Exercise and Sport Science Australia Research Committee and South Australian State Chapter.
Source: Supplied
* AES is the acronym for Accredited Exercise Scientist (AES), AEP is the acronym for Accredited Exercise Physiologist
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Biostatistics in Clinical Trials
As a biostatistician working in research and clinical settings, Kate Francis plays a vital role in ensuring all projects adhere to best practice guidelines and are transparently reported. She has served as the lead statistician for the analysis of clinical trials across a broad range of subject areas, including neonatal resuscitation, BCG for allergy and infection, convulsive status epilepticus and her work has been published in the top journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The Lancet. Most recently she was awarded the 2025 Excellence in Trial Statistics Award for her work on the PLUSS trial.
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Good and bad extracellular vesicles in health and disease
Associate Professor Joy Wolfram has joint appointments in the School of Chemical Engineering and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at The University of Queensland, and through her work at the AIBN, she aims to develop a new paradigm of therapeutics (using nanotechnology and cell products) to treat life-threatening diseases that are major causes of death globally, including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and breast cancer.
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CASE STUDY increasing survival, free of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in extremely preterm infants
The aim of the PLUSS trial was to find out if installation of budesonide (a steroid) with surfactant to the lungs of extremely preterm babies helps to prevent lung disease, or Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).
