NEUROSCIENCE, NEUROPHARMACOLOGY AND EXERCISE SCIENCE
Dr Jacob Thorstensen,
Neuroscientist & Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine
Bond University, Queensland, Australia &
Honorary Research Fellow
The School of Biomedical Sciences,
The University of Queensland
Queensland, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in the Gold Coast, Australia | November 2025
Dr Jacob Thorstensen is an early-career Assistant Professor in Neuroscience and Physiology in the Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine at Bond University. He is also an honorary research fellow in The School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Queensland.
Dr Thorstensen graduated first-class honours in exercise science, completed a PhD in neurophysiology at Griffith University, and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in neurology at The University of Queensland.
His research uses non-invasive neurostimulation techniques to study how the brain and spinal cord control muscles in human subjects.
His findings have been published in several discipline-leading scientific journals including The Journal of Physiology, Journal of Neurophysiology and Neuropharmacology and disseminated at large, international scientific meetings.
His work has unveiled several new neuroscientific mechanisms which have future applications for movement disorders. Recent recognitions include being on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for the Healthcare & Science Category (2024) and being selected as a Career Achievement Award finalist in the 7NEWS QLD Young Achiever Awards (2025).
Dr Thorstensen sits on the editorial boards for The Journal of Physiology and Journal of Applied Physiology.
He is a part of the executive committee for the Australasian Brain Stimulation Society, and the early career researcher and education committees for the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology.
He is also part of a team that has recently been funded through a Multiple Sclerosis Australia Incubator Grant for a neurostimulation project.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6821-1547
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Enhancing occupational therapy service provision with military veterans
Prof McKinstry was instrumental in the development of the occupational therapy course at the La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus and also the establishment of the Rural Health School.
Prof McKinstry’s research focus is on health workforce, particularly developing a sustainable rural health workforce through recruitment of rural students for health courses, innovative and flexible delivery of health courses, telehealth and emerging areas of practice for occupational therapists.
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Mechanisms of resistance to menin inhibitor therapy and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
Dr Rithin Nedumannil (MBBS, MPH, FRACP, FRCPA) is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, undertaking his doctoral studies in collaboration with the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (Cambridge, UK) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Melbourne, Australia). He is a clinical haematologist and haematopathologist with current appointments at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Austin Health and Northern Health.
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Patient reported outcomes in the diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma
Dr. Elizabeth Goodall (BMedSci Hons, MBBS Hons, FRACP, FRCPA) is a PhD student and early career researcher with La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI), and Haematologist at Austin Health and Monash Health, Melbourne.
Her specific interest in how patients experience their illness and treatment forms the basis for her research in improving patient outcomes. This research comes at a pivotal time in modern lymphoma management with an ever-increasing number of treatment options available and renewed focus on each patient’s journey.
