Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Clinical Gait Analysis and Gait Rehabilitation
A collaboration between:
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A/Prof Richard Baker, Director & Chief Investigator, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Associate Professor Richard Baker has managed clinical gait analysis services for the last ten years in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. Although employed as a Clinical Engineer he has maintained leadership of an active research programme throughout his career. He has authored many papers in peer-reviewed journals and generated an equivalent of $650,000 worth of research funding over this period. He is on the Editorial Board of Gait and Posture and is the first person from outside North America ever to have served on the Executive Board of the (North American) Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society. His most notable clinical research was his role as principal scientific investigator on a multi-centre placebo-controlled dose-ranging study of botulinum toxin. He has supervised 4 doctoral students to completion and is currently supervising another 5. He is also supervising an NH&MRC Post-graduate Research Fellow.
Whilst in Europe he was Chairman of the Education Committee of the European Society for Movement Analysis in Adults and Children and co-leader of the NHS Recognised Research Group in Trauma and Rehabilitation for Northern Ireland (equivalent of a CCRE). He is employed to run the Gait Analysis Service at the Children's Hospital and has responsibility to ensure that this embodies the latest research findings in the delivery of services. The Service acts as the primary test-site for all clinical software produced by Oxford Metrics, the world's leading supplier of gait analysis systems. Through this development work he has ensured that many of the innovations he has introduced in Melbourne have been made available also throughout the world. He is an active teacher and has organized two international instructional courses in gait analysis. His instructional course at last years Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society has now been published as an interactive CR-ROM.