Professor Kerr Graham
Role:
Group Leader
Email:
Available for Student Supervision
Professor Kerr Graham
Biography:
Professor Kerr Graham is research Group Leader at Murdoch Childrens, a University of Melbourne Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Director of the Hugh Williamson Gait Laboratory and a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
Professor Graham runs an active clinical and research program through the Hugh Williamson Gait Laboratory at The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. He has supervised six MDs and seven PhDs to completion leading to an extensive publication record in terms of original papers, review articles and book chapters. Between 2005 and 2009 Professor Graham was a Chief Investigator of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Clinical Centre of Research Excellence in Gait Rehabilitation. In 2014 he became a Chief Investigator of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Cerebral Palsy.
In 1993 and 1995 his research team was awarded the Richmond prize from the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine in recognition of pioneering work in the use of Botulinum toxin A for the management of spasticity in children with cerebral palsy. In 2001 he was awarded the John Mitchell Crouch Fellowship, the highest research award from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. In 2002 he received the prize for the Best Basic Science paper at the Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA). He was awarded The King James IV Professorship of The Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh for 2012 and 2013.
Other Affiliations:
- Director of the Hugh Williamson Gait Analysis Laboratory
Awards:
- 1986: Norman Martin Medal for Orthopaedic Research, Belfast City Hospital
- 1992: The ABC North American Fellowship, British Orthopaedic Association
- 1993: The Richmond Prize awarded by the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine
- 1995: The Richmond Prize awarded by the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine
- 2001: The John Mitchell Crouch Fellowship, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
- 2012- 2013: King James IV Professor of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Research:
Professor Graham is an international leader in orthopaedic management of cerebral palsy. Professor Graham's clinical and research interests are principally in the area of cerebral palsy, clinical gait analysis, clinical trials of spasticity management and gait improvement surgery for children with cerebral palsy.
During his fellowship at HSC Toronto, he worked on an animal model for cerebral palsy using samples of the novel therapeutic, “Occulinum", later purchased by the Allergan Company and re-badged as “Botox". Following initial animal studies, he conducted all the clinical trials, in which evidence of effects efficacy, characterisation of side effects were determined for the treatment of children with cerebral palsy. Through this work, Botox became licensed as a therapeutic agent for management of children with cerebral palsy in more than 40 countries worldwide.
Although his primary interest has been in use of Botulinum toxin, he has promoted a bimodal approach to the management of gait disorders in children with cerebral palsy, consisting of an early non-operative phase with Botulinum toxin followed by gait analysis and Single Event Multilevel Surgery. He conducted the world's first randomised clinical trial of Single Event Multilevel Surgery with cerebral palsy which demonstrated this to be the single most useful physical intervention for children with cerebral palsy, with results maintained at five to 10 year follow-up. This has set the standard worldwide for management of gait disorders associated with cerebral palsy. His group has also been instrumental in developing the Functional Mobility Scale and more recently the Gait Profile Score.
Projects:
- A randomised clinical trial to determine the best method to treat hip displacement in children with cerebral palsy
- A randomised clinical trial to determine the optimum frequency of Botox injections in children with cerebral palsy
- Understanding the effects of torsional deformities of the lower limb in typically developed children and cerebral palsy patients.
- Can we predict who will benefit from ankle foot orthoses?
Graham HK, Boyd R, Carlin JB, Dobson F, Lowe K, Nattrass G, Thomason P, Wolfe R, Reddihough D. Does Botulinum toxin A combined with hip bracing prevent hip displacement in children with cerebral palsy and “hips-at-risk"? A randomized controlled trial. J Bone Joint Surg 2008;90-A:23-33
Baker R, McGinley JL, Schwartz MH, Beynon S, Rozumalski A, Graham HK, Tirosh O. The Gait Profile Score and Movement Analysis Profile. Gait & Posture 2009;30:265-269
Davis E, Davies B, Wolfe R, Raadsveld R, Heine B, Thomason P, Dobson F, Graham K. A randomized controlled trial of the impact of therapeutic horse riding on the quality of life, health and function of children with cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 2009;51:111-119
Robin J, Graham HK, Baker R, Selber P, Simpson P, Symons S, Thomason P. A classification system for hip disease in cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 2009;51;183-192
Thomason P, Baker R, Dodd K, Taylor N, Selber P, Wolfe R, Graham HK. Single Event Multilevel Surgery in children with spastic diplegia: A pilot randomized controlled trial. J Bone Joint Surg 2011;93-A:451-460
Shore BJ, Yu X, Desai S, Selber P, Wolfe R, Graham HK. Adductor surgery to prevent hip dislocation in children with cerebral palsy: The predictive role of the Gross Motor Function Classification System. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2012;94:326-34
Baker R, McGinley JL, Schwartz M, Thomason P, Rodda J, Graham HK. The Minimal Clinically Important Difference for the Gait Profile Score. Gait & Posture. 2012;35:612-615 .
Thomason P, Selber P, Graham HK. Single Event Multilevel Surgery in children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy: A 5 year prospective study. Gait & Posture. 2013;37:23-28
Firth GB, Passmore E, Sangeux M, Thomason P, Rodda J, Donath S, Selber P, Graham HK. Surgery for equinus in children with spastic diplegia: Medium term follow-up with gait analysis. J Bone Joint Surgery 2013;95(10):931-938
Hastings-Ison T, Blackburn C, Opie NL, Graham HK, Rawicki B, Wolfe R, Simpson P, Baker R. Reproducibility of an instrumented measure for passive ankle dorsiflexion in conscious and anaesthetized children with cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 2014;56:378-385.