Title: Professor
Current Position: Co-Head, Stroke
Institutional Affiliation: The Florey Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Email Address: julie.bernhardt@florey.edu.au
Julie is a clinician researcher, rehabilitation trialist, and co-head of Stroke at The Florey Institute, Melbourne, Australia, where she leads a large, multi-disciplinary research team. She has worked and advocated for people with stroke for over 35 years. Julie has led the largest, multi-country trials in acute rehabilitation and recovery and supports many others including new, early phase trial designs. She established the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) Centre of Research Excellence in Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery with researchers working from bench to bedside. She leads other large collaborative projects including NOVELL Redesign, which worked to re-image rehabilitation services and buildings using Living Lab methods, and the International Stroke Recovery & Rehabilitation Alliance (ISRRA), an action group advancing new proposals from the Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtables (SRRR). She co-leads a $10 million project developing a digitally enabled clinical service for young stroke survivors. Julie is a strong advocate for Women in Science.
Julie is a world-renowned rehabilitation trialist and Principal Investigator of international, early rehabilitation trials (AVERT, AVERT DOSE) setting new standards in the field. She has served as a board member of the World Stroke Organization, chaired the WSO Research Committee, and has served on numerous international stroke committees.
Julie instigated and led two international Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtables to develop new research standards culminating in development of the International Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Alliance (ISRRA) in 2020. She was awarded a 2019 Order of Australia recognizing her science and advocacy contribution and in 2020 with investiture into the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science.