Prof. Alison McGregor Imperial College London, UK

Alison McGregor is a Professor of Musculoskeletal Biodynamics in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, where she manages the Human Performance Group. She trained as a physiotherapist at King’s College Hospital qualifying in 1989 and then went on to study Biomedical Engineering at Surrey University which led to a PhD... read moreproject in spinal mechanics and low back pain at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School.
Her research focuses on the musculoskeletal system with respect to mechanisms of injury; effects of injury on function and management of injury. To date her work has largely focused on the lumbar spine by considering its function to be a composite of interacting systems including a passive or skeletal system which permits segmental joint motion; a muscular system which provides the muscles to create motion these body segments; and a control system (the central nervous system) which co-ordinates the muscles and body segments to produce function with a variety of projects in these areas. She has also investigated aspects of management and surgical care including surveys of practice, clinical cohort studies, the development of evidenced-based information [www.tso.co.uk/bookshop] and a large randomised controlled multi-centre clinical trial investigating optimal post-operative management. She has also led with Professor Anthony Bull a programme of research into rowing performance, with a focus on rowing kinematics and mechanisms of injury. This work has been in association with the GB Rowing team and on-going studies are contributing to the Team’s preparations for the last 4 0lympic Games.