Caring Futures Institute - Better Systems

NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow, Matthew Flinders Fellow, Senior Lecturer

Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Lynch is dedicated to improving how stroke rehabilitation is provided. Liz’s research involves working with healthcare teams and people living with stroke to develop and test systems so that every person who has experienced a stroke receives rehabilitation interventions that have been proven to reduce disability and optimise function.

Liz has extensive experience working as a physiotherapist in inpatient rehabilitation settings, where she received state and national awards for implementing evidence-based-practice. She obtained a PhD in Health Sciences (University of South Australia, conferred 2016) before working in the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stroke Rehabilitation and Brain Recovery as the Implementation Science Research Fellow. Liz was awarded an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2018-21) to pursue her research investigating implementation of the Australian Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management.

• Implementation science
• Co-design
• Stroke rehabilitation
• Health literacy
• Clinical practice guidelines

Liz has expertise in implementation science research. She has used multiple research methodologies and has published findings from cluster-randomised controlled trials, randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews, qualitative studies as well as surveys and observational cohort studies.

Liz collaborates closely with the Stroke Foundation, and her research is cited in the Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management. Liz has recently led work to prioritise the top three recommendations for implementation from nearly 400 recommendations in the Stroke Guidelines. These priority recommendations will be addressed with national implementation strategies, thereby enhancing care received by approximately 50,000 people who experience a stroke in Australia each year.