Prof Mary Galea

Mary is internationally recognised for her neuroscience research, which investigates the control of voluntary movement by the brain and the factors that promote recovery following nervous system damage. She has been involved in extensive research with patients to improve recovery after stroke.

In 2001, Mary was appointed to the Foundation Chair of Clinical Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne and Austin Health. In 2004, she established the Rehabilitation Sciences Research Centre based at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre, where she held the position of Director until 2011.

A recipient of a 2007 Churchill Fellowship, Mary investigated active rehabilitation programs for people with spinal cord injury in Europe and North America.

Mary is currently leading a five-year research program in Spinal Cord Injury and Physical Activity. The program, which brings all Australian and New Zealand spinal units together in collaborative research for the first time, is investigating the effect that exercising paralysed limbs has on the recovery of function, and the health and well-being of people after spinal cord injury.

Mary is currently a Professorial Fellow in the University of Melbourne's Department of Medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital; an honorary appointee in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine; and a Senior Principal Fellow in the Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Heath.

In August 2013, Mary was a recipient of a Maltese Community Council of Victoria Community Award and is also a Dame of Magistral Grace in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.