Committee
President: Rose Boucaut (Australia)
Rose Boucaut, Dip Tech Physio, Grad Dip Advanced Manipulative Therapy, MPH, Ed D, is a fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists and a longstanding member of Occupational Health Physiotherapy Australia (OHPA), the national special interest group. Rose worked on the OHPA professional standards sub-committee to develop professional practice standards for OHPA members.
As senior lecturer at the University of South Australia, Rose coordinates the final year course Work Health and Safety Practice. The unique aspect of this course is that final year students work on small projects with industry partners.
As the lead facilitator of the World Physiotherapy Occupational Health and Ergonomics Network Rose has worked towards this World Physiotherapy subgroup formation since initial discussions at the World Physiotherapy congress in Vancouver (2007).
Vice president: Yvonne van Zaanen (Netherlands)
Yvonne van Zaanen is a Physical Therapist in Occupational Health & Ergonomics (Dutch specialized register SRBF) for 20 years now. In 2015 she completed the academic master in Evidence Based Practice (Clinical Epidemiologist) and her research at the Coronel Institute for Occupational Health. Her main focus is on prevention of musculoskeletal complaints & work disability prevention in combination with ergonomics.
Since 2017 she participated in the working group and worked joyfully with this highly motivated team towards establishment of the IFPTOHE. ‘Working together with this inspiring team and colleagues from all over the world will give our profession the opportunity to move faster towards evidence based practice for our profession.’
In 2018 she was elected for a second term being president of the Dutch association of PT in OHE (NVBF).
Education: Kjerstin Stigmar (Sweden)
Kjerstin has been a physical therapist for over 30 years with clinical background in primary health care (10 yrs) and occupational health (15 yrs). In 2012, she graduated with a PhD from Lund University after which she was appointed as a teacher and researcher at the university. Since 2021 she is an associate professor in physiotherapy.
Kjerstin have been a key driver in the formation of the World Physiotherapy network for occupational health and ergonomics since the World Physiotherapy congress in Singapore 2015. She is an active researcher in the field and can contribute with perspectives from research as well as undergraduate and graduate education.
She is a member of the board of the Swedish section for Occupational Health and Ergonomics, since 2016.
Follow her publications from her research portal (click here).
Research: Vasiliki Sakellari (Greece)
Vasiliki Sakellari, is a Professor at the Department of Physiotherapy of the University of West Attica, Athens. She teaches Ergonomics and Consulting in Physiotherapy, Clinical Education in Neurological Physiotherapy and Physiotherapy in Geriatrics to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She is the Erasmus coordinator of the School of Health and Care Sciences.
She holds a master's degree in Ergonomics (University College London) and a Ph.D. from University of London - Institute of Neurology. For a number of years she has been the director of the School of Health & Welfare Professions of the TEI of Lamia and the director of the Center for Technological Research of Central Greece. Participated in European supported programs. She is currently coordinating the funded research project McHeELP (Motor control Home ergonomics Elderlies’ Prevention of falls).
She has the ambition to contribute to the vision and mission of IFPTOHE.
Secretary: Marisa Coetzee (South Africa)
Marisa has been a Physiotherapist for 12 years with clinical experience in primary health care as well as occupational health, ergonomics and functional capacity evaluation. She is currently a registered PhD student and lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town.
She served as the chairperson for the Occupational Health Special Interest Group (OHSIG) as part of the South African Society of Physiotherapy (SASP) for 3 years before the group changed into the Occupational Health Network (SASP) for which she is a facilitator.
Her goal is to improve the education and recognition of occupational health within the field of Physiotherapy, especially in South Africa and envision this subgroup as a platform on which international collaboration and the dissemination of knowledge within the field could be accomplished.
Executive member: Daijo Shiratsuchi (Japan)
Daijo is a physiotherapist working at JCHO Kumamoto General Hospital, an acute care hospital in Japan, and is a doctoral student at Kagoshima University Graduate School of Aging and Health Science Laboratory (https://makizako-lab.work/).
He is interested in the relationship between low back pain, psychosocial factors, and labour productivity among workers. His research results have been recognized by awards such as the World Physiotherapy subgroup outstanding poster presentation award: IFPTOHE at the World Physiotherapy Congress in 2021. I would like to contribute to IFPOHE as a representative of the Japanese physical therapists. In particular, I would like to focus on generating and disseminating evidence through research.
Executive member: Beatriz Sanz-Bustillo Aguirre (Spain)
Beatriz Sanz-Bustillo Aguirre (PT BSc, Occ. Risk Prev. MSc, PhD candidate) is member of the Spanish Association of Physiotherapists. Working as physiotherapist within the medical service of the Ministry of Defence of Spain and as Associate Professor at the Physiotherapy Department of San Pablo CEU University (Madrid, Spain).
Actively engaged in fostering the role of physiotherapists in the area of occupational health and ergonomics e.g. through the following activities: PhD project (Advanced Formation in Occupational Health Physiotherapy); foundation of an official national subgroup in this field (in progress); and research (recent focus topics: education, cross-country comparisons, and injury prevention in the military context).
As Spain’s IFPTOHE representative since its foundation in 2019, actively collaborating with its activities (1st and 2nd General Meetings, Webinar 2022, website contents). Willing to expand this collaboration by devoting hard work, effort and commitment for the sake of IFPTOHE’s promotion and the fulfilment of its vision and mission.
Executive member: Tracey Atkinson (UK)
Tracey is an experienced Occupational Health physiotherapist of 26 years, with a post graduate qualification in Occupational Health Physiotherapy and Ergonomics and have worked in a variety of business sectors. Her current role is the National Occupational Health Clinical & Governance lead for a private Occupational Health company based in England.
She joined the ACPOHE (Association of Chartered Physiotherapist in Occupational Health & Ergonomics) executive committee 8 years ago as membership secretary. She recently presented at a webinar for the IFPTOHE on the UK ACPOHE Competency framework, what it is, how it works and an overview of Membership levels that link to the competencies. She is involved in the working group for standardising competencies for Occupational Health Physiotherapist globally. She feels her experience and knowledge within the Occupational Health can support the growth of committee.