Rate My Professor Anne Forster

Professor Anne Forster is a Professor of Ageing and Stroke Research in the School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Leeds, based at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is also recognized as Professor of Stroke Rehabilitation and holds positions as Director of Research and Deputy Director of the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences. A qualified physiotherapist, she trained at Liverpool School of Physiotherapy, becoming a Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in 1978. She earned a BA (Hons) in Social Studies (Class II Division 1) from the University of Bradford in 1986, a PhD from the same institution in 1991 on 'A Randomised Trial of Stroke Rehabilitation for the Elderly in Bradford', a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from the University of Leeds in 1999, and was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in 2011. From 2015 to 2023, she headed the Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research. Her research specializations encompass stroke rehabilitation, ageing, and interventions to enhance longer-term outcomes for stroke survivors and carers, including home physiotherapy, specialist nurse support, and information provision. She is chief investigator for two of the largest multi-centre stroke rehabilitation trials in the UK and leads a programme enhancing outcomes in care homes through initiatives on physical activity, sedentary behaviour reduction, frailty, and delirium prevention.

Forster is lead author of three Cochrane Reviews: 'Rehabilitation in long-term care', 'Information provision for stroke patients and their caregivers', and 'Medical day hospital care for the elderly versus alternative forms of care'. She has secured major NIHR funding, including Programme Grants for Applied Research for strategies to reduce sedentary behaviour post-stroke (2017–2024, £3,013,121), the LoTS2Care trial on longer-term stroke care (2013–2018, £1,643,906), physical activity enhancement in care homes (2013–2018, £1,647,249), and the HERO trial on home-based exercise for frail older people (2017–2021, £2,038,930). Awarded NIHR Senior Investigator status in 2017 and now Emeritus Senior Investigator, she acts as an NIHR Academic Training Advocate for physiotherapy research careers, promoting non-medical professional involvement in health research.