Rate My Professor Jennifer Dunn

Dr Jennifer Dunn serves as Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, part of the Faculty of Medicine in the Division of Health Sciences. Holding a PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Otago and an MPhil from Massey University, she is a registered physiotherapist with more than 25 years of clinical experience at the Burwood Spinal Unit, specializing in spinal cord injury rehabilitation. In her dual clinical and academic roles, Dunn ensures that her research remains clinically relevant, currently providing community-based physiotherapy for individuals with complex injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and amputation.

Dunn's research interests encompass spinal cord injury, upper limb reconstructive surgery for tetraplegia, chronic orthopaedic conditions, total joint arthroplasty, and rehabilitation outcomes measurement. As a core member of the ReClaiM research team, she leads initiatives like the Health Research Council-funded Early Vocational Rehabilitation study for spinal cord injury (EVocS) and co-leads the development of Australasian physiotherapy clinical practice guidelines for spinal cord injuries. Her contributions extend internationally, including work on patient-reported outcome measures for arthroplasty registries and standard outcome sets for hip and knee osteoarthritis through collaborations with the International Society of Arthroplasty Registries and ICHOM. Key publications feature "Patient-reported outcome measures in arthroplasty registries: report of the Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Working Group" (2016), "Tendon transfer surgery for people with tetraplegia: an overview" (2016), "An Australian and New Zealand clinical practice guideline for the physiotherapy management of people with spinal cord injuries" (2025), and "Factors that influence the clinical outcome after tendon transfer surgery to restore grip function in individuals with tetraplegia" (2026). With over 1,300 citations, her scholarship impacts global rehabilitation practices. She has delivered workshops, including on return-to-work pathways at the 2025 RMSANZ/NZRA meeting, and secured funding from HRC and Lottery Health Research.