Rate My Professor Karen Barlow

Professor Karen Barlow is an academic paediatric neurologist, clinical researcher, and specialist in acquired brain injury in children and adolescents. She earned a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and Medical Science from the University of Edinburgh, a Master of Science in Clinical Research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Neurosciences from the University of Queensland. Her career commenced with training at the University of Edinburgh and the University of British Columbia. In 2002, she took her first academic position at the University of Calgary, where she developed and directed the Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion Research Program at the Alberta Children's Hospital. In October 2017, she relocated to the Child Health Research Centre at the University of Queensland, assuming the role of Chair in Paediatric Rehabilitation and Conjoint Chair. She also holds an affiliate associate professor position in the School of Biomedical Sciences and collaborates with the Queensland Paediatric Rehabilitation Service and Queensland Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation Centre. As director of the KidStim Lab—the first Australian non-invasive neuromodulation facility dedicated to enhancing outcomes for children with brain injuries—she leads a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and scientists.

Professor Barlow's research centres on paediatric neurology, neurotrauma, concussion, mild traumatic brain injury, and associated headache and pain disorders. She investigates neurobiological signatures of subtle neurological dysfunction in post-concussion syndrome, employing multimodal assessments such as arterial spin labelling functional MRI for perfusion studies, microstructural neuroimaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation for cortical excitability. Her extensive clinical trial experience includes testing novel therapies like melatonin for sleep disturbances, pharmacotherapies, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation, and cervicovestibular rehabilitation. Notable publications encompass 'Traumatic brain injury: integrated approaches to improve prevention, clinical care, and research' (The Lancet Neurology, 2017), 'Clinical risk score for persistent postconcussion symptoms among children with acute concussion in the ED' (JAMA, 2016), 'Epidemiology of postconcussion syndrome in pediatric mild traumatic brain injury' (Pediatrics, 2010), 'Cervicovestibular rehabilitation in sport-related concussion: a randomised controlled trial' (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2014), and 'Mild traumatic brain injury and concussion and persisting post-concussion symptoms: new guidelines to support evidence-based assessment and management in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand' (Medical Journal of Australia, 2025). She co-led the development of the first Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand clinical practice guidelines for managing mild traumatic brain injury and persisting post-concussion symptoms.