Rate My Professor Penny Moss

Dr. Penny Moss is a Senior Lecturer in the Curtin School of Allied Health within the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University, Perth, where she serves as Director of Learning and Teaching. She qualified as a physiotherapist at Brunel University, London, in 1998 after working as a teacher for ten years. Following two years in a UK NHS hospital, she emigrated to Perth and spent six years at Royal Perth Hospital focusing on neurological rehabilitation, musculoskeletal outpatients, burns, and medical cases. Moss completed her Master of Manipulative Therapy at Curtin University in 2004, during which she began part-time employment at the School of Physiotherapy as a research assistant and lecturer in professional practice and manual therapy units. She commenced PhD candidature in 2006 investigating mechanisms underlying manual therapy and was appointed full-time Lecturer in Physiotherapy in 2010, progressing to Senior Lecturer.

Her research interests center on pain science, including endogenous pain modulation, hyperalgesia in knee osteoarthritis, conditioned pain modulation, manipulation-induced analgesia, exercise-induced hypoalgesia, simulation-based physiotherapy education, and transdermal drug delivery. Key publications include 'The initial effects of knee joint mobilization on osteoarthritic hyperalgesia' (2007), 'Subjects with Knee Osteoarthritis Exhibit Widespread Hyperalgesia to Pressure and Cold' (2016), 'Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis Who Score Highly on the PainDETECT Questionnaire Present With Multi-modality Hyperalgesia, Increased Pain and Impaired Physical Function' (2018), and 'The influence of a full-time, immersive simulation-based clinical placement on physiotherapy student confidence and competence' (2018). With 820 citations across 32 publications, her work has advanced understanding of chronic pain mechanisms. Moss co-led the national Physiotherapy National Clinical Simulation Program, earning a 2016 Australian Awards for University Teaching citation, and was part of the team winning the 2008 WA Inventor of the Year Award for a chronic pain invention. She received a Curtin Student Guild Excellence in Teaching Award for the Faculty of Health Sciences and serves on the Curtin Academic Board from 2024 to 2026. Her teaching emphasizes manual therapy skills, pain concepts, and interprofessional learning.