Dr Christopher Williams

Biography

"Dr Williams is a research fellow (NHMRC) and population health physiotherapist with qualifications in exercise science, physiotherapy and postgraduate training in biostatistics. In addition to his current NHMRC award, he is appointed to the Hunter New England Local Health District as a Clinical Research Fellow. He completed his PhD in 2013 at The Sydney Medical School and The George Institute for Global Health. Dr Williams established and leads the Hunter New England Musculoskeletal Health Program, a research-practice program with Hunter New England Population Health and various clinical units which focuses on improving the coordination of population health and clinical services to optimise management of health risk factors associated with musculoskeletal conditions in adults and adolescents. He is also the co-lead for the Centre for Pain, Health and Lifestyle, a multi-institutional collaboration which aims to improve musculoskeletal health and other co-morbid health problems across the lifespan. Dr Williams’s research interests have focused on the use of novel methods to conduct efficient research trials in real world contexts. This has involved assessing the effectiveness of i) clinical and public health interventions to improve outcomes for people with musculoskeletal pain, and ii) implementation strategies aimed to improve the adoption and sustained use of recommended practice in community and clinical settings. To date he has conducted or is conducting 6 RCTs and 2 observational studies. These include a cohort multiple RCT and the world’s largest placebo controlled trial in back pain (n=1650). "

Research Interest

Public Health and Health Services, Clinical Sciences