Paola Silvia Wood

Biography

Dr Paola Silvia Wood is a senior lecturer and biokineticist in the Department of Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences where she has been a faculty member since 2008. She obtained the degree BA(Hons) HMS Biokinetics from the University of Pretoria in 1993 and completed her MA (HMS) in 1997. As an officer in the SANDF as well as through international exposure in Tuscany, Italy, she gained valuable clinical experience as a biokineticist. She has actively promoted her profession and currently serves on the Ethics Committee of the Biokinetics Association of South Africa (BASA). Dr Wood has published 27 peer-reviewed articles in the last six years that were presented at numerous congresses.

Research Interest

Dr Wood has a special interest in training injuries and their causes and her research in military training and related injuries has been instrumental in the revision of the SANDF policy on Physical Training. Of late her focus has shifted from military training injuries to the epidemiology of sport injuries specifically looking at playing position related injuries as well as the effect of physical activity on the South African geriatric population. She has collaborated actively with research in other disciplines of health sciences, particularly physiology and sports medicine and is currently involved in the study of the SA Health Workers Society.