Professor Mary Galea’s basic and clinical research program has contributed substantially to the global quest to understand how to promote repair, regeneration and recovery of the nervous system after injury. Her seminal contributions to understanding the organisation and response to injury of the corticospinal pathways in animal models have been translated into the development of novel interventions to promote functional recovery after spinal cord injury and other nervous system disorders.

Professor Galea built research capacity in physiotherapy at a time when research in this discipline was sparse. Her sustained academic leadership in her profession has been acknowledged with the award of an Order of Australia.