Meet the New Editors

Nonhlanhla Mkumbuzi is a sports physiotherapist and has a Ph.D. in Exercise Science. In her clinical career, she has served Zimbabwe's national men's, women's and youth rugby, netball, football, and Olympic teams. She also has teaching experience from institutions in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Anglophone Southern Africa. Currently, she splits her time between research and consultancy work. Her research work is in marginalised athletes such as women and girls of colour, and those from low- and middle-income settings such as in Africa. Her research focuses on the intersection of biology, race, gender, society and culture, and economics in athletic participation, performance, injury rehabilitation, and sports medicine policy. Additionally, she is the founder and executive director at NtombiSport where she develops research programs, clinical strategies and sports medicine policies that are situated in the lived realities of African women and girls in sport. In her free time, she enjoys culinary experiments, pole artistry, hiking, and training for half-Ironmans. She is, however, yet to compete in a half-Ironman race.

Jason Gill is Professor of Cardiometabolic Health in the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He leads an active multi-disciplinary research group investigating the effects of lifestyle on the prevention and management of vascular and metabolic diseases. This work includes studies into the epidemiology of lifestyle and cardiometabolic disease risk, particularly why certain population groups appear to have increased susceptibility to the adverse effects of an ‘unhealthy’ lifestyle; lifestyle interventions for the prevention and management of cardiometabolic disease; and investigations into the mechanisms by which diet and exercise regulate insulin sensitivity and lipoprotein metabolism. In recent years, he has become increasingly focused on collaborative projects involving biological and medical scientists working together with social scientists and external stakeholders to develop realistic and sustainable lifestyle interventions for the primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases. Jason has contributed to the UK Physical Activity guidelines, NICE guidelines for prevention of type 2 diabetes, and SIGN guidelines for obesity and cardiovascular disease. In addition, he is Director of the MSc in Sport and Exercise Science & Medicine at the University of Glasgow and plays an active role in communicating science related to physical activity, diet and obesity to the widest possible audience including a number of appearances on TV documentaries.

Oluwatoyosi (Olu) Owoeye (PhD, MS, BPT) is an assistant professor at the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training at Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States and an adjunct assistant professor at the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His research is focused on the generation and translation of knowledge that informs the prevention of sport-related injuries and associated consequences in youth and young adults. Much of his research work has focused on injury risk mitigation in soccer and basketball and implementation science towards understanding best practices for translating proven injury prevention interventions into action in real world settings. His research work has been supported by competitive grants from the NBA, General Electric, the Canadian MSK Research Network and Saint Louis University among others. Dr. Owoeye currently has 44 peer-reviewed journal publications, including publications in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy.

Urs Granacher is a full professor and head of Exercise and Human Movement Science, Department of Sport and Sport Science, University of Freiburg, Germany.  He graduated in Sports Science and received his PhD and habilitation (post-doctoral thesis) in Training and Movement Sciences at the University of Freiburg, Germany.  His research priorities fall in the fields of strength and conditioning with a specific focus on the effects of strength and balance training in different populations (e.g., children, adolescents, youth and elite athletes, seniors).  Additional key components of his research constitute the development of targeted interventions to enhance measures of balance and muscular fitness, to improve motor performance, and to reduce injuries in different sport disciplines (e.g., soccer, judo, handball).  Urs Granacher was appointed by the German Minister of the Interior as chief commissioner of the German PotAS committee to reform the German elite sports system.

Sharief Hendricks is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town and a Visiting Fellow at Leeds Beckett University (UK). He has been awarded the prestigious University of Cape Town College of Fellows Young Researcher Award (2019), a three-time finalist for the TW Kambule-NSTF Researcher Award (2020, 2021, 2022 - an award for South Africa’s top scientist) and listed on the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans (2019). He is a fellow of the European College of Sport Science (FECSS) and currently President-Elect of the South African Sports Medicine Association. Sharief is also Chair of Research and Science for the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee’s (SASCOC) and Lead Researcher for the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA). Sharief is also an Associate Editor for Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport and BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Science, and has been Social Media Editor for the European Journal of Sport Science for 8 years. Sharief’s primary research focus is improving player welfare and reducing the risk of injury while maximising performance in tackle-based sports such rugby. His other research interests include science communication and stakeholder engagement, which are reflected in two leading science communication websites—HealthScienceReviews.com and RugbyScientists.com.

Aamir Raoof Memon works at the Institute of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences in Peoples University of Medical & Health Sciences for Women, Nawabshah (Shaheed Benazirabad), Pakistan. He has done MPhil in physical education and sports science and a postgraduate diploma in biomedical ethics. He will soon be beginning his PhD journey at Victoria University, Melbourne. He has diverse research interests including but not limited to 24-hour movement behaviors and their impact on health, physical activity epidemiology, medical education, and research ethics (particularly predatory publishing and plagiarism). A/Prof Memon has published several papers in international journals and serves in editorial positions in different journals including BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine. He believes that achieving a target requires three things: focus, persistence and resilience – this is what we need for healthy lifestyle behaviors as well!

Myles Murphy is a postdoctoral clinician researcher within the Edith Cowan University, Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute and an Australian Physiotherapy Association Sport and Exercise Physiotherapist. Myles’ research involves investigating the drivers of pain and impairment in people with lower-limb musculoskeletal injury and disability as well as novel neuroscience interventions to address these impairments. Dr. Murphy completed his PhD at The University of Notre Dame Australia investigating the different mechanisms related to pain and dysfunction in people with lower-limb tendinopathy.

Nicole M Panhuyzen-Goedkoop is a Dutch cardiologist specialized in sports cardiology. She is a staff member of the Amsterdam University Medical Centres, AMC, Amsterdam. She is one of the founders of the Section Sports Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2002, and co-author of many ESC sports cardiology recommendations and the ESC curriculum sports cardiology. She is the founder of the outpatient clinic sports cardiology at the Dutch national Sport Medical Centre Papendal, Arnhem (2005). She hypothesized that elite and amateur athletes referred for cardiology consultation had to wait too long for their first consultation, examinations, test results and management. By changing the hospital environment for SMCP, she started to team up with the (federal) sports physicians, and sports cardiology became accessible to all athletes and leisure people. Since, SMCP became an important referral centre for sports cardiology consultation. Her main topics in sports cardiology are screening and prevention of sudden cardiac death, athlete’s ECG, exercise-induced cardiac remodeling and resuscitation on the pitch. Besides, she is interested in sports medical injuries and management, and in the psychological effects on physical performance and rehabilitation.

Yuka Tsukahara, MD, PhD is a sports medicine physician and a professor in sports medicine at Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education. She was trained in orthopedic surgery and has a PhD in Sports Science and is board certified in sports medicine and orthopedic surgery. Her interests include bone metabolism, body composition, relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), gender bias in sports medicine, and injury prevention. For the past 10 years she has worked as a team physician of the Japanese national team in many sports including women's soccer and track and field. Dr. Tsukahara was a former athlete and has participated in multiple national level events as a 400m hurdler and currently serving as a member of the medical committee of Japan Association of Athletics Federations. She was one of the lead physicians working in the polyclinic during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and has obtained IOC diploma in sports medicine. Since 2019, she has also been working as a member of the international committee of Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine.

Jessica Orchard is a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Centenary Institute and University of Sydney. She is also a Cardiac Research Fellow with Cricket Australia and a member of the AF-SCREEN international collaboration. Jessica’s PhD was awarded without emendation in November 2020. She also has a Master of Public Health, and Bachelor of Economics / Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) from the University of Sydney. Jessica became a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) in 2019. Jessica’s primary research focus is on sports cardiology, including cardiac screening of elite athletes, athlete ECGs and prevention of sudden cardiac death. Her other research interests include digital health, atrial fibrillation, sports injury epidemiology and qualitative research.

Yasmin Ezzatvar is graduated in Podiatry and also in Physiotherapy, and received her PhD in Physiotherapy at the University of Valencia (Spain), where she currently works as a lecturer. Her research is focused on physical activity, physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, and in the impact of exercise (and its surrogates) on the optimisation of health in clinical and apparently healthy populations. She is currently collaborating in a multidisciplinary project that includes sport scientists, endocrinologists and paediatricians to develop physical exercise interventions for the management of type 1 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents. Besides her passion for science, she is also interested in art. Yasmin is a strong supporter of making scientific knowledge accessible to the general public, by making science more visual. She considers that graphic/video design in combination with science can be a powerful tool for simplifying complex and frequently abstract concepts, allowing research to be shared with broader audiences. Yasmin believes that science should be accessible to everyone, and this is the only way it should be conceived.

Signe Kierkegaard-Brøchner is a Physiotherapist and a Post Doctoral researcher working at the University of Aarhus and Horsens Regional Hospital in Denmark. She has a Master in Physiotherapy from University of Southern Denmark and conducted her PhD at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her primarily research focus is investigating patients with hip-related problems. Her PhD from 2018 was focused at the outcome of surgery in patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. These patients are also in focus in her Post Doctoral studies together with multiple studies on orthopaedic patient groups investigating the treatment pathway from conservative treatment strategies to training, surgery and rehabilitation.

Javier Martinez-Calderon is an assistant professor of physiotherapy at the University of Seville, Spain. He directs the Uncertainty, Mindfulness, Self, and Spirituality (UMSS) research group. He was trained in physiotherapy and has a Joint PhD in Health and Medical Sciences from the University of Malaga, Spain, and the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Currently, he is doing his second PhD in Psychology at the University of Seville where he is exploring the role of meaning in life and purpose in life on subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction in cancer. He has been awarded several fellowships and academic and research awards. He is part of the Editorial Board of Disability & Rehabilitation and the International Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. Javier's main research focus is on psychospiritual mechanisms in chronic diseases, especially cancer and chronic pain disorders. His other research interests are associated with self-management, exercise (particularly mind-body practices such as yoga), barriers and motivators for doing exercise regularly, and research methodology, where he has a strong background in systematic reviews.

Gulraiz Ahmad is a consultant musculoskeletal and sports radiologist at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and an honorary senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having completed his radiology training in the UK, Gulraiz undertook a one-year fellowship in Musculoskeletal and Sports Radiology at McGill University Hospital Center (MUHC) with a particular focus on sport injuries and rehabilitation. In his current practice, he has regular contact with athletes and sports clinicians from various backgrounds and also served as a radiologist at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, UK. With a strong interest in global health, Gulraiz has been involved in several charity projects and believes in equal opportunities for people across all walks of life. He has previously volunteered in Brazil and Bosnia, as well as spending a public health attachment at World Health Organisation headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.