Professor David Berlowitz is a clinician scientist who holds a joint appointment with The University of Melbourne and Austin Health in Melbourne (Chair of Physiotherapy (Clinical). David maintains his specialised physiotherapist clinical practice within the Victorian Respiratory Support Service, the state-wide provider of domiciliary ventilator support to over 1,200 Victorians who live in their own homes thanks to breathing assistance overnight. His research focusses on sleep and breathing disorders in neuromuscular diseases, especially in spinal cord injury and motor neurone disease. His team’s current research encompasses epidemiology, sleep and respiratory physiology, clinical trials, machine-learning, and implementation science.
Clinical trials generate new knowledge and drive practice change in health. David is an expert clinical trialist having been a named investigator on 43 competitively funded, investigator-initiated clinical trials. He led 26 of these with 22 being multi-centre and 8 multi-national. The impact of David and his teams’ research is illustrated by his 2024 MND Australia Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to recognize “building a team dedicated to championing research around respiratory support’ and incorporation of their research findings regarding non-invasive ventilation into MND guidelines and practice standards worldwide.
