My Expertise
My vision is to make pain treatment equitable for all people worldwide, irrespective of their socio-cultural and economic positioning. My expertise includes the contributions of sociocultural factors in healthcare, particularly in pain management. My research focuses on strengthening health systems for improving pain care for the underserved populations nationally and internationally. I envision achieving these aims through national and international collaborations with multidisciplinary stakeholder. Examples of such international initiatives are:
- Sharma, S., & McAuley, J. H. (2022). Low Back Pain in Low-and Middle-Income Countries, Part 1: The Problem. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 52(5), 233-235. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35536248/
- Briggs, A. M., Schneider, C. H., Slater, H., Jordan, J. E., Parambath, S., Young, J. J., ... & March, L. (2021). Health systems strengthening to arrest the global disability burden: empirical development of prioritised components for a global strategy for improving musculoskeletal health. BMJ Global Health, 6(6), e006045. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8215245/
- Briggs, A. M., Jordan, J. E., Sharma, S., Young, J. J., Chua, J., Foster, H. E., ... & Slater, H. (2022). Context and Priorities for Health Systems Strengthening for Pain and Disability in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Secondary Qualitative Study and Content Analysis of Health Policies. Health Policy and Planning. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35876078/
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Pain, Health equity, Social determinants of health, Clinical sciences, Allied health and rehabilitation science, Rehabilitation, PhysiotherapyBiography
Dr Saurab Sharma is a Postdoctoral Researcher supported by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) John J. Bonica Fellowship. He completed his PhD at the University of Otago, New Zealand which was marked as the "Thesis of Exceptional Quality" in 2020. He also received the University of Otago "Emerging Pain Researcher Award" in 2021 and the UNSW School of Health Sciences Early Career Researcher of the Year 2022.
He has...view more
Dr Saurab Sharma is a Postdoctoral Researcher supported by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) John J. Bonica Fellowship. He completed his PhD at the University of Otago, New Zealand which was marked as the "Thesis of Exceptional Quality" in 2020. He also received the University of Otago "Emerging Pain Researcher Award" in 2021 and the UNSW School of Health Sciences Early Career Researcher of the Year 2022.
He has published >60 peer-reviewed papers and has received more than Australian $400,000 worth of research grants. He is one of the Commissioners for the Lancet Commission on Osteoarthritis. He has also contributed to the World Health Organisation initiatives to develop rehabilitation interventions. He has co-authored a book chapter on pain. He is also an active member of three IASP committees (including Secretary in Pain, Mind and Movement Special Interest Group and founding member in Early Career Taskforce and Global Alliance of Partners for Pain Advocacy). He is also a Taskforce Member for two IASP Global Year 2022 and 2023. He has presented invited talks at premier conferences including World Pain Congress, World Physiotherapy Congress and Osteoarthritis Research Society International Conference.
Dr Sharma aims to improve the lives of people with pain and other long-term conditions by developing culturally appropriate, inexpensive, effective and safe interventions. His current research focuses on understanding the role of culture in chronic pain, developing global strategies to improve musculoskeletal health, developing and testing interventions for complex pain conditions, and developing interventions for culturally and linguistically diverse communities and low-resourced settings/countries.
Dr Sharma is currently leading a consortium for low back pain in low- and middle-income countries (learn more, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35536248/)
My Grants
2021 Co-Investigator, Research Grant from the International Association for the Study of Pain to develop pain education resources and train physiotherapists on pain in Nepal, July 2021 [funding: US$ 9900]
2020 - 2022 Fellowship, John J. Bonica Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), 31st July, 2020 [funding: US$ 100,000]
2020 University of Otago Publishing Bursary, February – April 2020 [funding: NZ$ 6750]
2019 Grant, Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Travel Grant to attend Back and Neck Pain Forum to present a paper, 3 – 6 July 2019 [NZ$ 1000 toward travel support and registration]
2019 Scholarship, North American Pain School (NAPS) Scholarship to attend Pain Training in Montebello, Quebec, Canada; 23 – 28 June 2019 [Can$ 1500]
2018 – 2020 Research Grant(s), Global Challenge Research Funds (x2) from the University of Dundee to collaborate on chronic pain and neuropathic pain research in Nepal [GBP 21,500]
2019 Travel grant from Pain, Mind, and Movement Special Interest Group of International Association for the Study of Pain to attend and present at Pain Science in Motion Conference on 1 – 2 June 2019, in Savona, Italy [US$ 1000]
2019 Grant, Pain@Otago (Pain Research theme of University of Otago) Conference travel grant, 7th March 2019 [NZ$1000]
2019 Conference travel grant from University of Otago to present at the World Physiotherapy Conference, 10 – 13 May 2019 [NZ$ 2000]
2018 Financial award, International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) to attend World Pain Congress in Boston, the USA; 12 – 16 September 2018 [US$ 1,600 and registration waiver]
2017 Bursary, World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) to attend and present papers at World Physical Therapy Congress 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa; 2 – 4 July 2017 [US$ 950 and registration waiver].
2017 Scholarship, International Federation of Physiotherapy Regulator Authorities (INPTRA) to deliver a talk at INPTRA conference; 30th June and 1st July 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa [US$ 2,500 and registration waiver].
2017 – 2020 The University of Otago Doctoral Research Scholarship to pursue a PhD in Medicine at the Otago Medical School, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; February 2017 to January 2020 [NZ$ 79,000 in Stipend and NZ$ 29,000 tuition fee scholarship].
2016 Financial award, International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) to attend World Pain Congress in Yokohama, Japan; 26 – 30 September 2016 [US$ 1,000 and registration waiver]
2016 Bursary, International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Physical Therapists (IFOMPT), IFOMPT Congress in Glasgow, Scotland; 4th – 8th July 2016 [GBP 2,000 and registration waiver]
2015 – 2019 Developing Countries Collaborative Research Grant, International Association for Study of Pain (IASP); July 2015 – December 2019 [US$ 15,000].
2014 Bursary, Developing country stipend for attending Cochrane Colloquium in Hyderabad, India, September 2014.
My Qualifications
2020 PhD in Medicine (University of Otago, New Zealand)
2013 Master of Physiotherapy, Specialisation in Musculoskeletal conditions (Manipal University, India)
2008 Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangaluru, India)
My Awards
|
Year |
Award |
| 2022 | Early Career Researcher of the Year 2022, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW |
| 2022 | Paper of the Month, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW |
|
2021 |
Most Promising Emerging Pain Researcher Award from Pain Research Theme at the University of Otago, New Zealand judged by an independent international review team, 9th November 2021. |
|
2020 |
John J Bonica Postdoctoral Fellowship, International Association for the Study of Pain, Washington DC, USA [US$ 100,000]. |
|
2020 |
Exceptional PhD Thesis Award for “Improving pain assessment, management, and research in low-income countries: An example of Nepal”, at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. |
|
2015 |
First Prize, Poster Presentation at Pain Adelaide Conference, Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, Australia, 29 March 2015 [Aus$ 500]. |
My Research Activities
As CIA, I led a research program on "Role of sociocultural factors on pain" which led to 12 peer-reviewed papers. The project was supported by the International Association for the Study of Pain Developing Countries Collaborative Research Grant (2015-2019). I am currently leading an international project to advance low back pain care in low- and middle-income countries by developing Consortium for Low Back Pain in Low- and Middle-Income Countries with >40 members from 30 countries. The project is supported by the Journal of Orthopaedics & Sports Physical Therapy. The first paper in the series can be found here (or https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35536248/).
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
I supervise PhD, Masters and Honours students undertaking research in the area of pain.
I am available to supervise Higher Degree Research Candidates in the area of:
- Pain in culturally and linguistically diverse populations
- Pain around the world (see more here, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35536248/)
- Assessment and management of chronic pain conditions
- Cross-cultural adaptation of pain interventions
PhD thesis of former PhD student:
Kc, S. (2021). The Nepali Translation, Adaptation and Measurement Properties Analysis of Four Patient Reported Shoulder Outcome Measures. The University of Sydney. Thesis can be accessed here: https://hdl.handle.net/2123/26818
Currently supervising
I am currently supervising a PhD student, Rodrigo Rizzo at the UNSW
I am also currently (co-)supervising Masters and PhD students internationally (e.g., India, Malaysia, Nepal)
Contact
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9817-5372