Dr Wei-Ju Chang | UNSW Research

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy at UNSW Sydney, an honorary Postdoctorate Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), and an Australia Physiotherapy Association Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist. I have 25 years of clinical experience, specialising in managing complex musculoskeletal pain disorders and Men's health. While working as a research and teaching academic, I continue part-time clinical...view more

I obtained Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy (National Taiwan University) and a masters degree in Orthopaedics, Sports and Manual Physiotherapy (University of South Australia). I was awarded a prestigious NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship to complete my PhD (Western Sydney University) investigated the role of neuroplasticity in the transition from acute to musculoskeletal pain and non-invasive brain stimulation for treating chronic pain. I continued my Postdoctoral research at Neuroscience Research Australia and clinical practice until taking up a Lecturer position in Physiotherapy at the University of Newcastle (2022 January - 2024 June).

My Grants

Grants and funds received in the last five years – total AUD$49212.35

2019 Physiotherapy Research Foundation Seeding Grant (CIA). Chang WJ, Schabrun SM, Naylor J and Gibson K. “Why Does Quadriceps Weakness Persist after Total Knee Replacement? An Exploratory Investigation of Neuroplastic Mechanisms”. AUD$9511.

2021 Australia & New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network Seeding Grant (CIA). Chang WJ, Schabrun SM, Naylor JM and Adie S. “Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Bolster Analgesic Effects of Exercise in Knee Osteoarthritis”. AUD$20000.

2022 The University of Newcastle College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing Strategic Research Pilot Grant (CIA). Chang WJ, Breakspear M, Schabrun SM, Naylor JM and Adie S. “Exploratory investigation of novel brain biomarkers for predicting chronic postsurgical pain.” AUD$9783.3.

2022 The University of Newcastle College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing Research Start-Up Fund- AUD$4918.05.

2023 The University of Newcastle Pilot Research Fund (CIA). Chang WJ, Breakspear M, Schabrun SM. “Investigation of the mechanisms underlying analgesic effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.” AUD$5000.

Scholarships

2014 Western Sydney University PhD Scholarship
2015-2017 NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship

My Qualifications

Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Masters of Orthopaedics, Sports and Manual Physiotherapy, University of South Australia, Australia
PhD, Western Sydney Australia, Australia

My Awards

Marie Hammond Postgraduate Award for the highest academic achievement on completion of the Master program at University of South Australia in 2005
Financial Aid Award by the International Association for the Study of Pain to attend and present at the World Congress on Pain in 2016
Financial Aid Award by the International Association for the Study of Pain to attend and present at the World Congress on Pain in 2018

My Research Activities

I am passionate about better understand chronic pain and developing new treatments for treating chronic pain. My research focuses on investigating physiological mechanisms of the development of chronic pain (including low back pain, post-surgical pain) and novel treatments for treating chronic pain. I am highly experienced in using neurophysiological techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroencephalography, electromyography and quantitative sensory testing.

I have led clinical trials to test novel pain treatments: 2 pilot clinical trials were completed to examine the effects of adding transcranial direct current stimulation current and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to strengthening exercise in knee osteoarthritis. I have published 30 peer-reviewed papers in high impact journals such as Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, eLife, Pain and Journal of Pain.

My Research Supervision

Supervision keywords

back pain

acute pain

acute and chronic pain management

musculoskeletal conditions

Areas of supervision

My research focuses on the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain and developing novel interventions targeting these pain mechanisms. I use non-invasive multimodal neuroimaging techniques including transcrnial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroencephalograph (EEG) and the TMS-EEG paradigm and quantitative senory testing. My research investigates novel interventions combining non-invasive brain stimulation such as transranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive TMS (rTMS) with exercise therapy for chronic pain. I have extensive experience in running prospective longitudinal cohort studies and clinical trials and conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis in both clinical pain populations (including low back pain, knee osteoarthritis, post-surgical pain) and human experiemental pain models.