Simon Gandevia is from Melbourne, Australia. He studied at the University of New South Wales where he received three research doctorates: PhD, MD, and DSc. Gandevia's current research focuses primarily on the relationship between the human brain and movement. His work contributes to various sub-fields within medicine particularly focusing on pathological mechanisms, such as neurology, cardiorespiratory medicine and rehabilitation. In addition, he worked with many editorial boards such as the Journal of Physiology. Gandevia had supervised and trained several doctoral students. Gandevia also writes about research ethics and quality of experimental procedures in order to facilitate the development of concepts about ethics in human experimental studies. In 1998, Gandevia was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science in 2016.
Early life
Gandevia is originally from Melbourne, Australia. Both his parents were physicians. During the Korean War, Gandevia's father was a regimental medical officer with an Australian infantry battalion. Gandevia currently resides in Australia with his wife Julie. Gandevia and his wife are known for their interest of bonsai trees during their leisure time. Gandevia is also an artist who carves sculptures from limestone.
Education
Simon Gandevia completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales. Gandevia went on to complete an undergraduate in physiology. After completing this degree, Gandevia went on to complete a Doctor of Medicine at the Prince Henry Hospital under David Burke's supervision. Ian McCloskey supervised Gandevia through his PhD on human movement control and proprioception at the University of New South Wales. He also holds a Doctor of Science degree from the University of New South Wales.
Career history
Gandevia is a clinical neurophysiologist who focuses his research and clinical work primarily on patients with spinal cord injury and neuromuscular disorders. Gandevia, together with three other scientists, founded Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), previously known as the Prince Wales Medical Research Institute. Gandevia's research falls into the following four categories: neural mechanisms of proprioception, neural control of muscle performance (focusing on muscle fatigue), control of human breathing muscles, and passive properties of muscles. Through his research, he investigated the neuropathology: stroke, spinal cord injury, prior—polio, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and obstructive apnoea. Currently, his focus is on programs dealing with pathophysiology and motor impairments. Gandevia is the only researcher to have published more than 100 papers in the Journal of Physiology in the year of 2011.
Gandevia acts as the deputy director for the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute and the co-director of the Spinal Injuries Research Centre at the institute. In addition to working as a Professor at the University of South New Wales, he also is an Honorary Professor of Physiotherapy at the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. Gandevia also occupies a position within the National Health and Medical Research Council as a Senior Principal Research Fellow. Previously, Gandevia has worked at international institutes such as Yale University, McMaster University, California Institute of Technology, the Department of Neurology at the Institute of Psychiatry, and the Institute of Neurology, London. He has also occupied editorial board positions in several journals such as the Journal of Applied Physiology and Respiration Physiology, Acta Physiologica Scandinavica and the Journal of Physiology.
Awards
Gandevia has been awarded the Paxinos-Watson prize of the Australian Neuroscience Society, the Edgeworth David Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales and the Centenary Medal of Australia.
Research
Motor impairment
At NeuRA, Simon Gandevia studies the mechanisms underlying everyday motor activities such as balancing and walking. Through randomized control trials, he is investigating new treatment options to reduce the severity of motor impairment and understand the underlying physiology of motor disorders.