Professor Abbott is one of the Project Leads for the GLA:D New Zealand Programme; his roles are as academic lead and head of research, as well as implementation of physiotherapist-led, group-based osteoarthritis education and exercise therapy for people with hip and knee osteoarthritis.
OTHER KEY ROLES
Centre for Musculoskeletal Outcomes Research (CMOR): Director of CMOR (Te Pokapū Rangahau Hauora Wheua), a multi-campus research network based in the Dunedin School of Medicine Department of Surgical Sciences, at the University of Otago.
The Management of Osteoarthritis (MOA) programme: Professor Abbott leads the MOA (Maimoatanga Mate Kōiwi) programme of research at the University of Otago. This has included: clinical trials of individually supervised exercise and manual therapy interventions for hip or knee osteoarthritis; preferences and cost-effectiveness of interventions for osteoarthritis; implementation projects; and computer simulation modelling of the population-level costs and effects of treatments, strategies, and models of care for osteoarthritis in the NZ public health system.
The Joint Clinic: Professor Abbott conceived and implemented ‘the Joint Clinic’, a physiotherapist-led service based in the Dunedin Hospital Orthopaedic Surgery Department, to meet the needs of people whose osteoarthritis is not severe enough to qualify for joint replacement surgery.
