Rachelle Buchbinder

Buchbinder is currently (2020) an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellow. She is also Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Groupwhich "produces reliable, up-to-date reviews of interventions for the prevention, treatment or rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders in the form of systematic reviews."

In January 2020 Buchbinder was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of The Order Of Australia for "distinguished service to medical education in the fields of epidemiology and rheumatology, and to professional associations."

Buchbinder is frequently consulted as a spokesperson for evidence-based care and waste of resources in medicine particularly in her specialist fields. By 2019 she had published over 540 papers,been cited 48,078 times and inspired many clinician-scientists.

She received a commendation in Premier’s Award for Medical Research (Victoria) in 2007 for her evaluation of impact of a mass-media campaign ‘Back Pain: Don’t take it lying down’. The campaign aimed to educate Victorians about back pain and provide up to date advice on its management. Globally it was the first implementation of a public health approach for back-related disability.

Buchbinder chaired the steering group for The Lancet Low Back Pain Series which published 3 papers in March 2018.The series looks to reverse the trend of ineffective and dangerous treatments for lower back pain which has both personal and global impacts.

The high influence of her work is evidenced by her recognition by Clarivate Analytics as a Highly Cited Researcher (in top 1% by citations across more than one field) in both 2018 and 2019.

In 20188 she was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Academic Writing Fellowship at the Bellagio Centre in Italy.

She was President of the Australian Rheumatology Association from 2016 to 2018and is currently (2020) Chair, Australian Rheumatology Association Database (ARAD) Management Committee and Registry Custodian of the Australian Rheumatology Association Database.

In 2016 Buchbinder gave the Opening Plenary at the IV International Low Back and Neck Pain Forum.

In 2015 Buchbinder was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

In 2010 she was honoured as the Metro Ogryzlo Professor for the annual Ogryzlo Day in Toronto, Canada.

In both 2010 and 2011 she and her colleagues won the Helen Moran Award from Arthritis Victoria

In February 2007 Buchbinder's doctoral thesis won the Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal for Excellence, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

The topic for Buchbinder's doctoral dissertation was "Short and long-term effects of a public health media campaign designed to reduce disability associated with back pain." Her PhD was awarded in 2006 by Monash University, Melbourne.

Buchbinder held a NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship from 2005 to 2014and currently holds an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship 2015 to 2020.

Buchbinder was made founding Director of the Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology in 2001. She became Professor in the Monash University Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine in 2007.

Buchbinder won the Volvo Award in Clinical Studies 2001 and the Triennial Parr Prize in Rheumatology, 2004.

She earned an Master of Science (MSc) in Clinical Epidemiology from Toronto University, Canada in 1993. Her thesis topic was "The classification of soft tissue disorders of the neck and upper limb for epidemiological research."

Rachelle Buchbinder AO (born 1958) is an Australian rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist. Her clinical practice is in conjunction with research involving multidisciplinary projects relating to arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. She promotes improvement of communication with patients and health literacy in the community.