Our people

Dr Liana Cahill

Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy
School of Allied Health

Areas of expertise: adult neurological rehabilitation; knowledge translation

Phone: +61 3 9953 3660

Email: Liana.Cahill@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU Melbourne Campus

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1730-9843

Dr Liana Cahill is a senior lecturer and researcher in the field of occupational therapy and adult neurological rehabilitation. She holds a Master of Public Health (Monash University) and a PhD (La Trobe University) in the area of stroke rehabilitation and knowledge translation. Her research interests stem from over 15 years of clinical practice in public health settings in Australia, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Liana is the lead author of the first Cochrane Review investigating implementation interventions in stroke rehabilitation. Her research uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches and is published in international, interdisciplinary journals. She supervises honours students and leads the national coordination of undergraduate subjects in neurological rehabilitation for occupational therapy students.

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Select publications

• Carey, L. M., Cahill, L. S., Blennerhassett, J. M., Nilsson, M., Lannin, N. A., Thijs, V., Hillier, S., Cahilhac, D.A., Donnan, G.A., Morris, M.E. et al (2023). A Network of Sites and Upskilled Therapists to Deliver Best-Practice Stroke Rehabilitation of the Arm: Protocol for a Knowledge Translation Study. MDPI Healthcare 11(23).
• Byrne, D., Cahill, L.S, Barr, C., George, S. Assessment of sensory impairment of the upper limb post-stroke by occupational therapists within the acute setting: A mixed methods study exploring current clinical practice (2023). British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1-9
• Cahill, L. S., Lannin, N. A., Purvis, T., Cadilhac, D. A., Mak-Yuen, Y., O'Connor, D. A., & Carey, L. M. (2022). What is "usual care" in the rehabilitation of upper limb sensory loss after stroke? Results from a national audit and knowledge translation study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 44(21), 6462-6470.
• English, K., Daley, B., Cahill, L. S., Liu, E., Lannin, N. A., & Baker, A. (2022). Characteristics and Outcomes of a Community Upper Limb Rehabilitation Group for Adult Stroke Survivors in Australia: A Pre-Post Cohort Study. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 36(4), 440-458.
• Cahill, L. S., Carey, L. M., Mak-Yuen, Y., McCluskey, A., Neilson, C., O'Connor, D. A., & Lannin, N. A. (2021). Factors influencing allied health professionals' implementation of upper limb sensory rehabilitation for stroke survivors: a qualitative study to inform knowledge translation. BMJ Open, 11(2), e042879.
• Oakman, J., Cahill, L. S., Clune, S., Neilson, C., Shields, N., Tse, T., O'Keefe, S., Frederico, M., Graco, M., Holland, A.E., Jolliffe, L., Carey, L., Lewis., Brown, G., Cox, N., Morris, M.E., Lannin, N.A. (2021). Effectiveness of health consumer representative involvement in implementation interventions to change health professional behaviour. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 33(1), 1-18.
• Joosten, A., Pépin, G., Darzins, S., Roche, N., Cahill, L. S., & Harrington, R. (2021). Occupational therapy practice contexts. In T. Brown, H.M. Bourke-Taylor, S. Isbel, R. Cordier & L. Gustafsson (Eds.), Occupational Therapy in Australia: Professional and practice issues (2nd ed.), Routledge.
• Cahill, L. S., Carey, L.M., Lannin, N.A., Turville, M., Neilson, C., Lynch, E.A., McKinstry, C.E., Han, J.X., O'Connor, D. (2020) Implementation interventions to promote the uptake of evidence-based practices in stroke rehabilitation: Review Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 10.
• Swanton, R., Gustafsson, L., Froude, E., Hodson, T., McInerney, M., Cahill, L. S., & Lannin, N. A. (2020). Cognitive strategy training for adults with neurological conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis exploring effect on occupational performance. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 0308022620933095.
• Turville, M. L., Cahill, L. S., Matyas, T. A., Blennerhassett, J. M., & Carey, L. M. (2019). The effectiveness of somatosensory retraining for improving sensory function in the arm following stroke: a systematic review. Clinical rehabilitation, 33(5), 834-846.

Accolades and Awards

• Australian Catholic University Conference Travel Grant (2022)
• Australian Postgraduate Award (2015-2020)
• Award for Most Outstanding Oral Presentation for Research Impact: Allied Health Research Conference (2019)
• La Trobe University Open Access Publishing Award (2018)

Appointments and Affiliations

• Senior Lecturer, School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University
• Implementation Lead, SENSe Implement, Stroke Division, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
• Working group member, Living guidelines, Stroke Foundation

International journal review panels

• Australian Occupational Therapy Journal
• Physiotherapy Theory and Practice

Grant agency review panels

• Australian Physiotherapy Research Foundation Seeding Grant Peer Reviewer (2022)