Associate ProfessorBronwen Ackermann

Associate Professor Bronwen Ackermann is a world-renowned musicians' physiotherapist, musculoskeletal anatomist, physiotherapy educator and musicians' health researcher at the University of Sydney. Her interest in musicians' health grew as a result of working with performing artists since the early 1990s, focussin on working with musicians since her first international tour physiotherapy role with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1995.  She has worked on improving occupational health and best-practice injury prevention and management strategies with all the major Australian Orchestras, as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She received a Churchill fellowship in 2002 from which time she has successfully spent over 20 years collaborating with international colleagues involved in both research and clinical work in the field of music medicine. She completed her PhD in 2003 on physiotherapy mangement of performance-related musculoskeletal injuries in violinists, and joined academia in 2006, where she has since lectured in both physiotherapy and functional musculoskeletal anatomy. She continues to conduct research into musicians' health focussing on: improving performance-related injury prevention, assessment and management; optimising performance through the anatomical, physiological, 

and biomechanical mechanisms underpinning musical performance; , incorporating psychosocial and environmental consideration; interdisciplinary collaborative projects such as developing health education resources for musicians; and creating educational initiatives to develop musician-specific clinical skills in health professionals. She was supported by an Alexander von Humboldt Experienced Researcher Fellowship from 2019-2021, working with neurologist Prof.Dr Med. Eckart Altenmüller in Hannover, Germany, on creating and testing two retraining protocols for musicians with focal dystonia affecting (i) the embouchure(orofacial structures) and (ii) the hand. She leads projects investigating improving health literacy in musicians and improving performing arts literacy in health professionals. She is an associate of the Sydney Music, Mind and Body lab at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the Vice-President of the European Network of Physiotherapy for Performing Arts (ENPPA). She was awarded an Honorary Professorship of Performing Arts Physiotherapy in January 2026 at the UNiversity of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück, Germany, in recognisition of her pioneering work in developing this field, and is working with her German colleagues on developing a Masters of Performing Arts Physiotherapy curriculum.

She has run several large prestigious national musicians health projects including an ARC linkage grant investigation developing evidence-based guidelines for best management of occupational injuries occurring in musicians('Sound Practice'), and an ALTC national music health curriculum initiative in collaboration with colleague Associate Professor Suzanne Wijsman from the University of Western Australia ('Sound Performers'). She served as the High Performance Consultant at the Australian National Academy of Music from 2012 - 2019, guiding the education and implementation of their innovative and ground-breaking Musicians' Health program. She was the inaugural president of the Australian Society for Performing Arts healthcare and has acted as the Chair of the International Liaison Committee and the Education Committee of the USA based Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA). She was editor of Medical Problems of Performing Artists for 5 years, from 2016-2020. She designed and authored the first intensive training course in Performing Arts Medicine ('The Essentials of Performing Arts Medicine') in collaboration with PAMA and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). She has been invited to present extensively both nationally and internationally to orchestras, health professionals, scientific research organisations (e.g. International Society of Biomechanics) and music organisations about musicians' health research and evidence-based musicians' health management. She is the Director of the research group Sound Practice: Australian Musicians Health in Performance working with associate directors Professor Tim Driscoll, Professor Mark Halaki on testing and implementing evidence-based solutions for musicians' health issues. She is also a senior member of an international consortium researching and implementing strategies aimed at improve health literacy in musicians across their lifespan.