ProfessorGrahame Simpson

Dr Grahame Simpson is Professor of Rehabilitation Research, John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney (2020-current). He is Program Lead, Brain Injury Stream, at the John Walsh Centre and Director (2012-current), Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Group, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool, Sydney. He has dual professional qualifications as a social worker and registered psychologist with more than 35 years’ experience as a clinician (1987-2000) and researcher (2000-current) at the Liverpool Hospital Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit. 

Professor Simpson leads an applied research program which is multidisciplinary with an holistic psychosocial focus, targeting applied clinical research in areas both prioritised by people with TBI and their families and with substantial evidence gaps in current knowledge and practice within the rehabilitation field. Employing clinical, psychometric, intervention and translational research methodologies, the program targets areas across positive mental health (including suicide prevention), family resilience, vocational rehabilitation, and assistive technology among other foci. The research program is a national and international leader in developing and trialling novel specialised CBT and ACT-based therapies to facilitate adjustment to moderate to severe TBI.

Professor Simpson has over 165 publications including books, edited volumes, chapters and articles in peer review journals (Google h index 40). He has lifetime research funding of more than $30.2 million dollars, including NHMRC, MRFF and international grants from the US and Sweden. Professor Simpson has won  state, national and international awards for his research. Recent awards include 2022 NSW Health Allied Health Researcher of the Year. In 2026 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Ӧrebro University in Sweden with the text of the award stating part 'affiliating Grahame Simpson with Örebro University as an honorary doctor would greatly contribute to strengthening our research within social work, not least in relation to our Master’s Programme in Healthcare Counselling, to rehabilitation and related fields ... being a recognition of Grahame Simpson’s outstanding contributions to those fields'.