Alan Clarke Memorial Lecture

BAIL Deputy Director Johnny Bourke presented the Alan Clarke Memorial Lecture this morning at the Asia Oceanian Conference of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine.

Our organisation was founded by Professor Alan Clarke. In 1991, while he was Dean of the Christchurch School of Medicine, he fell from his porch roof and suffered a paralysing spinal injury. As a result of this he experienced clinical practices which excluded him (the patient) from the therapeutic team. He objected to this and was an avid advocate for patients to manage their treatment and rehabilitation with doctors as advisors. He founded the Burwood Spinal Trust (later the New Zealand Spinal Trust) which advocated for patients to be at the centre of their recovery and BAIL was formed to provide research to support the advocacy.