Professor Rachelle Buchbinder is a distinguished Australian rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist who has established herself as a leading authority in musculoskeletal health research. She currently serves as Director of the Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, a position she has held since founding the department in 2001, and as Professor in the Monash University Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine since 2007. Professor Buchbinder earned her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery with Honors from Monash University, followed by a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Toronto in 1993, and completed her PhD at Monash University in 2006 with research focused on public health campaigns for back pain management. As an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow, she combines clinical practice with research leadership, directing multidisciplinary projects focused on arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions while promoting improved patient communication and health literacy across the community.
Professor Buchbinder is internationally recognized for her seminal work evaluating a world-first mass media campaign that successfully shifted public misconceptions about back pain and reduced associated disability. Her leadership of the influential 2018 Lancet Low Back Pain Series represented a major contribution to evidence-based practice in this common condition, with widespread implications for healthcare systems globally. Through over twenty published musculoskeletal trials, she has systematically challenged the value of accepted treatments, pioneered innovative approaches to placebo-surgical trials, and developed implementation strategies to improve clinical care. Her research has particularly focused on reducing overdiagnosis and overtreatment in musculoskeletal medicine, with landmark studies examining the effectiveness of interventions like knee arthroscopy that have influenced clinical practice guidelines worldwide.
Beyond her research, Professor Buchbinder co-founded Wiser Healthcare, a national collaboration dedicated to reducing overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and served as Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group, producing systematic reviews that inform evidence-based practice. Her influential 2021 book "Hippocrasy, how doctors are betraying their oath," co-authored with orthopedic surgeon Ian Harris, has reached a broad audience in multiple languages, highlighting society's overreliance on potentially unnecessary medical interventions. Currently, her research program includes developing decision aids for knee arthroscopy, improving imaging reports to reduce overtesting, and creating standardized outcome measures for shoulder disorder trials. As Chair of the Australian Rheumatology Association Database Management Committee and leader of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for ANZMUSC Clinical Trials Network, she continues to shape the future of musculoskeletal healthcare through rigorous evidence generation and translation into practice.
