Jennifer Ryan is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Physiotherapy and Director of the CP-Life Research Centre (www.cp-lifecentre.ie)
She joined RCSI in 2018 as a StAR Research Lecturer in the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology. She worked as a Lecturer and subsequently a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at Brunel University London from 2013. Her first degree was a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy, which she completed in Trinity College Dublin. She received a PhD from Trinity College Dublin in 2014 and an MSc in Medical Statistics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2017. She became a Fellow of Advance HE in 2015.
Jennifer conducts research about cerebral palsy and disability more broadly under the themes of 1) health services research, 2) population health and 3) physical activity and exercise. She has received funding from national and international funders including the Health Research Board, MS Society UK, Action Medical Research and NIHR. She has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, including articles as senior author in JAMA Neurology, Neurology, Pediatrics, and Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology.
Jennifer is currently Principal Investigator of projects to develop a programme to support young people with physical disability transition to adult health services, and to understand mental health and wellbeing among young people with cerebral palsy. She currently holds an Evidence Synthesis Ireland Fellowship.
She is the lead author of a Cochrane review on exercise for cerebral palsy. She was a member of the Physical Activity and Disability Expert Group (PADEG) for 'Physical activity for general health benefits in disabled adults: Summary of a rapid evidence review for the UK Chief Medical Officers' update of the physical activity guidelines'. She contributed to the American College of Sports Medicine's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 11th Edition. She served as Chair of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapist's Research Network Steering Committee. She is a Trustee of 'Up - the Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement'.
