Dr Susanne Arnold

Susanne Arnold is a highly experienced clinical and academic physiotherapist. Her professional journey began with a BSc in Physiotherapy from The University of Salford in 1999 after which she worked clinically in both acute and community based intermediate care settings specialising in the care of older people and acute medicine/neurology. Her career changed direction into research in 2009 when she moved to Warwick Clinical Trials Unit (WCTU) at the University of Warwick to work on a trial delivering exercise interventions for older people living with depression. Since then she have worked on multiple clinical trials of complex interventions involving the design and delivery of exercise and rehabilitation programmes for older people with various conditions including chronic pain, falls, and dementia.

Since starting at Warwick University, Susanne has completed an MSc in Research Methods in Health Sciences and a PhD in Health Sciences. Her PhD was a mixed methods study exploring the long-term effects of falls prevention exercises on a cohort of older adults from the Prevention of Falls Injury Trial (PreFIT). She currently works within the pain, surgery and rehabilitation theme at WCTU and leads on both physiotherapy interventions as well as qualitative and process evaluation work on a number of trials. She has over 30 publications to date and is co-applicant on numerous NIHR funded projects.

She has held numerous roles on the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Professional Network for Older People (AGILE) including Secretary, Research Officer and Chair from 2021 to 2023. She stepped into the role of Deputy Chair of the British Geriatric Society (BGS) Nurse and Allied Health Professionals (NAHP) Council in 2024 and now as Chair of the Council she aims to work with and represent nurses and AHPS in their commitment to improving health outcomes for older people.