Co-Executive Officer
Australian Institute of Neuro-rehabilitation
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Dr. Patricia Martinet (Trish), a first-class honours law graduate, left a promising corporate law career at a leading firm to care for her tracheostomy-dependent mother with locked-in syndrome, together with her father. Over the next seven years, she gained critical insight into Australia’s healthcare, disability, and welfare systems. In 2007, in Western Australia, her mother was deemed non-rehabilitatable and denied hospital rehabilitation. She was exposed to systemic gaps, requiring her to rely on her advocacy, problem-solving, and negotiation skills. A passion for reading medical journals on neuroplasticity and neurorecovery through a lawyer’s evidence-based lens followed and led to her approaching researchers the world-over. This profoundly challenging period ended with the tragic loss of both her parents — her mother from her condition and father by suicide. Determined to prevent others suffering similarly and inspired by neuroplasticity and what implementation of neurotechnologies could offer neurorecovery, she founded the Australian Institute of Neuro-rehabilitation (AIN-Rehab) in 2014, serving as its volunteer executive officer. Under her leadership, focused on collaborating and partnering for outcomes, a committed team introduced Australia’s first free-standing exoskeleton and undertook world-first clinical trials in 2016. She earned an Australian of the Year nomination in 2017 for this. The technology was later transitioned into community-based therapy, building real-world practice-based evidence, until the device’s end-of-life. She has also been involved in supervising honours students completing qualitative projects on implementing neurotechnology. She was awarded the prestigious John Curtin Scholarship in 2018 to attend medical school. Since 2022 she has been working as doctor, undertaking a residency in rehabilitation medicine working on stroke, acquired brain injury and spinal wards. She balances clinical work with neurotechnology research and implementation work, working for the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Stroke Research Centre’s Recovery and Rehabilitation division, and volunteering with AIN-Rehab.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
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