As a CORU-registered physiotherapist and health services researcher, I have specialised in the identification of modifiable risk factors that influence musculoskeletal injury and chronic lifestyle-related diseases such as osteoarthritis. I am particularly interested in:

• understanding how negative health outcomes (e.g. reduced physical activity, increased adiposity and sedentary lifestyles) are associated with injury and/or disease states including obesity, and osteoarthritis.
• using implementation science to improve equitable access to evidence-based treatments (exercise and education) for people with chronic joint pain, in particular hip and knee osteoarthritis.
• using participatory health research methods to involve key stakeholders in every step of the research process to improve outcomes and achieve impact.

I teach across disciplines and contribute to a number of programmes at the School of Allied Health and the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science.

I have designed and lead a number of new modules on Anatomy and Physiology of Human Performance on the new B.Sc. Occupational Therapy programme at the School of Allied Health. I also regularly contribute to teaching on the B.Sc./M.Sc. Physiotherapy and M.Sc. Occupational Therapy programmes.

My background in sports injury epidemiology lends itself to lecturing on Sports Injuries on the B.Sc. Sport and Exercise Science programme, which I have done for the last number of years. I have also contributed to the Clinical Applications of Exercise module and the M.Sc. Football Medicine that is run out of the University of Bath.

I regularly deliver continuous professional development courses for Chartered Physiotherapists in Ireland to upskill them on evidence-based approaches to management of hip and knee osteoarthritis and how to implement programmes in their practice. I have delivered the GLA:D Course to over 200 physiotherapists in Ireland, and have more recently delivered a course in Finland.

Dr Clodagh Toomey is a Physiotherapist and Associate Professor at the School of Allied Health, University of Limerick. Clodagh completed her PhD at the University of Limerick in 2014 and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2017 at the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, University of Calgary. She also holds and adjunct position at Southern Denmark University. Her clinical and research experience has focused on prevention and management of musculoskeletal disease across the lifespan. Most recently, she was a recipient of a prestigous Health Research Board (HRB) Emerging Investigator Award which is investigating how to optimise implementation of clinical guidelines for osteoarthritis in practice. This research takes a participatory health research approach to forming implementation strategies that will ensure exercise and education are first line treatment options for patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis in the Irish healthcare system.  Clodagh is the research lead on the Good Living with osteoArthritis Denmark (GLA:D®) initiative in Ireland. In addition, she is Director of the GLA:D® International Network, supporting implementation of evidence-based programmes across over 11 different coutries and healthcare systems. 

Clodagh is the recipient of a HRB Knowledge Translation Award that led to the co-design of a web resource for people with joint pain in Ireland and is widely used and prescribed in the Irish healthcare system as a means of education patients on their condition. This resource was the result of UL and international research in this area: www.jointpain.ie 

At the University of Limerick, she is a member of the Health Research Institute (Ageing Research Centre and Physical Activity for Health Research Centre), the UL Centre for Implementation Research and the Participatory Health Research Unit. Her research is cross-cutting and inter-disciplinary in nature. She was awarded the UL President’s Research Excellence and Impact Award (Early) in 2023.