Wednesday, 19th August Australian and New Zealand Stroke Organisation Conference 2026

Welcome to Country - Refiti Tovi

Lived Experience Welcome - Marcus Burgess

Opening Address - Andrew Wong & Dominique Cadilhac

Ministerial Address: Dr Christian Rowan MP, Assistant Minister to the Premier, Leader of the House.

• Robot Technology in Stroke Rehabilitation: Hype, Hope and Evidence. - Gert Kwakkel

• Innovations in thrombectomy - whats new and coming? - Bruce Campbell

• PULSARA pre-hospital neurologist evaluation of suspected stroke and digital prenotification in regional Victoria - James L Barker
• Education provided to stroke nurses using dysphagia screening tools - Tracy Gardiner
• Endovascular Thrombectomy for Artery of Percheron Occlusion - Shamim Parvez
• The RAP index during intracranial pressure monitoring as a clinical guiding for surgically treated aneurysmal SAHs - Jung-soo Kim
• I-CATCHER: an international, batched, cluster-randomized trial of care bundle implementation for acute intracerebral haemorrhage - Ha Hong Van
• When to go chasing waterfalls: A small case series of sensory thalamic stroke presenting as stroke mimic  - Jess Pyman
• Cheiro‑Oral and Cheiro‑Oral‑Pedal Syndromes: A case series of atypical sensory stroke and literature review - Jess Pyman
• A nurse’s perspective of participation in AVERT DOSE – a dose finding trial - Lauren Christie
• Policy Change for Hyperacute Aspirin Administration in Aphasic Stroke Patients: Leveraging QASC Trial Participation - Kelly Coughlan
• Antiplatelet Therapy Management in Ischaemic Strokes - Lauren Hinkley

• The clot in LVO, what do we know, how is this influencing management - Shahid Nimjee
• Management of systolic blood pressure during endovascular thrombectomy under general anaesthesia for acute ischaemic stroke (MASTERSTROKE)  - Alan Barber
• Stroke reperfusion in Aotearoa New Zealand: 5-year trends and a comparison of stroke clot retrieval and non-stroke clot retrieval centre presenters - Morgan Lam
• Pre-thrombectomy reperfusion rates following thrombolysis up to 24 hours after symptom onset - Chris Kwan
• Safety and Outcomes of Low-Intensity Monitoring Post-Thrombolysis by Agent Type: A Secondary Analysis of the OPTIMISTmain study - Chenming Gu
• StTop: Stroke thrombolysis time out procedure: a safety step to empower code stroke nursing teams - Briony Van Galen
• Artificial Intelligence assisted imaging interpretation in acute stroke: a survey of clinician perspectives in Aotearoa New Zealand - Tom Hornblow

Debate 1

Motion: Thrombolysis to 24 Hours: Let's Pull Out All Stops for Everyone!

For: Henry Ma
Against: Alan Barber

Opening statements: 10 minutes each
Rebuttals: 2 minutes each

• Innovations in the use of real-world data to facilitate clinical trials - William Whiteley
• A self-directed secondary prevention website with global reach: stroke survivors are on board — what about their health professionals? - Dina Pogrebnoy
• Text messages to improve stroke knowledge in the general community: a secondary outcome of the Love Your Brain multi-arm randomised controlled trial - Catherine Burns
• Usability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of CommuniKey: A browser extension for web accessibility in post-stroke aphasia. - Sarah J Wallace
• Co-design, development and delivery of a digital application to deliver a self-management intervention in an inpatient setting after stroke. - Matthew J Berryman
• Co-production of a digital implementation toolkit to support aphasia practice in stroke services - Lyndal Pritchard
• Preliminary evaluation of the implementation of a virtual reality therapy program for communication rehabilitation - Clare Burns
• How to drive digital health transformation for stroke? - Samantha Robertson

• Precision Stroke Rehabilitation: Matching the Right Therapy to the Right Person - Lara Boyd
• Benchmarking home-based stroke rehabilitation against clinical guidelines a multi-site audit with clinician interviews - Laura Jolliffe
• ELECTRICAL STIMULATION IMPROVES STRENGTH AND ACTIVITY AFTER STROKE: FINDINGS FROM A COCHRANE SYSTEMATIC REVIEW - Katharine Scrivener
• Clinical perspectives on the impact of aphasia on driving safety: Findings from an international multidisciplinary survey. - Helen E Wallace
• What Enables Meaningful Participation After Stroke? Insights from Healthcare Professionals in Singapore - Upendranatha P Reddy
• Conversation tax: the cost of listening difficulties following stroke - Kelly Miles
• Exploring the relationship between sleep disruption and motor recovery after stroke - Melanie K Fleming
• High-intensity aerobic exercise can improve cognition in stroke or dementia without increasing risk of adverse events: A systematic review - Sarah Ashcroft
• Delivering Effective High‑Dose Walking Training After Stroke: Perspectives of Therapists and Adherence of Stroke Survivors - Avanthi Elisha Ball
• Future of Stroke Rehabilitation - David Copland

• Paramedic pre-hospital care system and staff - Wayne Loudon
• Toward Prehospital Stroke Diagnosis: Early Workflow Evaluation of the EMVision First Responder in Mobile Stroke Unit and Aeromedical Retrieval Settings   - Angela Dos Santos
• Diagnosis of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke in young adults: a framework for a mechanism based diagnostic workup - Nadja Korajkic
• Portable CT for prehospital and aeromedical stroke care: the Micro-X stroke scanner translational program. - Anna H Balabanski
• Preferences for Thrombolysis in Patients on Direct Oral Anticoagulants - Matthew Kaufman
• Modern Endovascular Stroke Care: Thrombectomy, Rescue Stenting and Emerging Technologies - Ronil Chandra

Debate 2

Motion: We Should Routinely Stent Acute Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis

For: Alice Ma
Against: Martin Punter

Opening statements: 7 minutes each
Rebuttals: 1 minute each

• Adaptation of the Stroke Action Falls program for delivery via telehealth in Australia - Emmah Doig
• Engagement strategies for subacute post-stroke upper limb rehabilitation: a co-design study. - Matthew Wingfield
• Co-designing mental health and wellbeing after stroke: immediate improvements and a program model for future implementation - Sophie Weaver and Chris Lassig
• What is the dose and content of inpatient rehabilitation after stroke? An observational cohort study. - Niruthikha Mahendran
• The future of aphasia support: what can we learn from sustainable community-driven initiatives?  - Megan Trebilcock
• From “passive recipients” to active partners: Co‑designing stroke education with survivors, support people, and clinicians - Kerry Anderson Kay
• Implementing goal setting as a guideline recommendation - Amanda Baker
• The Aphasia Implementation Toolkit Project: Developing an implementation intervention to improve services for stroke survivors with aphasia - Kirstine Shrubsole

One number, three lives, three very different endings: join us to see how the latest evidence on blood pressure is reshaping stroke prevention, care, and the systems that connect them.

• Filmed by the Mob for the Mob: A community-led stroke education video project - Uncle Joe Miller, Reakeeta Smallwood, Aunty Kerry Wade and Kelly Girard

• ‘Vocational rehabilitation must be multi-disciplinary and involve the workplace’ – Aphasia rehabilitation after stroke: An international survey of clinical practice. - Penni Burfein
• Aphasia-DOOR: Co-designing a multifaceted outcome measure for aphasia intervention research with consumers with lived experience of aphasia. - Annie J Hill
• Pilot Evaluation of the "Take Charge – Chinese Version" Intervention: Enhancing Self-Management, Insight, and Self-Efficacy in Community-Dwelling Stroke Survivors in Hong Kong - Cheuk Yin Kwan
• Learning needs of allied health professionals across a public health setting: implications for stroke rehabilitation workforce development - Stephanie Baber
• Comparing in-person versus remotely delivered exercise intervention fidelity in the Post Ischaemic Stroke Cardiovascular Exercise Study – Zoom Delivered Intervention Against Cognitive Decline (PISCES-ZODIAC) - Stephanie Tucker
• Building communication: a structured lego-based group for adults with chronic aphasia - Emerald Runting
• Optimising the therapeutic potential of an outdoor space in stroke rehabilitation through co‑design. - Katrina Kenah
• Closed-loop brain-computer interface (BCI) training for upper limb recovery in chronic stroke: a case study - Shun Yiu Wong
• Understanding how cardiorespiratory fitness is being addressed following sub-acute stroke: a mixed-methods study of Australian clinicians - Shannon Cheary
• Understanding how cardiorespiratory fitness is being addressed following sub-acute stroke: a mixed-methods study of Australian clinicians. - Shannon Cheary

• Stroke Unit Accreditation - the journey in Australia so far - Skye Coote
• Stroke unit certification is associated with higher stroke unit access rates and faster reperfusion metrics. - Skye Coote
• Geographic access to stroke care services in Australia - Heidi Dietz
• A national mixed‑methods priority‑setting study to inform stroke rehabilitation policy, practice, and research in Australia. - Natasha A Lannin and Emma Gee
• Delivering aphasia therapy via telerehabilitation in a clinical health setting: An evaluation of usability         - Hannah Wedley
• Improving Reliability of Prehospital Stroke Notification in a regional hospital: A Multiagency Quality Improvement Initiative - Tessa Coupland
• Mapping Early Career Researcher Development Needs in Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation: a global survey from the ISRRA Early Career Researcher Group - Lilian Carvalho
• Uptake of the voluntary Fever, hyperglycaemia (Sugar) and Swallowing (FeSS) dataset in the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR) - Kelly Coughlan
• Extending telestroke into acute stroke unit care - The BUILDS study - Felix Ng

• A day in my life after stroke - Scott Harding
• Employment impacts of stroke among stroke survivors and their informal carers - Mulugeta Molla Birhanu
• Building research readiness: co‑designing a flexible pathway for lived experience involvement in stroke research - Brenda Booth and Adrian O'Malley
• Supporting school participation after childhood stroke: co-designing practical education resources  - Mardee Greenham and Dee Honeychurch
• Investigating grief as a distinct emotional response after stroke. - Katherine Sewell
• Co-design of a novel, interdisciplinary intervention to support text-messaging for people with post-stroke aphasia. - Jade Dignam

Panel Discussion: Life After Stroke Doesn't End at Discharge: Unlocking Hidden Opportunities

• Panellist names: Jennifer Muller, Brenda Booth and Scott Harding.
• Facilitated by Niru Mahendran and Lisa Anemaat.

• How stroke survivors and partners use Reddit communities to understand and navigate sexual wellbeing across the recovery trajectory - Kelly Dungey
• Exercise to increase neuroplasticity in people with chronic stroke: Opportunities to accelerate recovery - Brenton Hordacre
• “I actually felt like I was free”: perspectives of people following sub-acute stroke about their experiences with aquatic physiotherapy. - Shannon Cheary
• Remote constraint induced therapy of the upper extremity (ReCITE): Evaluation of feasibility and implementation - Lauren J Christie
• A single session of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation decreases somatosensory evoked potentials in stroke survivors. - Camila D. Lima
• Early Implementation of the Queensland Telestroke Service: Workflow Metrics, Safety and First Six Month vs Extended Phase Comparison - Valene Hii
• A Case Series of Thrombus Migration before Thrombectomy in a Comprehensive Stroke Centre over 3 years - Cuong N Do
• Surface electromyography as an objective biomarker of balance and motor impairment after stroke - Cassio V. Ruas
• Testing a simple nudge at scale: a registry-embedded randomised trial in the Registry of Stroke Care Quality (RES-Q) - Sandy Middleton
• Clopidogrel resistance in the Northland stroke cohort - Alan J Davis
• Empowering consumer and clinician voices to Shape a multimodal inpatient stroke education strategy through CARES (Consumer-informed Approach to Risk reduction Education for Stroke inpatients) quality improvement project. - Jodi Rheinberger
• Evaluating the impact of an aphasia-friendly picture-based hospital menu - Alexandra AD Day and Hannah HB Butenko
• Basilar artery versus anterior circulation large vessel occlusion code stroke process delays: a single centre cohort study. - Pavandeep Singh Dhaliwal