Rhonda Orr

Rhonda Orr is an Associate Professor and Director of Movement Sciences at the University of Sydney's Sydney School of Health Sciences, affiliated with the Discipline of Exercise and Sports Science and the Children's Hospital Institute of Sports Medicine. She holds a B Pharm, M ExSpSc, and PhD. Her research focuses on sport-related concussion, injury surveillance, athlete performance analysis, and anti-doping in sports. She also investigates the effects of exercise on cognition in children and adolescents, contributing to initiatives like the 'Maths on the move' program combining numeracy and physical activity.

Rhonda supervises 7 postgraduate and 4 honours students, with projects covering concussion recovery, athlete movement patterns, and injury prevention. Her awards include the 2019 SUPRA Post-graduate Co-ordinator of the Year and the 2018 Harvard Mobility Award. She collaborates internationally with institutions like Harvard University and UCLA on sports injury prevention and brain injury research.

Key research outputs include longitudinal studies on pediatric concussion recovery, melatonin’s role in sleep post-TBI, and injury epidemiology in junior rugby league. She has published extensively on training loads, resistance protocols, and youth athlete development, with over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her work bridges clinical practice, sports science, and public health.