Cathy Catroppa

Professor Cathy Catroppa is a Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), with formal affiliations to the University of Melbourne in both the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and Department of Paediatrics. She is internationally recognized for her work on childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI), combining clinical and research leadership through supervision of honor’s, master’s, and PhD students, and serving as Chief Investigator on national and international projects.

Her research focuses on neurodevelopmental outcomes following pediatric TBI, including social cognition, executive function, family functioning, and behavioral recovery. She has pioneered longitudinal studies tracking patients from injury through adolescence into adulthood, examining links between brain insult, family environment, and psychosocial outcomes.

Recent publications highlight trends in sleep disorder analysis, emotional distress patterns, and rehabilitation strategies for executive function deficits. Her work spans clinical trials, neuroimaging biomarkers, and ecological task development for assessing cognitive outcomes post-injury.

Professor Catroppa has maintained a 30+ year clinical service at the Royal Children’s Hospital, transitioning to part-time status in 2001. She collaborates extensively with teams across Australia and internationally, contributing to frameworks for standardized assessment and intervention in pediatric neurotrauma.