Rachel Elphinston

Dr. Rachel Elphinston is a Senior Research Fellow at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre, The University of Queensland, and a clinical psychologist with over a decade of experience. She focuses on psychological risk factors for pain and disability post-injury, integrated pain treatments, opioid use, and social media's role in health policy. Her current appointment with Metro South Health's Addiction and Mental Health Services involves translating research into clinical practice. She supervises students and collaborates across multidisciplinary teams.

Education:

• Bachelor of Science (Honours), The University of Queensland
• Clinical PhD, The University of Queensland
• Doctor of Philosophy (2010), focusing on jealousy in relationships and social media impacts

Research Interests:

Her work examines prescription opioid misuse in chronic pain patients, telehealth interventions like QuikFix, and VR therapy for driving phobia. She explores how social media influences policy implementation, such as codeine restrictions. Recent projects include co-designing digital interventions to reduce opioid harm and analyzing CRP's role in chronic pain.

Grants & Funding:

• Motor Accident Insurance Commission grants for VR therapy and road trauma care
• NHMRC grants for whiplash prevention and integrated care
• Australian Rotary Health funding for substance use interventions

Labs/Teams: RECOVER Injury Research Centre, Metro South Health, and collaborations with Addiction and Mental Health Services.