Michael Inskip

Dr Michael Inskip joined the JCU community in 2020 and is a senior lecturer and clinical educator in Exercise Physiology and the current course coordinator for the Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology program. He completed his Bachelor of Applied Science (Exercise physiology) at the University of Sydney in 2014 and is registered as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist with almost a decade of experience with a strong research and teaching interest in ageing, frailty, neurology and dementia. He was awarded his Doctorate at the University of Sydney in 2020, which explored the relationship between physical activity and cognition, and the effects of robust anabolic exercise on this relationship across the cognitive impairment spectrum in populations with Mild Cognitive impairment and Lewy Body dementia. He remains an Honorary Associate Lecturer in the School of Exercise and Sports Science in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney.

Michael has been involved in several clinical trials of exercise in at-risk cohorts in coordination, assessment and interventionalist roles, including running the first exercise trial (PRIDE) in robust anabolic exercise for Lewy Body dementia. His interest lies in treating the high prevalence of frailty and sarcopenia in older adults, especially those with cognitive impairment and dementia. Currently, he is a coinvestigator and exercise lead on the first-of-its-kind FRIEND project, a federally and philanthropically-funded translational frailty trial taking place in the Good Shepherd Home aged care facility Townsville, as part of a team of collaborators from James Cook University and the University of Sydney. The project is industry-leading in its evaluation of the use of progressive resistance and challenging balance training, medication optimisation and nutritional support to reduce frailty in aged care residents and train staff and caregivers to adopt this best practice treatment into the future. Additionally, he is the Primary supervisor for a Pharmacy PhD candidate on the FRIEND project investigating the effect of multi-faceted frailty interventions of medication optimisation in residential aged care.

He has spoken about his research nationally and internationally as an emerging expert in the field at multiple conferences including the ESSA National Research to Practicer conference, multiple symposia on dementia at the American college of Sports Medicine - Exercise is medicine conferences, as part of the junior faculty at the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society SYNERGIES conference, and at the 4th and 5th International Lewy Body Dementia conference. Additionally, Michael lead symposia at the Inaugural JCU Aged Care Symposium in 2022, has authored several chapters on Lewy body dementia in JCU’s first e-book A Long Goodbye: Ed and Mary's Journey with Lewy Body Dementia, a chapter on dementia for Exercise and Sport Science Australia’s Exercise for Older Adults e-bookand his innovative research and expertise on frailty and dementia has been featured in the Townsville Bulletin, The Everything Townsville Health Chats with Dr Sarah podcast and JCU Discover media.

Michael has a passion for teaching Exercise Physiology as a subject coordinate for several units in the Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology course, and was recently awarded a fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, an internationally recognised fellowship for teaching in academia. He aims to broaden the professional scope and assessment capability of exercise physiologists in ageing, frailty, neurology and dementia through the integration of inter-disciplinary allied health and medical knowledge into the curriculum.

He is currently leading the implementation of a 3-year industry collaboration case study for JCU with The Good Shepherd Home for the National Priorities industry Linkage Fund (NPILF) pilot which aims to produce job-ready graduates for aged care through industry placement, specialist teaching programs, developing a graduate pipeline, and improving resident outcomes in frailty. This program has led to the delivery of over 500 hours of high-quality comprehensive assessment and exercise prescription to residents from TGSH, over 700 hours of industry experience for student placements, and two graduate positions for Accredited Exercise Physiologists in local aged care facilities.