Dr Mahsa Seydi, PhD, is a physiotherapist by background and an early-career researcher with Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and the University of New South Wales. She completed her PhD at the UNSW School of Population Health, where her research investigated how chronic pain impacts mobility, cognition, falls, and brain integrity in ageing populations.

Her doctoral research adopted a multi-method and interdisciplinary approach, integrating systematic reviews, large-scale cohort data, qualitative research, structural equation modelling, and neuroimaging. Across this work, she examined behavioural, psychosocial, and neurobiological pathways linking chronic pain to gait impairment and fall risk in older adults.

Collectively, her thesis advanced understanding of chronic pain as a complex, system-wide condition influencing disability and falls through interacting behavioural, psychological, and neurobiological mechanisms.

Alongside her research, Mahsa is actively engaged in sessional teaching within the School of Medicine at UNSW, contributing to anatomy and human systems education for health and medical students, as well as marking and assessment in public health foundation courses.

Clinically, she is an AHPRA registered physiotherapist with experience supporting individuals with musculoskeletal and neurological conditions across diverse settings. Her work bridges clinical practice, teaching, and research, with a focus on improving mobility, function, and ageing outcomes through better understanding of pain mechanisms and measurement