Guest Speakers
Professor Eugene Ek
Dr. Eugene Ek is an academic orthopaedic hand and upper extremity surgeon from Melbourne, Australia specializing in arthroscopic and complex reconstructive surgery of the hand, elbow and shoulder.
He attended medical school and also received a PhD in bone tumour biology, both from the University of Melbourne. He subsequently completed his orthopaedic training in Victoria, Australia through the RACS/AOA. Following this, he underwent 2 years of international fellowship training. Firstly, in shoulder and elbow surgery at the Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich and then Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University in Boston, USA (Intercontinental Shoulder Fellowship). He then went on to undertake a hand and microvascular surgery fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
Dr. Ek has since established an academic orthopaedic upper extremity practice, within the Melbourne Orthopaedic Group, with a broad research interest encompassing basic science, biomechanics and clinical research and has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles. He is a Clinical Professor within the Department of Surgery, Monash University and a consultant Orthopaedic surgeon within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Dandenong Hospital. In addition, he is a co-director of the Hand and Wrist Biomechanics Laboratory within the O'Brien Institute and a fellowship director for the Dandenong Hand Fellowship and for the Melbourne Orthopaedic Group Shoulder and elbow fellowship. He has most recently been awarded the John Mitchell Crouch Fellowship for 2025, which is the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ (RACS) most prestigious research scholarship.
Associate Professor David McCombe
Associate Professor David McCombe is a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon who is a consultant at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and a member of the Victorian Hand Surgery Associates group based at St. Vincent’s Private Hospital.
He has an academic appointment within the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital and is an Honorary Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. He is also affiliated with the Hand and Wrist Biomechanics Laboratory based at the O’Brien Institute at St. Vincent’s Hospital and is a Past President of the Australian Hand Surgery Society.
David’s areas of clinical interest are Adult and Children’s Hand Surgery, Peripheral nerve and Brachial Plexus surgery and Reconstructive Microsurgery.
Alison Taylor
Alison Taylor graduated as an Occupational Therapist from Sydney University in Australia in 1990. She earned her Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) designation in 2001 and her Kinesiotaping instructor certification in 2011.
Alison has presented at seven American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT) conferences and multiple state and national Occupational therapy (OT) and Physical therapy (PT) conferences. In 2020, she was invited to the Asia Pacific Hand Surgery and Hand Therapy (APFSSH/APFSHT) conference and was the keynote speaker in 2023.
Additionally, Alison has guest lectured at several renowned Occupational Therapy (OT) and Athletic Training Coordinator (ATC) university programs. She travels nationally and internationally to teach her treatment concepts, particularly her approach, "Treating Without Pain."
Alison has published journal articles on pain, scars, and nerve compression and has contributed to book chapters on hand and upper extremity therapy. Currently, she is developing protocols for elbow fractures, tendonitis, and nerve impairments.
Since 2018, Alison has worked exclusively in sports rehabilitation, treating professional and collegiate athletes daily. Her love is still neurology and she is working on expanding her concepts and treatments into stroke, head injury and amputee rehab.
