Prof. Dr. Cornelia Anne Barth

• Head of Continuing Education in Health

• Head of School of Physiotherapy

• BSc Physiotherapy

• MSc Physiotherapy

• MSc Healthcare Leadership

• Rehabilitation in low-resource, fragile, conflict-affected settings

• Health Equity

• Rehabilitation, Assistive Technology, Disability

• Gender

• Participatory Approaches

• Nel Barth is head of the Physiotherapy Division and the Continuing Education Department at the School of Health Professions at Bern University of Applied Sciences. In these roles, she is a member of the School’s Executive Board and the University’s Continuing Education Commission.
  Nel is a physiotherapist with degrees from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, University College London, and University College Dublin. She has over 20 years of clinical practice and a broad background in teaching, training, and mentoring rehabilitation professionals.
  With a PhD on rehabilitation in fragile health systems, she specialises in complex emergencies, conflict, and low-resource contexts. Her work to strengthen rehabilitation in humanitarian settings has taken her to 28 different countries, working with organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins sans Frontières.
  After settling in Geneva, she continued to build capacity in research and education within the humanitarian sector. This included leading a community-based participatory research project on gender and access to rehabilitation in fragile contexts, funded by the Swedish Research Council. She also guided educators from twelve Ukrainian universities in developing MSc modules on war trauma physiotherapy, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
  She is founding and committee member of the Swiss Society for Gender Health.
  Her academic output includes work on qualitative and participatory approaches, gender issues, policy papers, and population studies. She is associate editor of the Assistive Technology Journal and reviewer for several journals.

• 2024 - today Head of School of Physiotherapy at Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
• 2024 - today Head of Continuing Education in Health at Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
• 2021 - 2024 Coordinator of Cochrane Switzerland for Cochrane Switzerland, Unisanté, Switzerland
• 2021 - 2023 Research Project Manager at Unisanté, Switzerland
• 2017 - 2021 Global Rehabilitation Specialist at International Committee of the Red Cross, Switzerland
• 2008 - 2016 International Humanitarian Cooperation: Clinical, teaching & leadership positions across multiple countries with Médecins Sans Frontières, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), German Corporation for International Cooperation, Handicap International, International Medical Corps, World Physiotherapy
• 1997 - 2014 Clinical Physiotherapist for Diverse Employers in Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Guinea
• 2006 - 2008 Lecturer for Physiotherapy and Allied Health Professions at Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
• 2001 - 2006 Lecturer for Physiotherapy at Munich School for Physiotherapy (GFEB), Germany

• 2023 PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) University College Dublin, Ireland
• 2005 BSc (Bachelor of Medical Science in Physiotherapy) Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
• 2002 MSc (Master of Science in Neurophysiotherapy) University College London, United Kingdom
• 1997 State Diploma School of Physiotherapy, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

• CAS Leading Complex Multidisciplinary Teams, 2021; Humanitarian Leadership and Management School (HLMS), ICRC and University Luzern
• CAS Leading by Example, 2020; HLMS, ICRC and University Luzern
• Certificate Coaching and Communication Skills, 2016; Leadership, Management and Governance Project; Management Sciences for Health
• CAS Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2008; PH Zurich
• Associate Editor: Assistive Technology Journal
• Reviewer: PLOS One, PLOS Global Public Health, Physical Therapy in Sport, World Physiotherapy Congress, physioscience

• GRACE – Gender aspects in Rehabilitation of persons with Amputation in Conflict-affected Environments (2021-2025)

• TRUE - Trauma Rehabilitation in Ukraine

• Google Scholar profile

• ORCID profile

• Publications, conference contributions, other dissemination

• Commission for Continuing Education

• Executive Board of the School of Health Professions

• Cochrane

• Global Burden of Disease (collaborator)

• Physioswiss

• Swiss School of Public Health (faculty member)

• Swiss Society for Gender Health (founding & committee member)

A Focus Group Study to Understand the Perspectives of Physiotherapists on Barriers and Facilitators to Advancing Rehabilitation in Low-Resource and Conflict Settings

Gender aspects in Rehabilitation of persons with Amputation in Conflict-affected Environments

Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft

• Hanne Niemelä. What Polio tells us about access to Assistive Technology for women and girls in humanitarian settings (ongoing)

• Nadja Hettich. What skills do physiotherapists need in interprofessional care for refugees with experience of trauma and violence? A Mixed-Methods Study across International Contexts and Switzerland (ongoing)

• Lynn Unternährer. Interprofessional care models for refugees with experience of trauma and violence: A Mixed-Methods Study across International Contexts and Switzerland (ongoing)

• Mirja Hofmann. Information as a Social determinant of health in access to rehabilitation for persons with amputation in Ethiopia and Cambodia (ongoing)

• Rebecca Kahler, Annette Probst, Cornelia A. Barth. Die Erfahrungen von Physiotherapeuten in der internationalen Freiwilligenarbeit im Ausland – Eine Analyse aus postkolonialer Perspektive [Physiotherapists in International Voluntary Work Abroad – An Analysis of Field Reports from a Postcolonial Perspective] 2020

• Jessica Meier. The role of transportation as a social determinant in accessing rehabilitation services in two low-resource settings. (ongoing)

• German - Native or bilingual proficiency
• English - Full professional proficiency
• French - Full professional proficiency