Professor Ferreira completed her PhD at the University of Sydney in 2005 and is Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Bone and Joint Research, the University of Sydney. She holds an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship, is Sydney Medical Foundation Fellow and currently leads a program of research on the burden, mechanisms and management ofspinal pain in older people. Her work includes establishing the causes and prognosis of back pain in the older person, as well as identifying the effectiveness of surgical and conservative care for back pain - she is lead investigator in the first placebo-controlled randomised trial of surgery of back pain – SucceSS. Prof Ferreira leads extensive research collaborations in this field with the UK, USA, Brazil, the Netherlands and Denmark. She has published over 215 papers and secured more than $10 million in both competitive and non-competitive research grants. She currently supervises 7 PhD students, and has supervised other 10 post-graduate students to completion.