Owen Gustafson

The clinical focus of my research is on improving rehabilitation of the long term consequences of critical illness. In 2021 I commenced a three year NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship, evaluating the musculoskeletal health state of intensive care survivors (the MSK-ICU study). I completed my PhD at Oxford Brookes University in 2024, and for this programme of research I was awarded the Intensive Care Society Rising Star - Gold Award. 

I have expertise in investigating care delivery in the acute hospital for patients following discharge from ICU. Having previously worked on the NIHR RfPB funded REFLECT study evaluating care in this acute hospital period, I am now a co-investigator on the Physiotherapy and Optimised Enteral Nutrition in the post-acute phase of critical illness (PHOENIX) trial which is also NIHR RfPB funded. I am also a co-investigator for the Enhanced Recovery After Critical Illness (ERACC) programme. This six year programme of research funded by an NIHR PGfAR aims to design and test an enhanced care pathway for critical care survivors, with the goal of enabling patients spend more time at home after leaving ICU.

After qualifying as a physiotherapist in 2005 I have worked clinically across a variety of critical care settings. I currently work within the Critical Care Follow-up Service at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT, providing expert physiotherapy interventions to patients following discharge from hospital. I was awarded PGCerts in Advanced Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy and Advanced Physiotherapy in 2009 and 2013 from UCL and the University of Hertfordshire. My MSc by Research, completed in 2016 at Coventry University, focused on shoulder impairment following critical illness and received funding from the UK Intensive Care Society. In 2021 I was awarded a PCTHE from Oxford Brookes University and subsequently a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. 

I am a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists and the Vice Chair for the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care. I also hold positions on several editorial boards of UK based peer reviewed journals. I am the co-editor of Physiotherapy in Respiratory Care, associate editor for the Journal of the Intensive Care Society, and member of the editorial board for Nursing in Critical Care.

I continue to support developing nursing, midwifery and allied health professional researchers, regularly supervising internships and preparatory fellowships from within the research group and beyond.