Darren Brown and Nicola Phillips fly the flag for UK physiotherapy at prestigious ceremony in Dubai

Darren Brown (pictured) was one of 14 physiotherapists from around the world whose ‘outstanding contribution’ to the profession was honoured at a ceremony on 31 May during World Physiotherapy’s twentieth annual meeting.

The meeting was held in the run-up to World Physiotherapy's congress in Dubai, which was attended by more than 2,000 physiotherapists and ran in the capital of the United Arab Emirates from 2-4 June.

Darren came to prominence in the UK and beyond during an 11-year spell as HIV rehabilitation service lead at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Among a host of influential and prestigious roles, Darren was the inaugural chair and co-founder of Long Covid UK.

Darren received his award in the international service: practice category alongside Vincent Babatunde Nwuga, whose contribution to physiotherapy was recognised posthumously. Vincent was a Nigeria-born physiotherapist who graduated in Canada and worked and studied in the UK and the USA before returning to Nigeria to pursue an academic career. He died in 2007.

Nicola Phillips

Nicola Phillips received an international service award in the management and administration category. Nicola is a former president of the International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy and a life member of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine. An OBE, she is a professor of physiotherapy at Cardiff University and a Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) fellow.

Her career has included several spells working with academic, clinical, and professional bodies. She worked with elite athletes at many Commonwealth and Olympic Games over the last 36 years, including acting as head physiotherapist with the GB and Wales teams and chef de mission for Team Wales.

Margot Skinner: Mildred Elson Award 

New Zealand physiotherapist Margot Skinner received the Mildred Elson Award – World Physiotherapy’s highest honour – for her outstanding contribution to the profession during five decades as a clinician, teacher and researcher. Margot was World Physiotherapy’s vice president from 2015-201 and also served two terms as president of Physiotherapy New Zealand.

In the early 1990s, she spearheaded a successful bid for physiotherapy to become a degree-based profession at the University of Otago in her home city of Dunedin in New Zealand.

Other award recipients

Valerie Taylor is the founder and coordinator at the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed in Savar, Bangladesh, and is a CSP fellow. She was presented with a World Physiotherapy humanitarian service award.

Yoshifumi Kobayashi is a physiotherapist specialising in the treatment of people who are highly dependent on medical care, for example those requiring ventilators, and also specialises in community rehabilitation in developing countries. Yoshifumi received a leadership in rehabilitation award.

List of awards
Education

• Ajediran Idowu Bello, Ghana Physiotherapy Association
• Feroz Kabir, Bangladesh Physiotherapy Association
• Hans Hobbelen, Royal Dutch Association of Physical Therapists

Management and administration

• Claire F O’Reilly, Irish Society of the Chartered Physiotherapists
• Genhee Lee, Korean Physical Therapy Association
• Kazuto Handa, Japanese Physical Therapy Association
• Nicola Phillips, CSP 

Practice

• Darren Brown, CSP
• Vincent Babatunde Nwuga, posthumous award

Research

• Brona Fullen, Irish Society of the Chartered Physiotherapists
• César Fernández de las Peñas, Spanish Association of Physiotherapists
• Marco Pang, Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association
• Mario Bizzini, physioswiss

To watch a recording of the awards presentation, click 

To find out more about the awards recipients, click