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William Levack 2020 imageContact details

Email william.levack@otago.ac.nz

Current roles

Professor William Levack is Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Wellington and Head of Campus for the University of Otago, Wellington.

He is a New Zealand Registered Physiotherapist, a founding member of Cochrane Rehabilitation, and is the past president of the New Zealand Rehabilitation Association.

Research interests

William's work focuses on patient experiences of rehabilitation, goal setting processes, and interventions to increase patient engagement in rehabilitation activities – particularly in the areas of neurological and respiratory rehabilitation.

He has ongoing research projects with colleagues in multiple countries, including Japan, Italy, Germany, Pakistan, Malaysia, and the UK.

Publications

Corbin, M., Denison, H. J., Douwes, J., Whyte, M., Thompson, S. G., Harwood, M., … Fink, J. N., … Levack, W. M., McNaughton, H., … Ranta, A. (2026). Can administrative data be used for a national register of hospitalised stroke patients? A New Zealand validation study. Lancet Regional Health: Western Pacific, 66, 101768. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2025.101768 Journal - Research Article

Negrini, S., Arienti, C., Armijo-Olivo, S., Côté, P., Heinemann, A. W., Kiekens, C., … Levack, W., & GUIDE-Rehab Advisory Committee, Rehabilitation Journals Chief Editors, PREPARE Project Clinical Partners. (2025). Reporting GUideline for Intervention DEscription in Rehabilitation (GUIDE-Rehab): A tool to open the ‘black box’ of rehabilitation complex interventions. BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1136/bmjebm-2025-113997 Journal - Research Article

Yonis, A., Dean, S. G., Warren, F. C., Taylor, R. S., Levack, W., & Hay-Smith, J. (2025). Navigating blinding challenges in complex intervention trials: Insights from a UK researcher survey. Trials, 26(1), 501. doi: 10.1186/s13063-025-09223-9 Journal - Research Article

Thompson, S. G., Thakkar, D., McNaughton, H., Levack, W., & Ranta, A. (2025). The impact of inpatient and community stroke rehabilitation on health-related quality of life in New Zealand. European Journal of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine, 61(4), 587-594. doi: 10.23736/s1973-9087.25.08903-8 Journal - Research Article

Nishiwaki, H., Levack, W. M. M., Hasegawa, T., Noma, H., Ota, E., Suzuki, T., … Kelly, T. N. (2025). Virtual reality-related exercise for people with chronic kidney disease undergoing haemodialysis (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 8, CD016138. doi: 10.1002/14651858.Cd016138 Journal - Research Article

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