Danielle Baxter

Dr Danielle Baxter is a registered osteopath, lecturer and researcher in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT University. Her research sits at the intersection of healthy ageing, allied health service delivery and health professions education, with a particular focus on how osteopathy and other smaller allied health professions can contribute to preventive, person-centred and sustainable healthcare.

Danielle has worked in osteopathic practice since 2012 and joined RMIT’s osteopathy discipline in 2014. She completed her PhD in 2022, evaluating the feasibility of implementing adjunctive manual therapy for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease within a metropolitan hospital. This established her expertise in feasibility research, non-pharmacological healthcare and the implementation of clinical interventions within real-world health services.

Danielle developed and leads Falls-EDU, a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional program of research evaluating student-led falls prevention for community-dwelling older adults. Initially established as a feasibility study, Falls-EDU has progressed to an interprofessional model involving osteopathy and physiotherapy students and is now embedded within RMIT’s fourth-year osteopathy work-integrated learning program. Her broader research examines osteopathy workforce and service-delivery models in residential aged care, allied health roles in falls prevention, and the funding, accessibility and integration of osteopathy within the Australian healthcare system. Her health professions education research focuses on interprofessional education, work-integrated learning, evidence-informed practice, professional identity development and authentic approaches to clinical learning and assessment. She has extensive experience in curriculum design, course coordination, clinical education, and the supervision of student and higher-degree research.

Danielle is the current Coordinator of RMIT’s Pathways to Healthy Ageing Network, which brings together researchers, industry partners and community stakeholders to advance collaborative research that supports older people to age well. Danielle is also a Board Director of the Australian Osteopathic Accreditation Council, the immediate past Chair of its Accreditation Committee and the current Chair of its Professional Practice Committee. Through these roles, she contributes to national accreditation, professional standards, program quality and assessment processes for internationally qualified osteopaths. She also serves as a sessional member of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), contributing her professional expertise to matters involving the regulation and conduct of health practitioners.