About Karen Finnin
About Karen Finnin
For an accidental entrepreneur, Karen Finnin makes a convincing speaker, author, educator, and mentor.
With Karen, the accidental part had less to do with the mishaps and injuries that bring patients to physios. It came about through time spent living and working in East Timor.
International healthcare educator
As her time in East Timor drew to a close, Karen wondered how her band of loyal expat clients could continue to benefit from her physiotherapy guidance in her absence. Almost by accident, Online Physio was born, and with it an international movement in online healthcare.
Since then, Online Physio has not only prospered, it has cemented Karen’s reputation as Australia’s leading telehealth entrepreneur and educator.
Since making the decision after school to replace professional dance with physiotherapy, Karen completed a Bachelor degree at Melbourne’s LaTrobe University in 1998, followed by a Masters in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy from the same university, in 2007. In 2022, Karen rounded out her academic training with the completion of a Master of BUsiness Administration (MBA).
Karen has worked in both the public and private sectors, and has mostly specialized in contract positions with large and small organisations.
Her contracts have often taken her to rural and remote locations, one of which, of course, was Dili, East Timor, which resulted in the foundation of her first online business.
Telehealth entrepreneur
Today, as the founder of Online Physio, Karen is best known for her contributions to the burgeoning telehealth industry. Through authoring, presenting and expert commentary, she has become the Australian leader in online physiotherapy theory, practice, and education.
Karen is also a member of the Digital Practice Taskforce, defining Telehealth and Digital Practice in Physiotherapy for the World Confederation of Physical Therapy (WCPT) and the International Network of Physical Therapy Regulatory Authorities (INPTRA).
Mentor
In her work at the intersection of healthcare and technology, Karen has cracked the code to the three problems that haunt traditional healthcare practice:
- Practitioners forced to trade time and service for money
- Restricted geographical areas from which to recruit clients
- Slavery to paperwork and administration.
Karen therefore guides health professionals to solve these issues through her training programs, which includes the popular How To Set Up A Telehealth Service.
Author and blogger
Karen is the author of the book Before You Break: Simple Steps To Injury Proof Your Body. She has also written extensively on physio-related and allied health related subjects, including professional business issues.
Karen is also a contributing author to the book 'My Camino Walk #1', which is an Amazon Bestseller for Tourism and Travel. Karen's chapter covers her unique Physiotherapy perspective of her experience of her 33 day hike on the Camino de Santiago across Spain.
Speaker, presenter, commentator
Karen's speaking skills are in rising demand, with regular presentations around Australia, and overseas. She makes frequent appearances in mainstream media in Australia and abroad as a go-to thinker and opinion leader at the intersection of health and technology.
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Awards
Karen's achievements have been recognised by a number of awards, including:
In 2011, Karen had to end a three year stint running a Private Practice in East Timor. Saddened that she could no longer care for her patients, but deciding that there had to be a better way to manage patients from a distance, Karen launched Online Physio, Australia’s first entirely online, publicly accessible private Physiotherapy Practice.
Struck by the increasing role of education in Physiotherapy, the confusing nature of health information on the Internet, and the fact that those in remote locations shouldn't miss out on great injury management, taking Online Physio to the world has become Karen's passion.
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Karen the philanthropist
Karen is passionate about helping people, and is also passionate about the impact that dogs can have on humans. She is a dedicated Puppy Educator for Assistance Dogs Australia, an organisation which trains Labradors and Golden Retrievers to assist people with disabilities to live their daily lives.
Karen and her husband Dan have voluntarily raised and trained a number of dogs that have gone on to be placed as service dogs to humans with special needs.
Click here for more information about Assistance Dogs Australia, and to donate.
Karen believes that the health industry can take itself too seriously sometimes, so she is also a proud ongoing financial supporter of The Humour Foundation, an Australian Charity dedicated to promoting and delivering the health benefits of humour.
The Humour Foundation sends Clown Doctors into medical facilities across the country to brighten the days of those weighed down by illness.
Click here for more information about the Clown Doctors and to donate
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