BSc PT, MPhil Physiol, PGDip Pain Mgt, PhD (Qld). Muneeb joined the CSU Orange campus in February 2026, bringing 13 years of professional experience following the completion of his Bachelor of Physiotherapy from King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan. Over the course of his career, he has worked as a physiotherapist across acute care, community, and aged‑care settings in both Pakistan and Australia, and has held academic and research roles in Pakistan, China, and Australia. Alongside his clinical practice, Muneeb completed his PhD at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), Ipswich, in 2024. His doctoral research focused on evaluating respiratory muscle damage using blood biomarkers. Since completing his PhD, he has served as a sessional academic and course coordinator in the Physiotherapy program at UniSQ. He has also been working as a community physiotherapist in Brisbane since 2023. Muneeb’s career reflects a strong integration of clinical practice, academic teaching, and research. At CSU, he aims to further advance his research in cardiorespiratory rehabilitation. As an early career researcher, Dr Muneeb Iqbal completed his PhD at the University of Southern Queensland in June 2024. His thesis, “The Effects of Increased Respiratory Muscle Work on Biomarkers of Muscle Damage,” identified both novel and established biomarkers of respiratory muscle damage in blood serum. His work also explored inspiratory muscle training (IMT) as a strategy to strengthen inspiratory muscles and improve their endurance. During his PhD, Muneeb completed three major studies: Respiratory Muscle Damage Biomarkers in Response to Inspiratory Pressure Threshold Loading in Healthy Young Adults (published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Q1); The Effects of Volitional Hyperpnea on Biomarkers of Respiratory Muscle Damage in Healthy Young Men (published in Physiological Reports, Q2); and The Effects of Inspiratory Muscle Training on Biomarkers of Muscle Damage in Recovered COVID‑19 Patients After Weaning From Mechanical Ventilation (published in Chronic Respiratory Disease, Q1). During his research training at Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU), China, Muneeb developed expertise in quantitative analysis, publishing two systematic reviews and meta‑analyses, as well as gaining experience in wet‑lab trials, publishing one randomized controlled trial using rodent models of status epilepticus. Across his research career, he has built strong capability in integrating quantitative and clinical methods across cardiorespiratory physiology, exercise science, and rehabilitation. Muneeb has delivered multiple international presentations of his research, including at the 16th Asian Oceanian Congress of Neurology (Seoul, 2018), the European Respiratory Society (Berlin, 2022), and the Austrian Society for Pulmonology (Graz, 2023). At Charles Sturt University, he aims to extend this work through a program of translational research, progressing from mechanistic studies to clinical trials and applied cardiopulmonary physiotherapy research.
Physiotherapy4572455
Dr Muneeb Iqbal
Lecturer in Physiotherapy
Orange
Building 1014, Room 104