Shea Palmer is Professor of Allied Health and part of the leadership team for the ‘Centre for Care Excellence’, a joint initiative between Coventry University and University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust. He joined in May 2021.

Shea completed his undergraduate training as a physiotherapist at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in 1994. He worked clinically for 3 years in Swansea and Liverpool, before returning to Queen Margaret to undertake his PhD. He joined the academic staff in 1999 and was appointed Head of Physiotherapy in 2003. He joined the University of the West of England, Bristol in 2005, fulfilling a number of roles, including Principal Lecturer, Associate Professor and Associate Head of Department (Research & Knowledge Exchange). He was appointed as Professor of Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation in 2012.

Shea's primary research interests are in the assessment and management of musculoskeletal disorders, including joint hypermobility syndrome and knee osteoarthritis. His research has been funded by Arthritis Research UK, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Charitable Trust, National Osteoporosis Society, NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, NIHR Research for Patient Benefit and the Physiotherapy Research Foundation.