Keynote speakers
We are proud to introduce the following international keynote speakers
Professor Alex Boussioutas
Professor Boussioutas is a tenured academic clinician at the Central Clinical School, Monash University. He is the Professor Director of Gastroenterology and the inaugural Director of Clinical Genetics and Genomics at The Alfred. He was appointed as Program Director for Specialty Medicine at Alfred Health. He is the also the Head of GI Risk Management at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Alfred Health. He is also the President for Gastroenterology Society of Australia and has been the longest serving Associate Dean for Graduate Research at the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences of University of Melbourne up till 2021. He was a tenured Professor in Medicine at the Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital University of Melbourne for 10 years prior to moving to Monash University and Alfred Health.
He leads a research program in Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer at the Monash University and The Alfred. His research encompasses a number of disciplines including: population health and screening; use of novel technologies to aid early detection of cancer and; genomics in the investigation of molecular pathology of gastric cancer. He was the only Australian collaborator of The Cancer Genome Atlas Network in Upper GI Cancer which led to landmark studies in the characterisation of gastric and oesophageal cancer that were published in Nature. He has a particular interest in cancer genetics and is one of Australia’s leading experts in inherited cancer of the Upper and Lower GI tract.
Stephanie Buckton
Stephanie completed her nursing training and post-graduate gastroenterology degree at the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and Central London (UK) and completed a Masters of Nursing with Nurse Practitioner at the University of Queensland in 2010. Stephanie was the first credentialed and endorsed IBD Nurse Practitioner in Australia.
Stephanie first developed her interest in inflammatory
bowel disease in England and was one of the first IBD nurse consultants in the
UK. She moved to Australia in 2004 and continued her passion for IBD nursing
and was instrumental in setting up the IBD service at the Sunshine Coast
Hospital Health Service. Until recently she was the lead IBD nurse at the
Sunshine Coast University Hospital Health Service, where she led a team of 3 IBD
clinical nurses and worked collaboratively with 4 consultant
gastroenterologists and a dedicated IBD allied health team. Stephanie was
awarded with a District Innovation and Excellence Award in 2010 and again in 2012,
for setting up the IBD service at the Sunshine Coast Hospital Health Service.
In June of this year Stephanie retired form Queensland Health and now works
collaboratively as an IBD Nurse Practitioner in Private Practice.
Associate Professor Nick Burgess
Associate Professor Nick Burgess is an interventional endoscopist and gastroenterologist at Westmead Hospital and clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney in Australia. His research interests focus on the prediction of cancer within colorectal polyps, endoscopic resection in the colon including EMR and ESD, and the prevention of adverse events including bleeding and perforation. He has a strong interest in endoscopy quality and bowel cancer screening. He is a co-editor for Endoscopy journal and has published multiple papers which have influenced international endoscopy practice. He also performs ERCP, interventional EUS, ESD and POEM.
Professor Guadalupe Garcia-Tsao
Dr. Guadalupe Garcia-Tsao is Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and at the VA-Connecticut Healthcare System. She is Director of the Clinical Core of the NIH-funded Yale Liver Center.
Dr. Garcia-Tsao’s investigation focuses on cirrhosis, portal hypertension and related complications, having authored over two hundred original research publications in addition to several society guidelines and position papers in the field. Her H-index is 101.
Dr. Garcia-Tsao served as the President of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in 2012 and has received numerous awards including the International Recognition Award (European Association for the Study of the Liver), the Distinguished Clinician Educator and Mentor Award (American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases) and the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award (American Liver Foundation) . She is currently Associate Editor for the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr Rehan Haidry
Dr. Haidry is a Consultant Gastroenterologist and interventional endoscopist at Cleveland Clinic London (CCL) and University College Hospital, London (UCLH).
He is the clinical lead of endoscopy at CCL. His main interests are therapeutic and innovative endoscopic procedures in the diagnosis and treatments of pre-malignant and malignant disorders of the upper gastrointestinal tract, with a particular interest in Barrett’s neoplasia, Squamous neoplasia and early oesophageal cancer. He has a clinical research portfolio developing metabolic, bariatric endoscopic and anti-reflux procedures such as Duodenal mucosal resurfacing (DMR), Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) and Trans-oral incisionless fundoplication (TIF). He has also is actively involved in artificial intelligence platforms for oesophageal cancer detection.
He has an academic position of Associate Professor at UCL where he supervises his team of research fellows to generate research into various innovative and novel endoscopic techniques. He is very well published with over 100 original articles and has co-authored national and international guidelines.
Associate Professor Viraj Kariyawasam
Associate Professor Viraj Kariyawasam is a Senior Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist and the Head of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Service at Blacktown Public Hospital and holds the position of Associate Professor at Western Sydney University.
He completed his Ph.D. on the use of thiopurines in IBD at the University of Sydney and is committed to advancing medical research and finding innovative treatments for his patients. His passion for teaching and research is evident in his numerous publications on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, contributing significantly to the academic and scientific community.
His impact extends beyond his clinical work. He is a founding director of Complete Health Australia and Healthy Weight Australia, organizations dedicated to promoting holistic healthcare approaches.
Recognizing the need to improve training and enhance the quality of care for IBD patients, A/Prof Kariyawasam co-founded the IBD Sydney Organization which has been instrumental in developing programs that aim to bridge the gap between rural and metropolitan patients, ensuring equal access to excellent care across all areas in NSW in Australia.
Beyond his professional achievements, Dr. Kariyawasam cherishes his role as a father of two. In his spare time, he enjoys spending quality time with his family, finding a perfect balance between his professional and personal life.
Helen Livett
Having started her career in Endoscopy in 2000, Helen has seen many changes in clinical practice from fibreoptic scopes to glutaraldehyde to digital scopes and now AI. Trained in all 3 modalities, Helen has been scoping for 22 years and teaching nurses and registrars to scope for more than 15. Helen completed her second degree in gastrointestinal diseases in 2001, MSc in colonoscopy in 2014 and wishes to pursue her PhD. Helen has been involved in research and development; she has just undertaken pilot study looking at the psychological impact of PEUGIC and PCCRC root cause analysis for interval cancers on clinical endoscopists.
More recently there has been exciting development in clinical endoscopist training. This has been promoted by NHS England and grants trainee clinical endoscopists the opportunity to facilitate an intensive and accelerated gastrointestinal endoscopy course of 30 weeks for UGI modality and 40 weeks for LGI. From novice to competent involving all aspects of endoscopy, including scoping, disease management and follow up. This is a passion of hers; teaching, education and empowering others to provide high quality standards of care is instrumental to her job role and passion. Sharing knowledge is essential to the growth and development of gastrointestinal services in the future.
Sharon Powell
Sharon Powell qualified as a registered nurse in the UK in 1990, therefore having nearly 33 years’ experience in the NHS in England. She studied at Wolverhampton School of Nursing, the University of Wolverhampton and more recently at Birmingham City University. Her clinical practice has been varied including ward nursing in medicine and surgery, as well as being a clinical Matron.
She moved to Endoscopy at the beginning of 2013 to train as a lower GI clinical endoscopist and has spent the last 6 years dedicated to training medical and non-medical endoscopists. In the last 3 years, she has been a key member of the teaching faculty, designing and delivering the Health Education England Clinical Endoscopist programme.
Now, a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University, as well as remaining a practising LGI Endoscopist, she is dedicated to developing the future Endoscopy workforce through the Midland Endoscopy Training Academy (META).