Keynote Speakers

Charles Bernstein

Dr. Charles Bernstein, a graduate from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine, and the UCLA Division of Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program is Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Bingham Chair in Gastroenterology Research; and Director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Clinical and Research Centre at the University of Manitoba. His main research interests are primarily related to IBD; in terms of optimizing management approaches; exploring predictors of clinical outcomes; and disease etiology.

More recently he has been actively involved in exploring the biological and clinical intersection between different chronic immune mediated inflammatory diseases. He has published over 480 peer reviewed articles, 29 book chapters, and is a co-editor of one of the seminal gastrointestinal clinical-pathology textbooks. His H-Index is 82 and has had 28419 citations. In 2008 Dr. Bernstein was elected into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2009, he was named the inaugural Bingham Chair in Gastroenterology at the University of Manitoba. In 2012, he was awarded the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology Research Excellence Award.  Further, in 2012 he was elected into the Royal Society of Canada -Life Sciences Division of the Academy of Science. In 2016 he was named as the recipient of the Dr. John M. Bowman Memorial Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Award, recognizing outstanding research accomplishments by a senior University of Manitoba faculty.

Mingyan Cai

Prof. Mingyan Cai is a Surgical Endoscopist in Endoscopy Center, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University. She has MD and PhD degrees from Fudan University. She completed her General Surgery training in Shanghai, then finished specialist interventional endoscopy training under the direct mentoring of world-famous surgical endoscopist, Prof. Pinghong Zhou. Prof. Cai performs a wide range of advanced endoscopic procedures including ESD, EFTR, tunnel endoscopy (POEM, STER, etc), NOTES, EUS and ERCP. 

Prof. Cai has been to Germany for clinical study training, Japan for magnifying endoscopy training and America for 3-month visiting professorship in University of Iowa tutoring POEM and ESD. Most recently, she finished Global Clinical Scholars Research Training Program of Harvard University. She has published one monograph on ESD as the deputy editor and more than 20 papers in reputed journals. She's an international member of ASGE and an active member of WIGNAP (women in GI Network Asia-Pacific). 

Ann Framp

Dr Ann Framp is the Clinical Program Coordinator for the Bachelor of Nursing Science at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. 

Ann worked at Tauranga Public Hospital in the endoscopy unit for a period of 8 years and during this time, she was the President of the NZNO Gastroenterology Nurses Section. Ann has been teaching undergraduate nursing in the tertiary sector for 12 years. She completed her PhD in 2017. Her research is focused on the experience of  a New Zealand Maori family who are predisposed to hereditary diffuse gastric cancer.   

David Hewett

David G. Hewett is an Associate Professor at The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine, and gastroenterologist at Brisbane Colonoscopy in Brisbane, Australia. 

After graduating with honours from the University of Queensland, he undertook clinical and research training at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, before completing a post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Douglas Rex at Indiana University, USA where he developed advanced skills in the technical performance of colonoscopy.

Associate Professor Hewett's clinical interests include colorectal cancer screening and the technical performance of colonoscopy, including detection, advanced imaging and resection, and endoscopic training.  His research focuses on improving the effectiveness of colonoscopy, and he has published widely on new colonoscopic techniques, technologies and methods of training. 

Simone Strasser

Associate Professor Simone Strasser is President of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia. 

As a Senior Staff Specialist in the AW Morrow Gastroenterology and Liver Centre, and the Australian National Liver Transplant Unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the University of Sydney, she has a major clinical and research interest in primary liver cancer, viral hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, advanced liver disease, and liver transplantation.

She is Director of Hepatology Clinical Trials at RPAH, and is site principal investigator on multiple clinical trials of new therapies for patients with liver disease and liver cancer.

She is a regular speaker in national and local educational programmes and sits on multiple educational, advisory, editorial and administrative boards and committees in Australia and internationally.

Nicholas Talley

Laureate Professor Nicholas Talley is a distinguished researcher, educator, clinician, academic leader and an international authority in the field of neurogastroenterology.

He specialises in unexplained gut disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, functional dyspepsia, gastroesophageal reflux and gastroparesis and is credited with several seminal contributions that have enhanced our understanding of these diseases. He is also the author of the highly regarded textbooks Clinical Examination and Examination Medicine.

In 2018 Nick was honoured with the Companion of the Order of Australia, and in 2017 was named Australia's most cited academic by Google Scholar. He is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Global Research University of Newcastle, a senior staff specialist in gastroenterology at the John Hunter Hospital, and holds adjunct research appointments at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Mayo Clinic in the USA.

Jeremy Woodward

Jeremy Woodward was appointed as consultant gastroenterologist in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge in 2002.  A PhD in cellular immunology combined with his interest in nutrition led to a career that includes the UK national intestinal and multivisceral transplant service in Cambridge and the recent establishment of Addenbrooke's as one of the two UK centres for refractory Coeliac Disease. 

He leads an integrated clinical artificial service combining innovative practices in enteral feeding access and parenteral nutrition.  The 'feeding Issues multidisciplinary team' he established in 2006 has become a model for decision making in nutrition support and facilitated a greater understanding of the potential for artificial nutrition in palliative care. 

Jeremy teaches undergraduate physiology and lectures on gastrointestinal pathology and nutrition in Cambridge University medical school.  He is associate editor of BMJ, Nutrition, Prevention and Health.  Outside work, he is a member of the British Society of Herpetology and the Captain Cook Society!

Lydia White

Lydia has specialised in IBD nursing for 12 years, initially in Oxford, where she worked as Lead Advanced Nurse Practitioner in IBD. While there she completed her MSc and UK independent prescriber qualifications through Kings College, London and Oxford Brookes University.
Currently Lydia is in Rotorua as a Gastroenterology Clinical Nurse Specialist setting up IBD nursing services and not mountain biking (having tried it once). In New Zealand Lydia has worked with the nursing network to develop national role definition and recognition and is now on committee for the NZNO Gastroenterology Nurses College.
Projects and teaching engagements on many aspects of IBD nursing to date have taken Lydia through Europe, South East Asia, the Middle East and Australia giving her exposure and understanding of the wider international perspectives and challenges for the IBD nursing role. This, and her specialist interest in IBD nurse education, has culminated in an editorial role for the international 'IBD Nursing Manual' published in February this year with Springer Publishers.