Invited speakers
Below are our invited speakers.
Listed by alpha order by surname.
Dr Yaron Avitzur
Dr. Avitzur is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto, and the Medical director, of the joint program in Intestine Transplantation (adults and children) and of Intestine Rehabilitation and Transplantation at SickKids hospital, Toronto, Canada.
He’s an active contributor and leads national and international groups involved in policy and guideline development in intestine rehabilitation and transplantation. He serves as a council and a committee member in the IRTA and recently established and is the current director of the IRTA International Intestinal Failure Registry. His research work is mainly within the fields of intestinal failure, GI transplantation and congenital diarrhea focusing at patient outcome, genotype-phenotype correlations and treatment approaches within these domains. Dr. Avitzur published more than 120 papers in prominent journals and textbooks.
Prof Frank Bloomfield
Frank Bloomfield is Director of the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and Professor of Neonatology. He trained in the Manchester, Auckland and Toronto and has worked for many years as a consultant neonatologist at National Women’s Hospital NICU in Auckland. His research spans experimental physiology through to clinical trials with a focus on fetal and neonatal nutrition and growth, and the long-term consequences of altered nutrition and growth in early life.
Dr Laurens Ceulemans
Laurens Ceulemans (°1985) graduated as medical doctor in 2010 at KU Leuven, Belgium (MD). In 2017 he obtained his PhD with his contributions to the clinical and basic science field of intestinal transplantation and ischemia reperfusion injury. After his specialization in general surgery (2018), he completed a clinical and research fellowship in thoracic surgery and transplantation at the University Hospitals and ETH Zürich in Switzerland. This fellowship was supported by several grants including the prestigious Horlait-Dapsens and ESOT schorlarships. Since 2019 he works as a thoracic and transplant surgeon at the department of Thoracic Surgery and the Leuven Intestinal Failure and Transplant (LIFT) center at the University Hospitals Leuven. He is appointed as professor in Surgery at KU Leuven and his basic research focuses on both the intestine and the lung. He is the author of more than 75 peer-reviewed papers and actively enrolled in several transplant societies. He is a council member for IRTA since 2018 and chair of the Membership and Education committee since 2021.
Dr Glenda Courtney-Martin
Undergraduate degree in Nutrition from Ryerson University. Masters and PhD from the University of Toronto. Member of the College of Dietitians of Ontario, having completed her Dietetic Internship at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Currently, a Clinical Dietitian and Health Clinician Scientist at SickKids, Toronto, Canada.
She is one of the dietitians on the multidisciplinary intestinal rehabilitation team (GIFT) who manages the care of patient with intestinal failure at SickKids. She serves on the Best Practice and Long-Term Parenteral Nutrition (PN) Monitoring Committees at SickKids to develop and implement guidelines to optimize Nutrition Support of patients on PN.
Dr Helen Evans
Helen is originally from Wales but trained in medicine at the University of Birmingham. She undertook paediatric training and specialisation in Paediatric Hepatology at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. She came temporarily to New Zealand in 2005 but loved it and stayed. Helen is Service Clinical Director for Medical Specialities at Starship Hospital along with Lead Clinician for Paediatric Gastroenterology. She has a keen interest in clinical leadership and quality improvement. She was integral to the launch of the National Intestinal Failure Service in 2015. Helen conducts research into childhood liver disease at the University of Auckland with a specific interest in biliary atresia. She is co-convenor of the Congress of the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association in Auckland in 2021. Outside work Helen enjoys challenging herself with sporting adventures that her friends and family believe she will fail, learning Spanish and baking.
Julia Fox
Julia Fox has been a clinical paediatric dietitian for over 17 years and is currently a Clinical Leader of Dietetic Services at the Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH). Julia is a recognised leader in the clinical dietetic management of children with dependence on parenteral nutrition, and the nutritional management of children with complex gastrointestinal disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease and liver failure. Julia has utilised her skills to advocate for and achieve formal improvements in service delivery, particularly in parenteral nutrition ordering and has established the safe practice of dietitian led ordering at the QCH. Julia is on council for the Australian Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and established and Chairs the Paediatric Committee of AuSPEN
Cate Fraser-Irwin
Cate has extensive experience and expertise in the care coordination of complex intestinal failure and Hepatology patients (established in the nurse specialist role 2005).
Cate is the nursing lead for the NZNIFRS research program in partnership with the wider MDT – areas of interest include burden of care, equity, patient reported outcomes relating to service co-design and medical neglect and impacts on access to care.
Cate coordinated the design of the paediatric component of the NZNIFRS registry – a national dataset capturing incidence and outcomes of intestinal failure. Current areas of clinical leadership include the implementation of digital tools to support care coordination and delivery, data design and pathway development. Professional affiliations: Previous Chair for the College of Child and Youth Health Nurses Aotearoa, current council member for AuSPEN, and member of the Allied Health Committee IRTA.
Dr Simon Gabe
Dr Gabe is a consultant in gastroenterology & intestinal rehabilitation at St Mark's Hospital and chair of the NHS National Reference Centre for Severe Intestinal Failure St Mark’s. This is also now a recognised ESPEN Training Centre. He has a wide clinical experience in dealing with complex nutritional problems, inflammatory bowel disease, fistula management, intestinal failure requiring enteral or parenteral support, home parenteral nutrition and consideration of intestinal transplantation.
Dr Gabe is a past President of BAPEN. He co-founded the National Adult Small Intestinal Transplant Forum and is an active member of a Clinical Reference Group within NHS England, helping to develop a network within England for all patients with Intestinal Failure.
Dr Gabe has completed an MD as well as MSc in Clinical Nutrition. His academic and research interests include nutrition (including intestinal failure & enterocutaneous fistulae), home parenteral nutrition (survival & growth factors), intestinal transplantation and intestinal tissue engineering.
Dr Michael Green
Dr. Green’s clinical and research interests have focused on infections in children undergoing SOT, with a particular interest in EBV infections and PTLD. He was co-editor of the 1stand 2nd Edition of the only textbook dedicated to the topic of EBV associated PTLD and serves as Associate Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation, Pediatric Transplantation and the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society. He was co-editor of the 1st and 4thEditions of the Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Infectious Complications of Solid Organ Transplantation published by the American Society of Transplantation and is a past chair for the OPTN/UNOS ad hoc Disease Transmission Advisory Committee.
Dr Girish Gupte
Dr Girish Gupte is a Consultant Paediatric Hepatologist at Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital NHS Foundation trust since 2004 and is the Clinical Lead for the Intestinal Transplantation service and Metabolic liver disease service. He did his undergraduate and postgraduate training in Paediatrics in Mumbai, India and came to the UK for further training in 1995. He did his initial training in various parts of the country and did his specialist training in Paediatric Hepatology at Birmingham Children's Hospital from 2001-2004.
His main areas of interest are non-invasive markers of rejection in liver and/or intestinal transplantation, quality of life following transplantation, antibody mediated rejection in liver and /or intestinal transplantation, nutrition in liver and/or intestinal transplantation.
He has delivered lectures nationally and internationally on various topics related to liver diseases and intestinal transplantation. He has organised postgraduate courses at national and international level, study days to further knowledge about management of paediatric liver disease and intestinal transplantation
He is currently on the ESPGHAN Hepatology Committee (2016-) and has been in Executive committee (Treasurer BSPGHAN 2014-2017) and also served on the council of IRTA (Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association 2009-2013), past chair of NITE (Network for Intestinal failure and Transplantation in Europe). He is deputy chair of the MCTAG advisory group for NHSBT and is keen to promote organ donation within various communities.
In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family and having a good laugh with his friends over a glass of...
Dr Jason Hawksworth
Dr. Hawksworth received his undergraduate degree from The United States Military Academy at West point and his medical degree from Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Upon graduation, Dr. Hawksworth completed general surgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Following residency, he completed an abdominal transplant and hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital. He is currently an attending transplant surgeon at the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute in Washington DC. Dr. Hawksworth’s clinical interests include robotic and minimally invasive liver, bile duct, and pancreas surgery. He also performs adult and pediatric kidney, liver, intestine and multivisceral transplantation. His research interests include clinical transplant trials and he has published over 40 scientific manuscripts and book chapters in leading journals such as Annals of Surgery, American Journal of Transplantation and Transplantation. Dr. Hawksworth is in the Army and has deployed four times to support combat operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East on a Forward Surgical Team. He is a member of several key organizations including a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association, and Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association.
Dr Jonathan Hind
Jonathan is a paediatric Hepatologist at King’s College Hospital in London. He developed and leads the intestinal rehabilitation and transplant service there, having gained experience in Birmingham and Pittsburgh; and linking with Great Ormond Street Hospital. His interest in technology and new ways of working led him to develop a remote monitoring solution in conjunction with his patients, many of whom live far from King’s.
Jonathan also has leadership roles as the deputy clinical director of the children’s hospital at King’s, nationally as a quality advisor for the RCPCH and internationally as the treasurer of the intestinal rehabilitation and transplant association.
Rhonda Holdsworth
Rhonda Holdsworth is the Director of Transplantation and Immunogenetics at the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood and has worked in the field of HLA and Immunogenetics in transplantation and transfusion for more than 30 years. Rhonda has a special interest in HLA genetics, HLA antibodies and platelet and neutrophil immunobiology. She is an active member of several professional bodies and serves on national sector-wide committees in transplantation and HLA immunogenetics. Rhonda is faculty for the International Summer School on HLA Immunogenetics, an international councillor for the IHIWG and a member of the WHO HLA Nomenclature committee.
Kishore Iyer
Kishore Iyer is director of adult and pediatric intestinal rehabilitation & transplantation at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and a professor of transplant surgery and pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Kishore is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Kishore trained in general and pediatric surgery in the UK where he worked with Dr Adrian Bianchi and developed his early interest in short bowel syndrome and the use of intestinal lengthening procedures.
Kishore trained in transplant surgery at Chicago and Omaha and was responsible for establishing and directing the intestinal rehabilitation program in Omaha, the first of its kind nationally. Kishore has served on several national and international committees and is a past Board Member of the Oley Foundation.
Kishore’s current clinical and research interests are in the broad areas of intestinal failure and transplant as well as outcomes disparities in intestinal failure.
When not involved with intestinal failure, Kishore is a politics-junkie, has a very eclectic taste in music and remains an avid motorcyclist.
Prof Simon Lal
Professor of Gastroenterology and Clinical Director of Salford Royal Intestinal Failure Unit, one of two U.K. national reference centres, looking after around 300 patients dependent on Home Parenteral Nutrition
Prof Greg O’Grady
Greg O’Grady is a Professor of Surgery and colorectal surgeon at Auckland City Hospital. He leads the Surgical Engineering Lab at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where his team develop novel medical device solutions for gastrointestinal diseases, including chyme reinfusion solutions in intestinal failure. Professor O’Grady also has a deep interest in better diagnosing specific causes of gut dysmotility.
Dr Esther Ramos-Boluda
After Residence at the Children's Hospital La Paz in Madrid (1992-95) has carried out activities at various levels (primary care and public and private hospitals) until returning to La Paz Hospital in January 2006 , initially as Pediatric Gastroenterologist Consultant and later as the person in charge (Medical Head) of the Rehabilitation and Intestinal Transplant Unit.
Currently she is member of several Societies: Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), Spanish Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (SEGHNP), Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association (IRTA), Network Intestinal Transplantation and rehabilitation of Europe (NITE), European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology And Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and its Intestinal Failure Working Group, as well as the Madrid Transplant Society of which she was a member of its Council between November 2015 and 2019.
Dr Amin Roberts
Dr Roberts is the Clinical Director of the paediatric arm of the New Zealand National Intestinal Failure & Rehabilitation Service. He is a Paediatric Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist at Starship Child Health in Auckland, a position he took up 3 years ago after completing a clinical fellowship at Sickkids Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
Liz Rogers
Liz has been a paediatric dietitian for 25 years. She has worked for over 15 years at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne as a Clinical Specialist Dietitian in a range of specialty areas and has also worked extensively in the United Kingdom. Her particular interests are in the areas of gastrointestinal disease including intestinal failure and nutrition support in PICU.
Liz is a member of the RCH Clinical Nutrition Team within the Gastroenterology Department. Her role encompasses assessment of patients for intestinal rehabilitation and post intestinal transplant. She also works with complex nutrition patients, acute inpatients on TPN and long term home PN patients.
Liz has had a number of peer reviewed publications in areas related to nutrition support. She has been the recipient of the RCH Jeff Crouch Memorial Travel scholarship in 2010. She has presented at international conferences and at AUSPEN on the topics of paediatric intensive care nutrition and intestinal failure.
Liz is a member of the AUSPEN Paediatric Committee and recently led a review to Update Trace Element Paediatric Solutions in Australia and New Zealand.
Lisa Sharkey
I have been part of the Cambridge Intestinal and Multivisceral Transplant program since 2013 and am now the medical lead for the service. I regularly chair the national listing meeting (NASIT) and represent Cambridge on the NHSBT advisory group. My research interests include IFALD, graft function and nutritional outcomes following transplantation and detection/management of graft rejection. I am very interested in nutrition teaching and training and hold various national posts related to this. In my spare time I enjoy cycling, cooking and taking my very energetic Beagle for long walks.
Stephanie So
Stephanie is a physiotherapist from SickKids in Toronto, Canada. She works in the Liver and Intestinal Transplant and Intestinal Rehabilitation Program (GIFT). She is also a lecturer at the University of Toronto. She has published several research articles looking at neurodevelopmental outcomes and physical function in children with Intestinal failure and physical function and activity outcomes in children post liver transplant. She is an active member of the IRTA Allied Health Committee.
Dr Mattias Soop
I am a surgeon specialising in the management of inflammatory bowel disease and intestinal failure. I completed general surgical training and a PhD in surgery in 2004 at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm and Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester, UK, and then did a postdoc and a clinical fellowship in colorectal surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. I then worked at The University of Auckland, NZ, and at the Irving National Intestinal Failure Unit at Salford Royal Hospital as a consultant surgeon and associate professor. In 2019, I returned to Stockholm to develop an IBD Centre at Ersta Hospital. I also serve as Section Editor at Diseases of the Colon and Rectum and on the ESPEN Scientific Committee.
Mr Graham Starkey
Graham is a surgeon with an interest in HPB surgery and liver / intestinal transplantation in adults and children. He works at Austin Health and the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
A/Prof Adam Testro
A/Prof Adam Testro is a gastroenterologist based at Austin Health, in Melbourne Australia. He is the medical lead for the adult arm of the Australian Intestinal Transplant Service and a transplant hepatologist within the unit's busy adult liver transplant service. He has previously spent time with both the paediatric small bowel transplant program in Birmingham, UK and the small bowel transplant program at UPMC, Pittsburgh, USA.
Will Thomas
Will Thomas has been a consultant haematologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital since 2017, looking after patients with bleeding and thrombotic disorders. He is the UKHCDO centre director currently. He has a research interest in clinical and laboratory haemostasis. He also has experience of looking after patients with haematological complications after solid organ transplantation.
Dr Paul Wales
Dr. Paul Wales is a Neonatal and Pediatric surgeon who trained in General Surgery at the University of British Columbia and completed his fellowship in Pediatric General Surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Wales holds a Masters degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Edinburgh. He is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto and is appointed as a Senior Associate Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences in the Research Institute at Sick Kids and as Associate Professor in the Institute of Health Promotion, Management and Evaluation in the School of Graduate Studies. His clinical and research focus is in the area of Intestinal Failure. His research program consists of both a clinical and translational component utilizing a variety of observational and clinical trial methodologies, as well as, a novel neonatal piglet model of short bowel syndrome. Dr. Wales is the founder and Director of the Group for Improvement of Intestinal Function and Treatment (GIFT), an interdisciplinary program dedicated to the care of children with intestinal failure.
Karen Winterbourn
Karen lives in Sydney Australia and has been on home parenteral nutrition (HPN) for over 14 years as a result of Short Bowel Syndrome-Intestinal Failure from Crohn’s disease and volvulus. An avid traveller before illness, she eagerly took on travel with HPN – across Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Karen is the immediate past President (for approximately 8 years) of the HPN consumer support group, Parenteral Nutrition Down Under (PNDU), and was lead author of PNDU’s first published peer-reviewed paper “Retraining of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) users in Australia and New Zealand: a consumer audit”.
Currently Karen is relishing good health and time ‘smelling the roses’.
Dr Darren Wong
Darren is a gastroenterologist at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia with an interest in clinical nutrition/intestinal rehabilitation. He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Melbourne in 2007 followed by postgraduate advanced training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology through the Austin Hospital, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and St Vincent’s Hospital and was awarded the FRACP in 2015. His PhD thesis, completed in 2018, focussed on the humoral immunopathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B infection. Following this, he undertook three fellowships in the UK spanning intestinal failure (St Marks Hospital, London), inflammatory bowel disease (John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford), and multivisceral transplantation (Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge) before returning to Melbourne.