CONTEMPORARY AND EMERGING APPROACHES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FUNCTIONAL GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS

A/Prof Gwee Kok Ann is a Consultant Gastroenterologist practising at Gleaneagles Hospital, Singapore. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, Scientific Chair of the Asian Neuro-gastroenterology & Motility Association and a member of the World Gastroenterology Organisation’s IBS Guideline Review team.

He is also the founding President of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Support Group in Singapore, and a member of the Asian Honorary Editorial Advisory Board of MIMS Guide. He is the lead author for the Asian Consensus on the Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Professor Chey from the University of Michigan, where he is currently the Timothy T. Nostrant Collegiate Professor of Gastroenterology, Director-GI Physiology Laboratory, Co-Director-Michigan Bowel Control Program, and Director-GI Nutrition & Behavioral Wellness Program.

He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Gastroenterology and joined the Board of Directors of the ACG Institute in 2014. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Rome Foundation and is on the editorial board for the Rome IV criteria. He is an Advisory Board member of the International Foundation of Functional GI Disorders.

Dr Marcus Gray is the Advance Queensland Fellow who works on the effects of GI Inflammation on brain function including depression and anxiety.

He is an experimental neuropsychologist who utilities functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlates of psychiatric disturbances and dysregulation within the autonomic nervous system.

Prof Gerald Holtmann is a Clinical Academic and Gastroenterologists. His key interest is in the field of Neuro-Gastroenterology and Health-Service Innovation.

He is the Director of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane and Associate Dean Clinical of both Health Faculties of the University of Queensland. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the West Moreton Hospital and Health Service and UQ HealthCare Pty Ltd.

He is the organiser and co-author of various international consensus conferences and clinical guidelines including the Rome criteria and has published more 200 original and review papers.

Professor Morrison is the Chair in Microbial Biology and Metagenomics at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, which is based at the TRI. He and his team use a suite of innovative approaches to holistically capture, genetically dissect, and examine the structure-function relationships of gut microbes (the microbiome). He led the North American consortium that produced the first genome sequences for Prevotella and Ruminococcus bacteria, and his partnership with French scientists first advanced evidence of “discriminating species” between healthy persons and Crohn’s disease patients.

He serves as Australia’s science representative to the International Human Microbiome Consortium, and has contributed to organizing, as well as chair a number of international conferences focused on the gut microbiota.

Dr Ayesha Shah is the IBD and Motility Fellow at The Princess Alexandra Hospital. She has a sub-specialty interest in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), Crohn’s and Ulcerative colitis and functional gastrointestinal disorders. She is currently pursuing her PhD, which involves studying the characterization of small bowel microbiome in health and in functional and inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders.

Dr Erin Shanahan is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology based at the TRI, specialising in molecular microbiology and host pathogen interactions. After completing her PhD at the University of Sydney with a focus on basic research in the field of mycobacterium tuberculosis, she is now aiming to elucidate the role of the composition of the mucosal microbiome for the manifestation of GI diseases with special emphasis on Functional and Inflammatory Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Dr Heidi Staudacher is a NHMRC funded Postdoctoral Researcher at the TRI specialising in Dietetics in management of IBS, Coeliac Disease and IBD. After completing her PhD in London She is now leading nutrition research at the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology to better characterise the mechanisms and efficacy of dietary interventions such as the FODMAP in highly prevalent GI conditions such as IBS and IBD.

Professor Strasser is a rural General Practitioner. She is the Head of the Rural Clinical School, University of Queensland, UQ RCS. UQRCS is the largest RCS in Australia with 200 medical students at any one time and more than 550 student placements of more than 4 weeks per year. Prof. Strasser has been involved in a number of innovative Australian rural health workforce Initiatives including the Remote Vocational Training Scheme, RVTS; the Northern Territory Medical Program, NTMP; and the Greater Northern Australia Regional Training Network, GNARTN.

She has worked across the continuum of the curriculum UG - PG- CME/CPD; for a number of universities: Flinders, Monash, and now Queensland; also for the Professional Colleges: RACGP training program as National Director of Rural Training & National Director Indigenous Health Training; and, National Medical Advisor for ACCRM. In Canada she held leadership positions within the Northern Ontario School of Medicine as Director of Faculty Development, Phase 2 Coordinator (Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship in the 3rd year of the MD program), and Head of Human Sciences Faculty.