Northern Health’s Department of Gastroenterology made a significant impact at this year’s Australian Gastroenterology Week (AGW) in Adelaide, leading or contributing to an impressive 29 accepted abstracts. This marks the department’s most substantial contribution to the national meeting to date.

Highlighting the event, three abstracts were selected for oral presentations, including two by current Liver Fellow and incoming Gastroenterology Registrar for 2025, Dr Leya Nedumannil. Jonathan Maker, a final year Medical Student at Northern Health, also presented the largest systematic review and meta-analysis to date on the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in colonoscopy.

In the poster hall, the Department continued to excel with two posters nominated as Posters of Merit, including one by Liver Clinical Nurse Consultant Kristen Peake. Dr Nedumannil’s poster was also recognised as a finalist for this award. Several posters by the interns, registrars, IBD and endoscopy fellows also received substantial attention.

Further accolades included Dr Nicholas Hannah being shortlisted as a finalist for the Young Investigator Award, honouring his PhD work under the supervision of Associate Professor Sid Sood, Head of Hepatology.

Director of Gastroenterology, Associate Professor Mayur Garg, who co-convened the highly successful Postgraduate Course and chaired several sessions at the meeting, praised the team’s achievements.

“It was tremendous to see Northern Health researchers contributing in such an impactful way, as much as any other Australian centre, at this national meeting. It is a privilege to be a part of such a dynamic and enthusiastic team, and a health service that encourages learning, growth and innovation,” he stated.