Our Team

Professor Nicholas J. Talley, AC, MD (NSW), PhD (Syd.), FRACP, FAFPHM, is a distinguished neurogastroenterologist and clinician, with a special interest in functional and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders. He is currently Professor of Medicine at the University of Newcastle, NHMRC Leadership Fellow, Chief Investigator NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Digestive Health and Editor-in-Chief, Medical Journal of Australia. He has over 1000 publications and is considered an international authority in the field. In 2018, he was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for his research, NSW Scientist of the Year, and the Peter Wills Medal from Research Australia. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Mayo Clinic, University of North Carolina and the Karolinska Institute.

Twitter: @Prof_NickTalley

LinkedIn: Nicholas J. Talley

Professor Gerald Holtmann is an academic gastroenterologist with an outstanding track record in the field of Neurogastroenterology and Health Service Innovation. He is currently Director of the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland and Director of Clinical Innovation for the Faculty of Health & Biomedical Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland. Prof Holtmann is Chair for the Functional Gastrointestinal Area within the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (APAGE) and Chair of Queensland’s State-wide Gastroenterology Clinical Network. He also serves as Vice-President of the German “Gastro-Liga and has experience as Chief Executive Officer and Non-Executive Director of large national and international health care organizations. He has authored more than 300 original peer-reviewed publications, review articles and book chapters.

Twitter: @GeraldHoltmann

LinkedIn: Gerald Holtmann

Professor Walker is Professor of Anatomical Pathology at the University of Newcastle, HMRI and holds an honorary staff specialist post at John Hunter Hospital. She relocated to Australia in 2012, previously, Reader GI pathology, Imperial College and Honorary Consultant St Mary’s Hospital, London UK. Her expertise as a histopathologist is in interpretation of clinical or molecular events in tissue sections, correlating clinical patient data with pathology and in immunocytochemistry to demonstrate cellular function or secretion. In clinical and animal studies histopathology makes a diagnosis, determines subtle alterations of immunity and inflammation by quantitative methods (cell counting) and confirms the presence of upregulated gene expression by immunocytochemistry as evidenced by studies on spirochaetosis as a cause for IBS. She is a founding member of AGIRA, the Australian GI Research Alliance, a coalition of GI researchers. Professor Walker has 187 peer reviewed publications, including 51 reviews, with contributions to 4 major international clinical guidelines in gastroenterology practice.

Professor Mike Jones is Deputy Head (Research) in the Psychology Department at Macquarie University, Sydney. Professor Jones’ dominant stream of research is the epidemiology of functional gastrointestinal disorders with a focus on understanding the mechanism of their association with psychological conditions and disorders and how psychological therapies benefit some FGID patients. Professor Jones primary training is in biostatistics and biology, BSc(Hons-1), PhD, and he has been accredited as a statistician by the Statistical Society of Australia (A.STAT) and the Royal Statistical Society (UK, C.STAT). He is an applied statistician with experience in both experimental and epidemiological studies and is particularly skilled at the interface between statistics and clinical research, with over 250 peer-reviewed publications. Professor Jones has been a member of the Cochrane Collaboration Statistical Methods group for over ten years. He also sits on the advisory board of a general practice accreditation authority.

LinkedIn: Michael Jones

Mark Morrison’s scientific expertise resides in the fields of microbial physiology, genetics and genomics, with a career-long focus on the gastrointestinal microbiota of humans and other herbivores. He provides leadership for the microbiome research and outreach activities for the CRE in Digestive Health. Professor Morrison joined the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute in October 2013, as chair and principal group leader in microbial biology and metagenomics, and in addition to this role, he now serves as science lead for gastrointestinal function with the Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. During his academic tenure in the USA, he led the team that produced the first genome sequences for Ruminococcus and Prevotella spp., with both genera now widely acknowledged to play a key role in establishing human gut “enterotypes”. His abilities to translate genomic and metagenomic datasets into a sound biological framework include a world-first: the metagenome-directed isolation of a “new” bacterium from a species-rich microbial community. He is Australia’s science representative to the International Human Microbiome Consortium, and serves on a number of Institute and industry advisory boards for gut microbiome research.

LinkedIn: Mark Morrison

Professor Keely is a Professor of Immunology and Microbiology in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy at the University of Newcastle and group leader of the Hunter Medical Research Institute Gastrointestinal Research group. Prof Keely’s work has focused on how intestinal tissues adapt to the metabolic stresses associated with intestinal inflammation and infection. His research approach is translational, employing in vitro molecular assays, in vivo models and ex vivo clinical assays. The majority of these works have been published in high ranking journals, and have contributed to our fundamental understanding of GI biology.

Twitter: @SimonKeely

LinkedIn: Simon Keely

Professor Peter Gibson is a gastroenterologist who is Professor and Director of Gastroenterology at Alfred Health and Monash University, and Adjunct Professor at RMIT University. From a 20-year background of research in epithelial cell biology and gut immunology, he now runs a large program of translational research He is actively involved in studying the effects of dietary components on the healthy gut, and has ongoing clinical interests in inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Major aspects of his work include the use of diet to control gut symptoms and influence outcomes in chronic intestinal conditions, manipulation and assessment of the gut microbiota and its function, and optimisation of therapies for inflammatory bowel disease. His achievements have included leading the Monash team that developed and validated the low FODMAP diet for functional gut symptoms, and better defined the role of gluten in non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, work which has had profound effects on attitudes to and use of dietary therapies in chronic intestinal diseases. He has published more than 150 reviews and 230 peer-reviewed publications of his original work. He won several awards including the Distinguished Research Prize, Gastroenterological Society of Australia in 2010, Ten of the Best, National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia in 2016 and Monash University Vice Chancellor’s Award in Research Impact (Economic and Social Impact) in 2016.

Professor Sally Chan (BSc, MSc, PhD, FAAN) is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Singapore). She is also the Deputy Director of the Priority Research Centre for Brain and Mental Health at the University of Newcastle (UoN). She has extensive international connection and has been appointed as visiting professor in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the UK. Prof Chan is a world recognised research leader and pioneer in mental health and psychosocial intervention research. Her work involves adults and older people with chronic diseases, severe mental illness, dementia, cancer and psychosocial interventions to promote quality of life, coping and resilience of patients and family caregivers.

Twitter: @sallywaichichan

LinkedIn: Chan Sally

Professor Coombes is Professor in clinical exercise physiology at The University of Queensland (UQ) and Chair of the Exercise is Medicine Australia initiative. His main research area involves understanding the role of exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness in health and disease. With expertise in physiology and biochemistry he investigates mechanisms related to the health benefits of exercise and approaches to keep people active. Prof Coombes is accredited as an Exercise Physiologist and Nutritionist and is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and Exercise and Sports Science Australia.

Twitter: @jefcoombes

LinkedIn: Jeff Coombes

Dr Duncanson is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who works as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle and rural research manager for NSW Health. She has a PhD in Nutrition and Dietetics and her primary research interest areas are the dietary aspects of functional gastrointestinal disorders and dietary assessment methodology.

Dr Paul Moayyedi (BSc, MB ChB, PhD, MPH, FRCP, FRCPC, FACG, CAGF) qualified from Bristol University in 1988 and trained in Gastroenterology at Leeds’ General Infirmary.  He obtained a PhD and Masters in Public Health from the University of Leeds.  He was appointed Professor of Gastroenterology Health Services Research at the University of Birmingham in 2001 and then moved to McMaster University to be the first recipient of the Richard Hunt/AstraZeneca Chair of Gastroenterology in 2004 to 2016 and is currently the Audrey Campbell Chair of Ulcerative Colitis Research since 2017. Dr Paul Moayyedi has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters which have been cited over 52,000 times with an h index of 109 according to Google Scholar. He is a proponent of evidence-based medicine and is the joint Co-ordinating Editor of the Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Diseases Cochrane Review Group. He was also joint Editor-in Chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology 2010-2015.   He has led many large randomized controlled trials and observational studies.