Concord and Macquarie teams at Australian Gastroenterology Week 2026

Australian Gastroenterology Week 2026, the annual meeting of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia, was held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre from 28 to 31 August 2026.

Concord Repatriation General Hospital led abstract submissions at the meeting. A/Prof Kariyawasam contributes to the growing inflammatory bowel disease research output from Concord, Macquarie University Hospital and IBD Sydney, and both current and former fellows presented.

Awards

• Dr John Chetwood, Young Investigator Award winner for clinical research, and People's Choice winner.
• Dr Alex Noh, Young Investigator Award finalist in basic science.
• Posters of merit finalists: Dr Michael Au, Dr Gary Louie and Professor Rupert Leong.

Concord at AGW 2026

• Six oral presentations from abstracts: William Kuang (two), Bonita Gu, Alex Noh, Gary Louie and John Chetwood.
• Twenty-four poster presentations, including the three posters of merit finalists.

Abstracts co-authored by A/Prof Kariyawasam

Twenty-two of the abstracts presented at the meeting were co-authored by A/Prof Kariyawasam. They cover drug persistence and adherence in inflammatory bowel disease, acute severe ulcerative colitis, intestinal ultrasound, the gut microbiome and colorectal polyps. All were published in the meeting supplement of the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2026, volume 41.

• Serum calprotectin has limited utility as a biomarker of mucosal inflammation and remission in vedolizumab-treated ulcerative colitis: A post-hoc analysis of the VIEWS trial. Nico Pajes and colleagues, page S176.
• Development and preliminary face-validity testing of an Inflammatory Bowel Disease Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Score (IBD-MCBS) in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Nico Pajes and colleagues, page S177.
• Addition of 5-aminosalicylates improves persistence of advanced therapies in ulcerative colitis but not Crohn's disease. Bonita Gu and colleagues, page S174.
• Appendicectomy for induction of remission in active ulcerative colitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Max Yang and colleagues, page S152.
• Young, female, and right-sided: Emerging patterns in serrated colorectal lesions. Michael Au and colleagues, page S35.
• Vedolizumab demonstrates superior persistence to infliximab as a first-line advanced therapy in ulcerative colitis, with immunomodulator co-therapy enhancing infliximab durability: Real-world evidence from the Persistence Australian National IBD Cohort (PANIC5). Gary Louie and colleagues, page S189.
• Adherence to oral advanced therapies is superior to that of intravenous or subcutaneous advanced therapy in inflammatory bowel disease. Gary Louie and colleagues, page S190.
• Dose-escalated ustekinumab does not provide additional benefit over standard dosing in inflammatory bowel disease: A meta-analysis. Bonita Gu and colleagues, page S171.
• Vedolizumab demonstrates superior persistence to infliximab as a first-line advanced therapy in luminal Crohn's disease, while infliximab durability is preserved across treatment lines: Real-world evidence from the Persistence Australian National IBD Cohort (PANIC5). Gary Louie and colleagues, page S191.
• Immunomodulator co-therapy improves persistence of infliximab in acute severe ulcerative colitis and subsequent therapies after infliximab non-persistence. Bonita Gu and colleagues, page S173.
• Beyond the mucosa: Layer-specific intestinal ultrasound parameters identify inflammatory activity in ulcerative colitis. William Kuang and colleagues, page S146.
• Temporal trends toward earlier advanced therapy escalation in ulcerative colitis: Real-world findings from the Persistence Australian National IBD Cohort (PANIC5). Gary Louie and colleagues, page S192.
• Gut microbiome and colorectal polyps: mapping the evidence on growth and development. A scoping review. Christelle Pagonis and colleagues, page S32.
• Optimizing cytomegalovirus detection in acute severe ulcerative colitis: Diagnostic test performance and biopsy sampling yield. Nico Pajes and colleagues, page S188.
• Real-world immunomodulator prescribing patterns in ulcerative colitis: Immunomodulator co-therapy improves tumor necrosis factor inhibitor persistence, and azathioprine is superior to mercaptopurine. Bonita Gu and colleagues, page S174.
• Accelerating utilization of advanced therapies in inflammatory bowel disease compared with other immune-mediated diseases: A population-based analysis in Australia (2016-2025). Anna Camille Akon and colleagues, page S113.
• Immunohistochemistry use in colorectal histopathology: Temporal trends and clinicopathological associations. Michael Au and colleagues, page S36.
• Persistent early-life microbiome signatures in adults with inflammatory bowel disease: Insights from random forest analysis. Alex Noh and colleagues, page S116.
• Switching to vedolizumab vs tumor necrosis factor inhibitors after first-line non-persistence in ulcerative colitis: Data from the Persistence Australian National IBD Cohort (PANIC5). Bonita Gu and colleagues, page S175.
• Upadacitinib is an effective first-line rescue therapy in acute severe ulcerative colitis: An alternative to infliximab or ciclosporin. William Kuang and colleagues, page S120.
• Latitude-related variation in advanced inflammatory bowel disease therapy use across Australia: A nationwide pharmacoepidemiological study. Nico Pajes and colleagues, page S199.
• Evolving cytomegalovirus testing practices in acute severe ulcerative colitis coincided with a lower observed 90-day colectomy rate: A single-center cohort across two calendar eras. Nico Pajes and colleagues, page S185.

A/Prof Kariyawasam's own research interests, in stricturing Crohn's disease, intestinal ultrasound and bowel cancer in younger adults, are set out on the research page.

Read the post about the meeting on LinkedIn