An inflammatory bowel disease update for the Central Coast

A/Prof Kariyawasam went back to the Central Coast to give an evening update to the Department of Gastroenterology at Gosford Hospital. It is where he learned gastroenterology, endoscopy and inflammatory bowel disease as a trainee, so it was a particular pleasure to be asked.

The update

The talk covered where treatment of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis has moved, how newer classes of therapy are positioned alongside the established ones and what the sequence of treatment looks like when the first choice does not hold. The discussion afterwards was about delivering that in a regional service, where distance, staffing and access to infusion and endoscopy shape what is realistic.

The department

It was good to see the clinicians who were such a large part of that early training: Glen Hawken, John Fiataroni, John Dowsett, David Parkins, David Gilbert and Satbir Singh. It was also good to meet the people now building gastroenterology, endoscopy and inflammatory bowel disease services on the Coast: Rishi Sud, Nishlan Pillay, Yamini Yadav, Lisa McGrory, Kelly Taylor and Abhishek Kathuria.

The meeting was held at The Cowrie Restaurant in Terrigal and was organised and supported by Pfizer. Educational meetings of this kind are sponsored by industry, and that support is disclosed here as a matter of course.