Register now for the 25th AGITG Annual Scientific Meeting

Surgical program highlights include:

  • A keynote from internationally renowned Professor Diane Simeone who is paving the way in early diagnosis and treatment of early-stage pancreatic cancer in high-risk individuals.
  • Thought-provoking and challenging MDT discussions on pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer and complex GI oncology.
  • Hear from GI and HPB surgeons at the forefront of delivering equitable, accessible treatment for our regional and rural patients.
  • Engage with leaders in neuroendocrine tumours during the CommNETs and AGITG surgical working group session. Submissions are still open for abstracts and trial concepts to discuss at this session, make a submission here before 8 October.

Meet some of our expert invited faculty:

Prof Diane Simeone

Prof Simeone is the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Surgery and Pathology at New York University and the Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center, where she also serves as the Associate Director for Translational Research. Prof Simeone is an internationally renowned pancreatic surgeon and a researcher with a long-standing career focus on the treatment of pancreatic neoplasms.

Prof Marc Besselink

Marc Besselink is the Professor of Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary (HPB) surgery at Amsterdam  UMC, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He studied at Utrecht University (Medicine) and Oxford University (Evidence Based Health Care). In 2002, he co-founded the Dutch Pancreatitis Study Group, in 2012 the Dutch Pancreatic Cancer Group , in 2016 the European Consortium on Minimally Invasive Pancreatic Surgery, and in 2019 the Global Audits of Pancreatic Surgery consortium.

Dr Janice Pasieka

Dr Pasieka FRCSC FACS is Clinical Professor of Surgery and Oncology at the University of Calgary. She did her Endocrine Surgical fellowship training at the University of Michigan and the Karolinska Institute. Dr Pasieka has served as Secretary-Treasurer and President of the AAES and received the prestigious ‘Oliver Cope Meritorious Achievement Award’, in recognition of her substantial contributions to the field of endocrine surgery.

A/Prof Louise Barbier

A/Prof Barbier is an academic HPB and liver transplant surgeon with a PhD in immunology. She recently joined Auckland City Hospital’s HPB and liver transplant unit teams. Her expertise is mostly in liver transplantation, liver metastases, liver primary tumors, hepatocellular adenomas, polycystic liver disease, portal hypertension, pancreas adenocarcinoma, and neuroendocrine tumours.

Prof Andrew Hill

Prof Hill, as Professor of Surgery and Colorectal Surgeon at the University of Auckland, has established an internationally recognised research group in peri-operative care at Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland, and has made seminal contributions to understanding of the metabolic response to surgery. He is the President of the ANZ Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.

Prof Jonathan Koea

Prof Jonathan Koea (Ngāti mutunga, Ngāti tama) grew up in Taranaki and graduated from Medical School at the University of Auckland. He is Professor of Surgery at the University of Auckland, an examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the subspeciality editor for HPB Surgery for the ANZ Journal of Surgery. Prof Koea’s research includes HPB Surgery, GI cancer, Indigenous health and service provision.

Dr Pranavan Palamuthusingam

Dr Palamuthusingam is currently a Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon at Royal Brisbane Hospital. He was formerly the Clinical Lead for HPB Surgery in North Queensland and instrumental in setting up a multidisciplinary service (2018-2022) that delivered complex surgical care to this vast rural and regional area based out of Townsville.

Dr Jeremy Rossaak

Dr Rossaak is a New Zealand trained General Surgeon with subspecialty interest in Upper GI and HPB surgery. He has a particular interest in the patients journey through the hospital and patient safety. Dr Rossaak’s research interests are in complex decision pathways, shared values, prehabilitation and post operative care. He is currently chairman of the Aotearoa New Zealand Surgical Training Committee.

  

View all invited faculty

Surgical Program Highlights

Monday 13 November

12.45pm – 5.00pm

Combined CommNETs and AGITG Surgical Working Group Sessions

Facilitators: Veronica Boyle and Jonathan Koea

Presentations for new and developing projects.

Submit an abstract, review or clinical trial concept on neuroendocrine tumours/malignancies and surgical gastrointestinal oncology concepts, to present and discuss at the combined CommNETs and AGITG workshop.

This is an excellent opportunity to present, gain feedback and collaborate with colleagues from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and Canada, as well as our international faculty.

Make a submission: gicancer.org.au/commnets-submission

Project Workshop: CommNETs and AGITG collaboration in surgical research.

Tuesday 14 November

10.00am – 12:00pm

Session 1: Gastric Cancer (Early: Adenocarcinoma and NET)

Surgical Spotlight: Gastric NETs – when to resect, Janice Pasieka

Familial CDH1 Mutant Gastric Cancer: Surgical perspective, Jeremy Rossaak

This session also includes:

  • Familial CDH1 mutant gastric cancer: family, scientist and academic perspectives
  • Translational Research Keynote: Katherine Garman
  • Early Gastric trials
1.00pm – 3:00pm

Session 2: Pancreatic Cancer (Early: Adenocarcinoma and NET)

Surgical Keynote: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma, Diane Simeone

ANZ MDM in Action: Enhancing Indigenous and rural participation, with surgical representation from Pranavan Palamuthusingam and Saxon Connor

MDT Case Workshop: Two curative intent cases of pancreatic cancer, with surgical representation from Diane Simeone and Pranavan Palamuthusingam

This session also includes:

  • Partnering with patients for NET clinical and translational research, Meredith Cummins (CEO of NECA) and Michelle Sullivan (CEO of NECNZ)
  • Early Pancreas trials
3.30pm – 5:30pm

Session 3: Biliary Tract and Liver Cancer (Early)

MDT Debate: Two biliary tract cancer cases, with surgical representation from Diane Simeone and Anubhav Mittal

International review of the AGITG Portfolio: Early UGI/HPB/Adjuvant and Neo-Adjuvant, Marc Besselink

This session also includes:

  • Equity in Cancer Clinical Trial Participation in Australia, Kathy Kyung You
  • Radiation Keynote: Rising Role of Radiation Therapy for the Treatment of Liver Cancer, Laura Dawson
  • Early Other UGI trials

Wednesday 15 November

8.30am – 10.30am

Session 1: Upper GI and HPB Cancer (Advanced)

Surgical Spotlight: Lessons in equity from liver transplant in HCC, Louise Barbier

MDT Case Workshop: Two palliative intent UGI/HBP cases, with surgical representation from Diane Simeone

This session also includes:

  • ANZ MDMs that involve scientists, Rob Ramsay
  • Medical Oncology Keynote: Managing advanced biliary cancer, Niall Tebbutt
  • Advanced UGI and HPB trials
11.00am – 12.00pm

Special Interest Breakout Sessions

Attendees will be able to choose from one of the following sessions to attend:

Advanced Biliary Tract Cancer: Jonathan Koea, Daniel Croagh, David Goldstein, Lara Lipton, Katrin Sjoquist, John Zalcberg, Niall Tebbutt

Partnering with Patients to Impact Cancer Care: Community representatives
1.00pm – 3.00pm

Session 2: New Concepts – Looking to our future

New Concepts Symposium: International review, Diane Simeone, Leonard Saltz and Katherine Garman

This session also includes:

  • Trial Design Spotlight – What is the Meihana model?
  • Advanced colorectal and NETs trials
  • Genomic Cancer Clinical Trials Initiative (GCCTI) presentation, Katrin Sjoquist
3.30pm – 5.30pm

Session 3: Colorectal Cancer (Advanced)

This session includes:

  • Keeping patients and their data safe in translational studies, Kimi Henare
  • Translational Research Keynote: Developing on dissecting out subset of KRAS mutant metastatic CRCs and the implications for prognosis and treatment response, Vicki Whitehall
  • Advanced Colorectal trials
  • International review of the AGITG portfolio: Advanced GI Cancers, Leonard Saltz

Thursday 16 November

8.30am – 10.30am

Session 1: Rectal Cancer (Early)

MDT Case Workshop: Two cases of rectal cancer, with surgical representation from Cherry Koh

MDT Debate: Surgeons and Medical Oncologists

This session also includes:

  • The Road We Travel: GI cancer outcomes for Māori, and the centralisation problem, Jason Gurney
  • Radiation Oncology Keynote: Rectal cancer, Andrew Kneebone
  • Early Rectal trials
11.00am – 1.00pm

Session 2: Colon Cancer (Early)

Surgical Keynote: Colon Cancer, Andrew Hill

MDT Case Workshop: Colon cancer, with surgical representation from Deena Harji

International review of the AGITG portfolio: Early Colorectal Cancer, Jonathan Loree

This session also includes:

  • Taking the trial to the patient, Melanie Poxton
  • Early Colon trials
2.00pm – 3.35pm

Closing Plenary

Te Wero (The Challenge): Solutions to drive equitable outcomes

Chairs: Jonathan Koea, Ben Lawrence

The final plenary session encourages us to reflect on what we have learnt from the conference proceedings. It sets the direction of travel for AGITG, how we will think about equity, how we incorporate it in clinical and research practice and how AGITG trials are designed going forward.

View the full program

Register now