August 2013 Gastrointestinal Surgeon to Deliver Sir Peter Freyer Memorial Lecture at NUI Galway

NUI Galway will host Ireland’s largest surgical conference, the 38th Sir Peter Freyer Memorial Lecture and Surgical Symposium, on 6-7 September. Internationally renowned surgeon, Professor Leslie Nathanson will deliver the Memorial Lecture entitled ‘A Journey Towards the Perfect Fundoplication’. 

Dr Nathanson is a General Surgeon and Head of the Hepatobiliary Unit at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Queensland, Australia with special interests in laparoscopic, hepatobiliary and upper gastrointestinal surgery, especially the evolution of laparoscopic fundoplication surgery for reflux.

Best known for the Nathanson laparoscopic liver retractor and development of a common bile basket used for extracting common bile duct stones, Dr Nathanson randomised trial of ERCP vs Laparoscopic treatment of CBD stones was published in 2005, and was a landmark trial in the treatment of common bile duct stones. His recent work on measuring adult oesophageal junction distensiblity during general anaesthetic assessed with the EndoFLIP (endoscopic functional luminal imagery probe) was published in 2011. He was awarded an honorary fellowship from the Edinburgh College of Surgeons in 2012.

Professor Patrick Broe will deliver the State of the Art Lecture entitled ‘Irish Surgery: The Need for Vision and Leadership’on Saturday, 7 September at 1pm. Professor Broe is President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Consultant General Surgeon at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin with a special interest in Upper Gastrointestinal and Laparoscopic Surgery. He has been a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland since 1991 and during this time he has been Chairman of the College Committee, the CME Committee, the General Surgery Sub-Committee and the Irish Surgical Postgraduate Training Committee. He was President of the Surgical Section of the Royal Academy of Medicine (RAMI) from 2006-2008.

In Beaumont Hospital Professor Broe has served as chairman of the Surgical Division, the Medical Board and the Ethics Committee. He held the Chair of Clinical Governance from 2007-2009 after which he became Clinical Director for Surgery. He has been the Lead Clinical Director for Beaumont Hospital since 2011. 

Michael Kerin, Professor of Surgery at NUI Galway, said: “We are delighted to welcome Dr Nathanson and Professor Broe to our University. Dr Nathanson is one of the pioneers of minimal access surgery and is highly regarded internationally within his field.  Both lectures are the centre-points of a large programme containing some of the best surgical research from this country.” 

The annual Sir Peter Freyer Memorial Lecture and Surgical Symposium provides a platform for healthcare professionals to present their research and clinical work and allows for the merging of both scientific and clinical information. It is named in memory of the Galway-born surgeon, Sir Peter Freyer, who performed the first successful surgical operation to remove an enlarged prostate in 1900.

The venue for the 38th Sir Peter Freyer Memorial Lecture and Surgical Symposium will be the Arts Millennium Building at NUI Galway. For further information call 091-524390 or visit www.freyer.ie

-ENDS-