Dr Yoon-Kyo An is the “Head of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)” at Mater Hospital Brisbane and the “Clinical Lead of the IBD Clinical Trials Unit” at Mater Research, a world class centre of clinical and research excellence. The centre is among the largest IBD clinical research units in Australia. She is also a gastroenterologist who specialises in IBD, combining public and private practices at Mater Hospital Brisbane, Mater Private Hospital Brisbane, and Mater Private Hospital Redland. She holds a senior lecturer position at the University of Queensland. Dr An is a co-founder of digital healthcare education platform ‘GutTalk’, which aims to empower patients and communities by closing the communication and knowledge gap in Gut Health.
Dr An completed her Medical Science degree (BMedSc) at the University of Sydney and her Medical degree (MBBS) at the University of Queensland. She undertook her physician and advanced gastroenterology training at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and Mater Hospital Brisbane. She completed a clinical and research fellowship in IBD at Mater Hospital Brisbane and completed the executive business and leadership program at the University of Oxford Said Business School. She is currently pursuing a PhD through the University of Queensland and an MBA through Griffith University.
Dr An is a passionate advocate for optimising patient outcomes through a holistic approach to care including personalised treatment plans to manage digestive health and incorporation of clinical and translational research. She is an active IBD clinician and researcher as well as a patient advocate. Her own research focusses on real-world effectiveness of biologic therapy in IBD and the use of intestinal ultrasound to monitor disease activity and predict responses to therapy. She drives collaborative research projects throughout Australia and is actively involved with the Australia New Zealand Inflammatory Bowel Disease Consortium (ANZIBDC), the Gastroenterology Network for Intestinal Ultrasound (GENIUS) and the Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA).
Dr An has been successful in competitive research funding from industry and philanthropic organisations. She was the recipient of the inaugural GENIUS fellowship. She has affiliations with many Gastroenterology and IBD societies and has a national presence through her numerous symposia and conference presentations. She also serves on several Medical Advisory Boards including Chiesi, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and NPS Medicine Wise as well as sitting on the Council of Therapeutic Advisory Group. She is a GESA representative on the GP Aware Program committee and works collaboratively with Crohn’s and Colitis Australia (CCA).
Current Appointments
2021 – current: Executive Committee Member – Secretary, Australia and New Zealand Inflammatory Bowel Disease Consortium (ANZIBDC)
2020 – current: Scientific Committee Member, Australia and New Zealand Inflammatory Bowel Disease Consortium (ANZIBDC)
2020 – current: Board Member – Research Officer, Gastroenterology Network for Intestinal Ultrasound (GENIUS)
2020 – current: Executive Committee Member – IBD Liaison Officer, Young GESA Network, Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA)
2020 – current: Expert Advisory Group member, The Council of Therapeutic Advisory Groups (CATAG)
2020 – current: GESA representative, CCA-GESA GP Aware Program Committee, Crohn’s and Colitis Australia (CCA)
2020 – current: Expert Working Group Member, bDMARDs Gastroenterology Design Forum, NPS Medicine Wise
2020 – current: Stakeholder Panel (GESA representative), Value in Prescribing bDMARDs Program, NPS Medicine Wise
Associate Professor Jakob Begun is the IBD Group leader in the Immunity, Infection, and Inflammation Program at Mater Research University of Queensalnd, and has a basic and translational laboratory at the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane. He is an Associate Professor in the University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine. After completing his Bachelor of Science at Cornell University Jakob attended Cambridge University where he completed an MPhil in Biochemistry. He then moved on to Harvard Medical School where he completed his MD and PhD in genetics studying the host pathogen interaction using C. elegans as a model system. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s hospital and went on to complete general gastroenterology training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as well as advanced training in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
Dr Begun first joined Mater Research - University of Queensland in 2014, and at the same time received a clinical staff appointment in Gastroenterology at the Mater Hospital Brisbane. His clinical activities are focussed on the treatment and mangement of patients with IBD. He is the director of the IBD unit at the Mater Hospital Brisbane and at the Mater Young Adult Health Centre Brisbane .In January 2015 he was awarded the University of Queensland Reginald Ferguson Fellowship in Gastroenterology to support his research activity. He leads a basic and translational laboratory at the Translational Research Institute investigating the interaction between the innate immune system and the gut microbiome, as well as genetic contributions to disease. He also performs clinical research examining predictors of response to therapy, minimising barriers of care for adolescents and young adults with IBD, improving outcomes in pregnancy and IBD, and the use of intestinal ultrasound in IBD. He is the chair of the Gastroenterology Society of Australia-IBD Faculty and of the president of the Gastroenterology Network of Intestinal Ultrasound (GENIUS).
Dr Shelley Keating is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) and a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Physiology at the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland. With a strong grounding in exercise metabolism and body composition, Dr Keating leads a program of research aimed at changing the way we prioritise, access and deliver lifestyle intervention for people with obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/ metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and type 2 diabetes. Dr Keating holds qualifications in clinical exercise physiology BExSciRehab (Hon-1); MExSpSci (Clinical Exercise Science); PhD (Exercise Physiology) and over 15 years’ experience as an AEP developing, delivering, and disseminating exercise interventions in adults with obesity and related chronic diseases.
Professor Bradley Kendall is a clinical academic Gastroenterologist and Cancer Epidemiologist. He is currently a Senior Staff Gastroenterologist (Eminent) at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane with over 30 years of experience in clinical practice. His clinical training included Fellowships in the United States at the University of Virginia and the University of California – Los Angeles. Mid clinical career he commenced higher degree studies and in 2014 was awarded a PhD in Cancer Epidemiology from The University of Queensland for his work on Barrett’s oesophagus and obesity. He is actively involved in ongoing research into the epidemiology of pre-malignant and malignant gastrointestinal diseases via his clinical appointment and appointment as a Professor in the School of Medicine at The University of Queensland.
Professor Kendall is involved with national and international collaborations, including projects with the US National Cancer Institute supported International Barrett’s and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium and the NHMRC supported multicentre Australian Progression of Barrett’s Esophagus to Cancer Network. Currently, he is a Chief investigator in a Cancer Australia funded multicentre Australian collaborative study of the impact of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program on colorectal cancer outcomes for people with severe mental illness.
Dr Moniruzzaman is working as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the UQ Faculty of Medicine and PA Hospital of Metro South Health. His research focuses on the molecular pathobiology of inflammatory diseases, in particular, how mucosal epithelial cells and gut microbiota regulate immune function in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and contribute to different diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and functional GI symptoms called disorders of gut-brain interactions (DGBI). Dr Moniruzzaman received his PhD from The University of Queensland in 2020, where he studied how the interleukin(IL)-20 family of cytokines (IL-20, IL-22, and IL-24) regulate mucosal epithelial and immune function in inflammatory and infectious diseases, including ulcerative colitis (UC) and respiratory syncytial virus. After graduation, he received postdoctoral training in the IBD Lab at Mater Research Institute – UQ and Nanomedicine Lab at UQ School of Pharmacy, where he investigated the role of cannabinoid receptors in UC and colitis-associated colorectal cancer, development of cannabinoid formulations to treat UC, and involvement of autophagy gene Atg7 in 6-Thioguanin mediated protection from UC. He was awarded a highly competitive UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2021-2022) and UQ School of Pharmacy Strategic Grant (2022) to study cannabinoids and Atg7 in UC, Translational Research Institute LINC Grant (2023) to study cannabinoids in palliative care of patients with advanced cancer, and Metro South Health SERTA (2024-2025) to study non-antibiotic treatment of SI dysbiosis in patients with DGBI. His current work focuses on how small intestinal dysbiosis controls the mucosal immune microenvironment and contributes to the pathogenesis of DGBI, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional dyspepsia (FD), and gastroparesis.
Dr Haolu Wang currently is a Medical Registrar and Basic Physician Trainee with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians - The Prince Charles Hospital and Redcliffe Hospital (Northside) Rotation. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the joint liver cancer research program of Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland and Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation. Dr Wang received his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery qualifications from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. He was awarded his PhD in Clinical Medicine from The University of Queensland. Dr Wang has worked as a Medical Officer at Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and as a Researcher Officer at Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland.
Dr Wang has authored over 30 publications of clinical and translational research in liver diseases, including Hepatology, Theranostics, Int J Cancer, J Exp Clin Cancer Res and Pharmacol Ther. His standing in this field is reflected by awards from Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, United European Gastroenterology, European Microscopy Congress, The University of Queensland, Frazer Family Foundation and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Dr Ran Wang graduated with her PhD in 2015, and after undertaking a postdoc position in Scripps Research, USA returned to Australia in 2017. She is now a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher supported by the prestigious Bushell Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Gastroenterology Society of Australia. Dr Wang is interested to understand the nature of inflammation in gut and lung and investigate the local and systemic impacts of chronic gut inflammation. In addition to a growing track-record in the mucosal immunology field, she is also building an inter-disciplinary research profile in material science and nanotechnology for drug delivery and immune modulation. She is the Associate Editor of Frontier of Cellular and Infection Microbiology Journal since 2018.
