Professor David Watson MBBS, MD, FRACS, FAHMS

Since 2002, Director Professor David Watson has been Head of the Flinders University Department of Surgery and is an Oesophageal and Gastric Surgeon at Flinders Medical Centre. Before joining Flinders University, he worked as a Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for nine years. He also leads research groups at Flinders University to improve early detection and prevention of gastrointestinal cancer, has published more than 400 research papers and textbook chapters, and has held continuous funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council for more than 20 years. He led the development of clinical guidelines for the management and prevention of oesophageal cancer for Cancer Council Australia.

David is a Senior Editor of the ANZ Journal of Surgery, and Associate Editor of the World Journal of Surgery, and a member of the Editorial Boards for many other leading international journals including the British Journal of Surgery and the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. In 2006, David led the establishment of the Australia and New Zealand Gastric and Oesophageal Surgery Association, and he served as the foundation President until 2010. He currently serves as the Vice-President for the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus, and serves on the National Council for the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. He is a recipient of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’John Mitchell Crouch Fellowship, a James IV Travelling Fellowship, was elected to Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and appointed to a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professorship at Flinders University.