Professor Bob Anderson graduated in medicine and has a doctorate from the University of Otago. His specialist training in internal medicine and gastroenterology was at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, and St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. Dr. Anderson’s subsequent post-doctoral research at the University of Oxford focused on understanding the molecular basis for immune recognition of gluten in coeliac disease. He returned to Melbourne in 2002 and was a Laboratory Head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

He worked closely with Coeliac Australia and Coeliac New Zealand to raise public and health professional awareness for coeliac disease. Dr Anderson relocated to the United States in 2012 as Chief Scientific Officer of ImmusanT to continue his involvement in the development of Nexvax2 and advance similar peptide-based immunotherapies for other autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Kamran Rostami is a Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist. Dr. Rostami's postgraduate journey started with defining the seronegative subgroup with a Ph.D. in coeliac disease from the University of Amsterdam. He worked as a consultant Gastroenterologist in the UK and recently joined the Gastroenterology Unit at Palmerston North. He has presented in numerous national and international Gastroenterology conferences, coordinated a number of multicenter studies, and has published over 100 research papers in peer-reviewed journals. He serves as the deputy and associate editor for a number of Gastroenterology journals.

Kamran and Adele will present: " Management of Non- responsive coeliac disease"

Non-responsive coeliac disease is defined as persistent symptoms, signs, and laboratory abnormalities including serology, micronutrient deficiencies or persistent/deterioration of histological changes typical of coeliac disease, despite at least 6 to 12 months of presumed adherence to a GFD. In this session, we discuss a range of differential diagnosis and potential therapeutic interventions appropriate to the etiology of non-responsiveness

Tania Clifton-Smith is a New Zealand physiotherapist who has 30 years experience in the field of breathing dysfunction, breathing pattern disorders and hyperventilation syndrome and physiotherapy. She co-foundered Breathing Works clinics in 1998: the clinics have treated over 30,000 individuals with breathing dysfunction. Established the BradCliff Breathing Method in 2008 a physiotherapy treatment programme for breathing dysfunction.

Published works on breathing dysfunction include:

Books

• Breathe to Succeed (Penguin NZ 1999)
• Dynamic Breathing – managing your asthma. (Random NZ 2008)
• Breathe Stretch & Move. (Random NZ 2002)
• Breathing Matters (Random NZ 2006)
• How to Take A Breath (2021)

Dr Karen Faisandier (DClinPsych) is a clinical psychologist and founder of The Integrative Practice; a holistic psychology service she has run in Wellington, New Zealand, since 2016. Dr Karen’s innovative service integrates psychological, nutritional and lifestyle strategies into a practical recovery framework for adults experiencing mental health concerns resulting from chronic stress, anxiety, and overwhelm.

The topic of her presentation will be Out of the Fog - Coeliac Disease - Your Brain, Food, and Mood

Mental health concerns like anxiety and depression affect approximately half the population at some point in their lifetime, however, there are additional mental health challenges for those living with coeliac disease (CD). Psychological (and neurological) symptoms are common but often unrecognised symptoms of CD which may be alleviated by a gluten free (GF) diet for some. For others, some symptoms remain even when they are “gluten-free” and others are triggered at times of “being glutened.” Malabsorption of nutrients, inflammation, and dietary gaps while on the GF diet are three potential factors alongside psychological aspects of responding to the need to avoid gluten in a gluten-dominant world. This talk will walk through gut-brain interventions for optimal mental health with a focus on CD.

Academic Paediatric Gastroenterologist based in Christchurch. After a period of training in Toronto, Canada, he took up a position at Sydney Children's Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

Returning to NZ in 2009, has a busy clinical role in Christchurch, and provides outreach Paediatric Gastroenterology services around the rest of the South Island.

He has strong clinical and research interests in coeliac disease as well as other gut disorders. Andrew’s ongoing research activities are supported by Cure Kids.

Sylvia is an NZ Registered Dietitian, a lecturer at AUT and PhD candidate. Having been primarily clinically based in private practice over the previous five years she works closely with patients with complicated digestive issues. Seeing first-hand the changes that whole-food nutrition and lifestyle-based strategies can have on many aspects of health, she is a keen advocate for helping patients get to the bottom of longstanding digestive and inflammatory issues.

Sylvia will present at the Medical Breakfast Seminar on: Dietetic considerations for the gluten-free diet – exploring specific nutritional considerations and challenges for individuals following the gluten-free diet – from the newly diagnosed to the experienced.

Jonathan completed undergraduate and postgraduate paediatric gastroenterology training in the UK before undertaking a six-month Fellow post in Starship Children’s Hospital in 2007. He returned to the UK to work as a consultant post in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow between 2008 and 2011 before the lure of the Southern hemisphere proved too strong and he returned to Starship as a Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist. His professional interests include coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease and cystic fibrosis liver disease.

Jonathan will present at the Medical Breakfast Seminar on: Monitoring and follow-up after a diagnosis.

Adele is a registered NZ dietitian with over 24 years of advanced training and experience in various specialist areas of nutrition therapy (including gastroenterology, paediatrics, diabetes, bariatric surgery, disordered eating and oncology), mostly in the NHS, UK and the last four years in NZ.  She is currently working as a specialist dietitian for Digestive Health Clinic, which includes a dedicated national non-responsive coeliac disease specialist service. She helped develop the Standards of Care for Dietitians for Coeliac NZ and the Coeliac NZ Dietary information booklet. Alongside this, she delivers education courses for the MHT Diabetes Trust and is a passionate, trauma-trained volunteer for MentorEd; a charity who supports children who have experienced Adverse Childhood Events (ACE’s). With her MentorEd hat on, she has developed and deliver weekly cooking classes for children with various needs, in low decile schools.

Adele will present at the main conference on: Non-responsive coeliac disease from a dietitian’s perspective.