A contingent from the General Surgical Department attended the NZAGS meeting on 29 and 30 March and returned home with three out of the five awards available.

This success highlights and acknowledges the quality of work being undertaken by the General Surgery team, who are researching Northland-specific issues and bringing these to a national stage.

As well as being over-represented in the awards, a significant number of poster research presentations from the Surgical Team were accepted.

Awards and presentations:

• William Xu (Registrar) – Award for Best Oral Presentation (not in higher degree). He presented the POET study, a national study into post-endoscopy tumours.

• Acacia Wratten-Stone (Registrar) – Award for Best Poster Presentation (not in higher degree). She presented a poster on emergency laparotomy in Northland.

• Gajan Srikumar (a previous registrar who recently finished a master's study with Christopher Harmston) – Award for Best Poster Presentation (In a Higher Degree). Gajan presented work from his degree on follow-up after colorectal cancer in Northland.

• Matthew McGuiness (previous registrar and Christopher Harmston’s master's student) also gave an invited presentation on Collaborative Research. Matt’s presentation was on collaborative research and STRATA, the national trainee research collaborative that was started in Northland.

We also had several other works accepted, including posters from Scott McLaughlin, Carys Finlayson, Tilisi Puloka, and Siska Falconer.

Many of these presentations showcased work contributed to by Northland House Officers and Medical Students.

Congratulations to everyone who was involved – this outcome is a very proud moment for the General Surgery team, department, service, and hospital.

Further information about the Association and the Meeting can be found at NZAGS here.

Photo: Gajan Srikumar and Acacia Wratten-Stone with their presentation posters.