Dr S Kusal Wickremesekera MBChB, PhD, FRACS

Upper GI, Hepatopancreaticobiliary and Laparoscopic Surgeon and Research Scientist

Dr Wickremesekera immigrated to New Zealand with his family in 1974. He completed his medical training at the University of Otago in 1991 and trained in general surgery in New Zealand, qualifying with a FRACS in 2001. This was followed by full-time clinical and laboratory research with Professor Richard Stubbs at the Wakefield Clinic, Wakefield Hospital, Wellington, focusing on obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. He was awarded a PhD by the University of Otago. He then undertook a further four years of training in Upper GI, liver, and pancreatic surgery in the UK, where he was an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Hammersmith Hospital, London, working with Professor Robin Williamson, a pioneer in pancreatic surgery.

Dr Wickremesekera was the first Upper GI Clinical Fellow at the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital, in London. He gained extensive experience with surgery for oesophageal and stomach cancer, and further experience in pancreatic cancer. He worked at the Liver and Liver Transplant Unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, supported by the Paul McMaster Scholarship from the Australia and New Zealand Hepatopancreatobiliary Association. This prestigious scholarship is keenly contested throughout the Asia Pacific region; Dr Wickremesekera was the first New Zealander to be awarded the scholarship, which allowed him to gain a wealth of experience in liver and pancreatic surgery and liver transplantation.

Dr Wickremesekera is a Specialist Upper GI and Hepatobiliary Surgeon at the Wellington Regional Hospital and Wakefield Hospital. He is Clinical Senior Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Otago-Wellington and is actively involved in teaching medical students at the Wellington School of Medicine. He has continued with his clinical and laboratory research and supported the Wakefield Biomedical Research Unit, University of Otago.

Dr Wickremesekera has recently joined the GMRI as an Honorary Research Associate. His current research interests includes insulin resistance, diabetes, obesity surgery, and liver and pancreatic cancer.