Graham Radford-Smith
Dr | Honorary Group Leader
+61 7 3362 0499graham.radford-smith@qimrberghofer.edu.au
CAREER HISTORY
Dr Graham Radford-Smith is a Group Leader at QIMR Berghofer. In addition he is also a fulltime senior clinician at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, with major clinical (Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Parenteral Nutrition) and administrative (Pre-eminent senior staff specialist, Deputy Director) roles in the running of the Gastroenterology Department and the delivery of IBD services to Metro North, Wide Bay and Central Queensland. He is currently chair of the Luminal Sub-Committee of the Statewide Clinical Network for Gastroenterology (Qld) and on the steering committee.
Dr Radford-Smith’s major research interests include: the inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis); the utilisation of health information to optimise patient care and patient outcomes; and, the role of the gut in human disease. Dr Radford-Smith is a passionate advocate for the optimisation of patient outcomes and how we as a healthcare community can best utilise, audit and research to optimise clinical practice. Working with his team, he has developed an efficient translational model for Gastroenterology research facilitated by the proximity of QIMR Berghofer to the hospital clinics. In addition he has played a lead role in the development and maintenance of bespoke software to help run both clinical and research programmes as interconnecting circuits. Dr Radford-Smith’s scientific expertise crosses several disciplines as evidenced by his publication record of over 170 articles to date in the field of gastroenterology.
Dr Radford-Smith is also chair of both the ANZ IBD Consortium and the registered charity, Crohns Colitis Cure. Previous, he was president of the Gastroenterology Society of Queensland, past member of the Australian IBD association’s executive committee and the Gastroenterology Society of Australia’s research committee. Graham has also served as the chair of the phenotype subcommittee of the International IBD Genetics Consortium and remains a member of the management committee.
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
2012-current: Group Leader, Gut Health (Honorary Appointment), QIMR Berghofer
2017-current: Chair of Luminal Sub-Committee, Queensland Statewide Gastroenterology Clinical Network
2016-current: Deputy Director, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Queensland Health
2014-current: Chairperson, Crohn’s Colitis Cure (Honorary Appointment)
2012-current: Member, High Cost Drugs Committee, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Queensland Health
2010-current: Invited Opinion, Medical Services Advisory Committee (Honorary Appointment)
2010-current: Research Committee, Gastroenterology Society of Australia (Honorary Appointment)
2009-current: Australian IBD Association Executive, Gastroenterology Society of Australia
2008-current: Chairperson, Australia and New Zealand Inflammatory Bowel Disease Consortium (Honorary Appointment)
2008-current: Executive member of management committee, International IBD Genetics Consortium (Honorary Appointment)
2006-current: Senior Staff Specialist in Gastroenterology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Queensland Health
2005-current: Associate Professor, University of Queensland (Honorary Appointment)
PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS
2010-2012: President of Society, Gastroenterology Society of Queensland
2008-2011: Clinical Trials Protocol Committee, QIMR Berghofer
2006-2012: Visiting Scientist, QIMR Berghofer
2001-2006: Staff Specialist in Gastroenterology, Queensland Health
1998-2001: Locum Staff Specialist in Gastroenterology, Queensland Health
1997-1998: Consultant Gastroenterologist, Queensland Health
1997-1998: Lecturer in Medicine and Research Fellow, University of Queensland
1995-1996: Medical Registrar, Queensland Health
1992-1994: Research Fellow, Department of Gastroenterology, University of Oxford
ORCID NUMBER
RESEARCHER ID
CURRENT AREAS OF RESEARCH
- role of the microbiome in health and disease
- impact of SLC39A8 on the human microbiome
- development and clinical testing of a colonoscopy triage tool to optimise the triaging of patients into the appropriate prioritisation category (waiting list)
- development of a simple diagnostic algorithm for high risk Crohn’s disease for primary care physicians
- development of a new algorithms to determine response to intravenous corticosteroids in subjects presenting with acute severe colitis
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Most recently Dr Radford-Smith and his team designed a simple clinical tool to assist Gastroenterologists in triaging patients referred for a colonoscopy. The Gut Health laboratory have commenced recruitment of a second cohort to further establish this tool and improve its accuracy. A second study out of this work will be presented at international meetings this year. This work focuses on the relationship between biomarkers and the microbiome in the non-diseased state, identifying for the first time an important biological link between a known susceptibility gene for Crohn’s disease and a discrete microbiome signature. Much of the research is now focussed on the utility of big data, including big clinical datasets. The first published example of this has addressed the dynamic natural history of Crohn’s disease in a paper entitled “A rolling phenotype in Crohn’s disease”. It challenges a pre-existing static model of Crohn’s disease phenotype. They have also played a lead role in a study across Australia and New Zealand analysing the efficacy of the anti-TNF medications, infliximab and adalimumab, in the treatment of patients with refractory Crohn’s disease. One of the key findings is the important role played by concomitant thiopurine therapy. This is one of the largest and most detailed real-life studies published to date and provides clinicians with important practical advice in the use of these biologic therapies.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
2013-current: European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO)
2004-current: American Gastroenterology Association
1996-current: Gastroenterology Society of Australia
1996-current: Gastroenterology Society of Queensland
1996-current: Royal Australian College of Physicians
AWARDS RECOGNITION
2012: Honorary Group Leader, QIMR Berghofer
2010: Quarrie Award – “Standardization of Queensland Health Parenteral Nutrition”, Queensland Health (Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital)
2008: Pre-eminent Status within Queensland Health (Distinction)
2006-2008: Queensland Smart State Clinical Fellowship
2004: Viertel Clinical Investigatorship
1996, 1997, 1999: Reginald Ferguson Fellowship, University of Queensland
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
1996: PhD (Cytokine gene expression in Inflammatory Bowel Disease), University of Oxford
1996: Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians
1990: Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP), Royal College of Physicians
1988: Masters of Arts (MA), University of Cambridge
1987: Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, University of Oxford