Shan Rajendra is Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology), University of New South Wales and Clinical Academic Gastroenterologist/Interventional Endoscopist, Bankstown Hospital, Sydney. His research interests include gastro-esophageal reflux disease and Barrett’s oesophagus and has written widely on this topic and other conditions including chronic enteric infections, diverticular disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

He has over 50 publications almost all as first or last author. He is a manuscript reviewer for several international gastroenterology journals and Cancer Research, UK, Health Research Board, Ireland and South African Medical Research Council. He was an organizing committee member of the 12 and 13th World Oesophagus Conferences in Paris and Monaco respectively in 2013 and 2015.

Prof Rajendra was up to recently a WEB committee member of the International Society for Diseases of the Oesophagus (ISDE) and an Associate Editor of the Society’s official journal, Diseases of The Esophagus. Prof Rajendra is the Lead Investigator and Founding Director of the Gastro-Intestinal Viral Oncology Group which was the first in the world to discover a very strong association between high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) and Barrett’s dysplasia/ oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Recently, his Group identified a molecular signature for HPV driven Barrett’s dysplasia and oesophageal cancer in a landmark study.

High-risk HPV is now gaining traction as a risk factor for Barrett’s dysplasia and adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus.As a result, HPV is now listed as a risk factor for oesophageal adenocarcinoma in review articles including The New England Journal of Medicine and some mainstream evidence based websites including UpTodate.