Professor Darrell Crawford

Darrell Crawford is Director of Research, Gallipoli Medical Research Institute and Head of the School of Clinical Medicine at The University of Queensland. He is a highly respected clinician and clinical scientist with 25 years of service to the discipline of Hepatology with special expertise in disorders of iron overload, liver transplantation medicine and viral hepatitis. His previous appointments have been at various levels within that institution including Dean of Medicine (2013-2017) as well as the Director, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Princess Alexandra Hospital (1995-2006) where he was instrumental in developing a dynamic research culture that still exists today. As Head, Clinical School at Greenslopes Hospital, he was instrumental in bringing a $15 M collaborative project between The University of Queensland, Ramsay Health Care and the Federal Government to fruition and establishing the most successful University/Private Hospital academic partnership in medical education and medical research in Australia.

Honours and Awards

Professor Crawford was awarded the Distinguished Service Award in 2012 from the Gastroenterological Society of Australia and Honorary Fellowship of AASLD in 2014. He is the past President of The Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver and remains a member of its Steering Committee. He is a past president of GESA and past Chair of the Australian Liver Association (ALA).

Research Support

Professor Crawford currently holds three NHMRC project grants (APP1126091 2017-2020, APP1142394 2018-2020 and APP1100088 2016-2019) and has previously been awarded in excess of $5.5 M as a CI from NHMRC. In addition to NHMRC, he has received numerous grants from other societies such as Queensland Health, The Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation and Goldmann Sachs JB Were.

Contribution To Research

His major contributions have been an improved understanding of the nature and significance of altered metabolic compartments in patients with cirrhosis, the first to study genetic and environmental factors (particularly alcohol and fat)  that cause the  diverse phenotypic  expression in hereditary haemochromatosis, providing the definitive article on liver transplantation for haemochromatosis, co-author and member of study groups which have defined the correct management strategies to prevent recurrent hepatitis B after liver transplantation (global significance), the importance of early management of hepatitis C virus infection, first group to study the pathogenesis and significance of iron overload in advanced liver disease, formulation of a new diagnostic paradigm for detecting cirrhosis in haemochromatosis, first to show the adverse effect of elevated serum ferritin concentration on liver transplant waiting list mortality, examinations of the antifibrotic effects of the immunosuppressive agents in animal models of liver disease and strong recent contributions to the scientific basis of the co-toxic effects of alcohol, iron and fat.

Professional Involvement

Professor Crawford is a past president of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia (2008/2009) and his major achievements during that term included a Federal grant to the Society of $2.7 million to enhance the quality of colonoscopy in Australia.  Prior to this, he was Chairman of The Australian Liver Association. He was the chairman of the organising committee of the annual scientific meeting of APASL, 2014 Brisbane which provided > $1.0 million in profits for GESA. In addition to leadership positions within numerous professional societies, he has been a member of the international advisory board for Abbvie Pharmaceuticals as well as national advisory boards for Roche, Schering Plough, Gilead, Jensen Cilag and Novartis.

International Standing

Professor Crawford has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences, highlighting his international reputation as a clinician and Hepatology researcher. A summary of conference invitations in the last 5 years is listed below:

• Asian Pacific Association for Study of the Liver. Invited speaker at Single Topic Conferences in Philippines (2013), Jakarta (2013), Brisbane 2014 and Istanbul 2015.
• Asian Pacific Association for Study of the Liver (Annual Meeting). Invited speaker and/or oral plenary presentations at Taiwan (2012), Singapore (2013), Brisbane (2014), Istanbul (2015), Tokyo (2016) and Shanghai (2017).
• American Association for the Study of the Liver. Oral presentations (2011, 2013)
• Multiple presentations at Australia and New Zealand Liver Transplant Annual Meeting
• Multiple presentations at Australian Liver Association Research Meetings.
• Multiple presentations at the Gastroenterology Society of Australia Annual Meetings.

Supervision and Mentoring

Professor Crawford has supervised/is supervising 10 PhD scholars, 2 MBBS (Hons) students, >25 advanced trainees in gastroenterology/Hepatology.

Peer Review Involvement

Professor Crawford has been an invited reviewer of manuscripts for all of the major international journals relevant to the discipline of Hepatology. He has reviewed NHMRC grants on an annual basis for the past 12 years. He has been an invited member of NHMRC discipline committees on four occasions and has reviewed applications for CRE and practitioner fellowships for the same organisation.