Course Faculty 17th May 2010
Mercure Sheffield St Paul's Hotel and Spa

Dr Mike Thomson
MB ChB DCH FRCP FRCPCH MD

Gastroenterologist at the Centre for Paediatric Gastroenterology in Sheffield children’s hospital , and the Portland Hospital for Women and Children in London Dr Mike Thomson, is a Paediatric Gastroenterologist with over 20 years experience of dealing with children with gastro-oesophageal reflux and many other gastroenterological problems. Having been a Consultant at the Royal Free Hospital in London he now works at Sheffield Children's Hospital in a large Paediatric Gastroenterology Unit and also works in the Portland Hospital in London on a weekly basis.

The particular areas of interest that he has surround research into gastro-oesophageal reflux in infants and children with the use of state of the art investigations such as pH impedance and endoscopy. Other areas of interest involve endoscopy training and he leads for endoscopy training in the UK and Europe. He has published widely on gastro-oesophageal reflux and endoscopy and many other areas of paediatric gastroenterology, having authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and is the author of numerous review articles in high impact medical journals, and over 30 chapters in major paediatric gastrointestinal texts. He regularly gives internationally invited lectures, and has performed over 300 national and international lectures. He has co-written the standard text for post-graduate Paediatrics - "Concise Paediatrics" - and also for under-graduate paediatrics.

He leads a large programme of gastro-oesophageal research and has pioneered the use of endoscopic fundoplication and other minimally invasive endoscopic approaches to treatment in children, and has published widely on this.

He is a member of the small panel of experts who represent the combined European and North American Paediatric Gastroenterology Expert Group which has recently been convened to look at all the evidence base for the treatment of paediatric reflux.

Other specialist interests in this area include newer diseases - such as eosinophilic oesophagitis, allergic related gastro-oesophageal reflux, and advances in endoscopic treatment of oesophageal diseases such as strictures, including Barrett's oesophagus.

He sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition and is a member of the Gastrointestinal Committee for Europe for Children.

Dr Tobias G Wenzl MD PhD FRCPCH
Children's Hospital Aachen University, Germany

Jackie Falconer BSc(Hons) RD
Specialist Paediatric Dietician

Jackie graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Management in 1986. She then went on to further study at Kings College in London and qualified as a State Registered Dietitian in 1991. She has worked in clinical dietetics since 1992, specialising in paediatrics in 1995. For the past 10 years she has worked in the area of paediatric gastroenterology at the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust and her particular areas of interest are Short Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel disease, Gut Food Allergy, Coeliac disease and Gastro-oesophageal Reflux. She also holds a private clinic once a week for infants and children with GI dietary associated conditions.

Jackie held the position of Chair of the Associate (Nurses and Dietetians) Members of the British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN) from 2003 – 2007.

Jackie is registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC) in the UK and the British Dietetic Association (BDA).

Analou Louw
Specialist Speech and Language Therapist.

I am a speech and language therapist specialized in the field of paediatric communication and feeding difficulties

I trained in South Africa at the University of Stellenbosch where I qualified as a speech pathologist and audiologist (B. Speech Pathology and Audiology) in 1997. I obtained my Master’s degree in Speech Pathology (MSc Speech Pathology) at the University of Cape Town in 2001.

Since moving to the UK in 2000, I worked in various paediatric community and acute NHS hospital settings throughout London. I currently work at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on a part time basis as a specialist in paediatric feeding difficulties. I have published research papers and presented at conferences in the UK and Europe on the topic of paediatric feeding and swallowing difficulties.

I set up my private practice 2003. My practice is based at the London Clinic and Cromwell Hospital. I worked closely with general paediatricians, paediatric gastroenterogists, paediatric psychiatrist, developmental paediatrician, nurse specialist (gastroenterology), paediatric dietician and specialist health visitor to provide a comprehensive, multidisciplinary assessment and treatment of communication and feeding difficulties.

Kate Blakeley
Clinical psychologist, CFLS, Royal London Hospital

Tracey Guilliatt-Parks
Chairman

As an original co- founder of Living With Reflux. Tracey Guilliatt-Parks has held the position, chairman of the board of directors since its first registration with companies' house in 2008. Initially taking a leading role in developing the support network in 2005, she realised that there was an general widespread lack of knowledge about GOR and GORD. She saw a need to provide a database of reference material for parents and for medical professionals and, with the advice of a medical advisory board, she developed the Living with Reflux website which is now acknowledged as an important resource in this field. She has successfully launched an on-going series of medical conferences to widen knowledge and understanding of GOR and GORD amongst primary medical professionals.

Tracey Guilliatt-Parks holds an NNEB qualification and has experience in childcare and development and in nursery management. She currently lives in Germany, where she has recently been closely involved in proposals to introduce the concept of the English hospital play specialist to hospitals in Switzerland and Germany, in association with Leicester university hospital and EACH - European Association for Children in Hospital in both country's.

Tracey does voluntary work in the local kindergarten, is learning German and manages her home and family, while spending many hours each day promoting the day-to-day running and charitable purposes of Living with Reflux.