Associate Professor Greg O'Grady

Biography

A/Prof O'Grady is a general and colorectal surgeon at Auckland City Hospital, and principal investigator at the Department of Surgery (FMHS) and Auckland Bioengineering Institute.  He has cross-disciplinary research expertise in surgery, translational GI physiology and medical devices / bioengineering.  

He leads the Surgical Engineering Lab, and the clinical / experimental arm of the GI Bioengineering Group, and also collaborates closely with the Auckland Colorectal Research Group led by Prof. Ian Bissett. This research is funded by competitive grants from the New Zealand HRC, NIH, MedTech CoRE and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.   

Research | Current

A/Prof O'Grady has broad clinical and research interests in medical devices, colorectal surgery and pelvic floor disorders, translational GI physiology, motility and electrophysiology. He particularly enjoys working with teams of engineers, physiologists and clinicians, in leading or collaborative roles.

Current research activities include:

The Surgical Engineering Lab 

A/Prof. O'Grady founded the Surgical Engineering Lab in 2017 to develop surgical devices, as a cross-faculty initiative between the Department of Surgery and Auckland Bioengineering Institute. We develop medical devices with commercial potential from within the university, and also welcome industry partners seeking to engage with university and clinical facilities and resources.  Our engineers design, prototype, and validate devices in-house, and conduct pre-clinical and clinical trials for selected projects. We are particularly interested in attracting worthwhile ideas from partner clinicians in Auckland and elsewhere, and helping them to reach their potential. Enquiries are welcome. 

High-resolution electrical mapping of the gut

This cross-disciplinary project involves developing and applying novel devices and software for recording, analysing and electrically-stimulating GI bioelectricity.  Our devices are being applied in a translational research program seeking to better understand and treat major functional disorders of the stomach, small and large intestines, including in primary motility disorders and post-operative states. Experimental outputs are also being applied to inform mathematical models of GI physiology ('The Virtual Gut'), in conjunction with the ABI’s GI Bioengineering team led by A/Prof. Leo Cheng.  This innovative research program has received multiple international awards and is currently being commercialised by University of Auckland spin-out company FlexiMap.

Colorectal Motility and Surgical Recovery

This innovative program is a collaboration between the Auckland Colorectal Research Group (led by A/Prof. Ian Bissett), and researchers from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and Flinders University, Australia.  We are applying sophisticated research methods of high-resolution (fibre-optic) colonic manometry, translational physiology, neuromodulation and computational modelling to improve the fundamental understanding of colonic motility, and its relationship to prevalent surgically-relevant disorders.

Teaching | Current

A/Prof O'Grady teaches as part of the MBChB IV program, and participates in training surgical registrars and fellows at Auckland City Hospital.  

Postgraduate supervision

A number of post-graduate students are currently active in our groups at PhD, Masters and Honours levels, across surgical / medical and bioengineering disciplines.  Enquiries are welcome.

Distinctions/Honours

Recent Selected Awards

2016 The Vice Chancellor's Research Excellence Award 

2015 Emerging Researcher Prize for 'Outstanding Early Career Research', Physiological Society of NZ

2014 The John Corboy Medal, Royal Austalasian College of Surgeons

2012 The Dean's List for Excellence in a PhD Thesis

2012 Certificate of Outstanding Service to the Fellowship, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

2012 John Ham Medal, General Surgeons Australia

2011 The 'Masters Award in Gastroenterology' of the American Gastroenterological Association, for 'Outstanding Achievement in Digestive Sciences'

Responsibilities

A/Prof O'Grady currently serves on the Council of the Australasian Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society, on the Editorial Board of Neurogastroenterology & Motility, and on the Medical Assessments Committee of the Auckland Medical Research Foundation.

He has previously held representative roles on the Councils of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand.

He also serves as a Director on the University of Auckland spin-out company FlexiMap.