Our Specialists

Dr David Abi-Hanna is a Visiting Medical Officer and was the previous Director of Endoscopy at Liverpool Hospital. He was the head of the department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Liverpool Hospital from 2001 until 2011. Dr Abi-Hanna was previously a Visiting Medical Officer at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Dr Abi-Hanna completed his medical degree at the University of New South Wales (1989). Whilst undertaking his medical studies, Dr Abi-Hanna was involved in scientific research which resulted in the awarding of a Bachelor of Medical Science and following subsequent research, he was awarded a PhD in the field of Immunology. His training in General Medicine was undertaken at the Prince Of Wales Hospital followed by advanced training in the specialty of Gastroenterology at Prince of Wales and then Westmead Hospitals. He completed his specialty training and was awarded Fellowship of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1997 (FRACP). During this period, Dr Abi-Hanna completed his qualifications in Gastroscopy, Colonoscopy and ERCP. In 2008, he engaged in an overseas sabbatical gaining training and expertise in the procedure of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) which he has introduced to Liverpool Hospital in 2011.

Dr Abi-Hanna is a former member of the conjoint committee for the recognition of training in gastrointestinal endoscopy and served as its chair in 2012 and 2013. He served for six years on the written examination committee of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and has been a member of this college since 1996. He is a member of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He chairs the Medical Advisory committee of Liverpool Day Surgery.

In 2014, Dr Abi-Hanna was appointed a Board Director on the South Western Sydney Area Health Service Board, where he continues to serve. He chairs the research and teaching committee of the board and is a member of the finance and assets committee of the board. He has been heavily involved through his work on the board in advocating for the people living within the South Western Sydney Area Health Service, with representation to the local members, health ministry and the health minister and secretary.

In August 2020, Dr Abi-Hanna was appointed a member of the council of SPHERE (Maridulu Budyari Gumal) respresenting SWSLHD. SPHERE is an academic health science partnership including SWSLHD, other area health services, universities and medical research institutes with the aim of accelerating the translation of research into clinical practice.

MBBS (Hons 2)
University of New South Wales 1989

BSc (Med)
University of New South Wales 1985

Ph.D. in Medicine
University of New South Wales 1989

FRACP
Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians 1997

Visiting Medical Officer, Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist (1998 – present)
Department of Gastroenterology and Liver, Liverpool Hospital

Visiting Medical Officer, Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist (1999 – 2005)
Department of Gastroenterology and Liver, Prince of Wales Hospital

Board Director, South Western Sydney Local Health district (2014 – present)
Chairs Research and Teaching committee of the board
Sits on Finance and assets committee of the board

1. The validity of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measurement in detecting endoscope contamination. McCafferty CE, Abi-Hanna D, Aghajani MJ, Micali GT, Lockart I, Vickery K, Gosbell IB, Jensen SO. J Hosp Infect. 2018 Aug 6. pii: S0195-6701(18)30415-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2018.08.004. PMID: 30092293
   
2. Incision therapy for an unusual esophageal stricture. Bassan MS, Shetti M, Edwards P, Abi-Hanna D, Koo J. Gastrointest Endosc. 2016 Feb;83(2):451. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2015.08.015. PMID: 26278656
   
3. Gastrointestinal: endoscopic treatment of an infected pancreatic pseudocyst post-insertion of a covered self-expandable metal stent (CSEMS). Kumbhari V, Greenup A, Abi-Hanna D. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 Nov;29(11):1851. doi: 10.1111/jgh.12764. PMID: 25392919
   
4. Gastrointestinal: endoscopic ultrasound of a pancreatic lesion in situs inversus.
   Kumbhari V, Abi-Hanna D, Bassan M. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 Feb;29(2):229. doi: 10.1111/jgh.12491. PMID: 24460835
   
5. Management of patients following detection of unsuspected colon lesions by PET imaging. Lin M, Koo JH, Abi-Hanna D. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2011 Dec;9(12):1025-32. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2011.06.028. Review. PMID:21723237