Professor Richard Douglas
Principle Investigator, MD, FRACS, FRACP, MRCP
I am an ORL surgeon with particular interest in endoscopic sinus and medial skull base surgery. I trained and practised as a clinical immunologist and allergist at Auckland Hospital before undertaking training in ORL. I currently am a Professor in Surgery at The University of Auckland and Consultant Surgeon at Auckland City Hospital, and have my private practice at Mauranui Clinic in Epsom.
The focus of my research has been the interaction between the local immunity of the nasal and sinus mucosa and the bacteria that cause chronic rhinosinusitis. This condition is characterized by its intractability despite treatment with prolonged courses of antibiotics.
Dr Kristi Biswas
Senior Research Fellow
Kristi is a Senior Research Fellow in Prof Douglas’ research group. The focus of her research has been on microbes associated with humans. More specifically, her research has moved towards investigating the interplay between the host immune responses and the associated microbes in the inflammatory disease chronic rhinosinusitis.
Dr Ray Kim
Academic Surgeon Scientist, MBCHB, FRACS, PhD
Ray is an Otolaryngology, Head and Neck (Ear, Nose and Throat) surgeon. He subspecialises in the disorders of the nose and paranasal sinuses, and in trans-nasal endoscopic operations of the skull base (ie. rhinologist and skull base surgeon).
He is also an academic with strong research background, and ongoing passion. He is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Surgery at the University of Auckland.
Dr Brett Wagner
Research Fellow
Brett is a Research Fellow in Prof Douglas’ research group. Her research focuses on the role of the human microbiome in chronic rhinosinusitis, cystic fibrosis and tonsillar hyperplasia. Her research aims to better understand the role of the microbiome during health and disease. Her research interests include host-microbiome interactions, antimicrobial resistance, and microbial community network stability and response to disturbance.
Mr Stephen Ball
Honorary Senior Lecturer
Dr Alejandro Fandino
Honorary Academic
Dr James Johnston
Honorary Academic
Current Students
Dr Joey Siu
PhD student
Joey was awarded an Academic Surgeon-Scientist Research Scholarship in 2018 from the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation Charitable Trust. Her PhD project is investigating drug levels of oral antibiotics in sinus secretions in relation to changes in the nasal microbiome, and exploring methods to optimize drug delivery of intranasal devices.
Dr Tary Yin
PhD student
Tary was awarded an Academic Surgeon-Scientist Research Scholarship in 2019 from the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation Charitable Trust. Tary is conducting a longitudinal observational study of the chronic rhinosinusitis microbiome in patients undergoing standard medical and surgical treatment. His aim is to improve our understanding of the natural progression of this disease to help rationalise the role of antibiotics, steroids, and surgery.
Dr Satya Amirapu
PhD Student, Senior Technologist
In addition to her full-time job as a Senior Technologist at the University of Auckland, Satya is doing her PhD in our group. Satya’s PhD project focuses on tissue remodeling during chronic rhinosinusitis.
Dr Sam Hale
PhD student
Sam was awarded an Academic Surgeon Scientist Research Scholarship starting in 2021 from the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation Charitable Trust. He is investigating topical treatments for biofilm infection in chronic rhinosinusitis that can be safely applied to the nasal mucosa, in order to improve symptom control and reduce disease severity in cases of recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis following surgery.
Jackson Teh
BMedSc(Hons)
Jackson is a 5th year medical student who is doing a BMedSCi Honours project with our group. His project is utilising histological and microbiological techniques to investigate the role of bacterial microcolonies in pediatric tonsillar hyperplasia.
Research Support
Melissa Zoing
Research nurse
Gisselle Alarcon
Research nurse
Sharon Waldvogel-Thurlow
Histologist
PhD Students
Dr Andrew Wood, 2009 – 2013. Role of bacterial and fungal biofilms in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis.
Dr Raymond Kim, 2012 – 2015. Development of novel topical therapies for chronic rhinosinusitis.
Dr Ravi Jain, 2013 – 2016. The effect of corticosteroids on the microbiology and immunology of CRS.
Dr Brett Wagner, 2013 – 2017. Analysis of the sinonasal microbiome during health and disease.
Dr Michael Hoggard, 2014 – 2018. Elucidating the host-microbe interplay in mucosal degradation associated with chronic rhinosinusitis.
Dr Anna Vesty, 2014 – 2019. The effect of oral microbiota on the pathogenesis of radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis.
Dr James Johnston, 2016 – 2019. Determination and manipulation of the microbiome in adenotonsillar hyperplasia.
Dr Christian Lux, 2017 – 2021. Antimicrobial treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis: Efficacy and impact on the sinus microbiota.
MD Students
Dr Jacqui Allen, 2012-2021. Type 1 collagen and TGF-β modulation in airway stenosis using halofuginone.
Dr Michel Neeff, 2013-. Microbiology of chronic middle ear disease.
BMedSc(Hons) Students
Tary Yin, 2012. The interaction between bacteria and mucosal immunity in chronic rhinosinusitis.
Peter Ou, 2014. The role of HPV in oropharyngeal carcinoma.
Epenesa Iosua, 2015. Role of HPV in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
Timothy Hardcastle, 2015. Investigation of novel anti-biofilm agents.
Raewyn Cavubati, 2016. The role of tight junctions in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis.
Jae Jeong, 2016. Chronic rhinosinusitis: The optimization of intranasal devices in postoperative sinuses.
Shan Gunaratna, 2017.The epithelial barrier in CRS.
Ruyan Chen, 2019. The histopathological analysis of tonsils in paediatric patients with recurrent tonsillitis and obstructive sleep apnoea.
Jun Cheul Park, 2019. Sino-nasal trans-epithelial permeability in chronic rhinosinusitis patients.
Sita Tarini Clark, 2020. The pathogenesis of tonsillar hypertrophy in children.