Conference Programme

Nau mai, haere mai ~ NZAGS Conference April 2022 ~ Synergy in Surgery
Wellington Te Tāone o Pōneke

Dear Colleagues
Welcome to the “coolest little capital in the world”, and to Te Papa Tongarewa, our national Museum of Aotearoa New Zealand!

This conference is about radical change in surgery and adapting to it. It focuses on what happens around surgery, on the interface between surgery and the rest of medicine, and on how technology and modern thinking impact on the way we conduct our surgery, from teaching to procedures. What are the most up to date and future practices in those specialties running in parallel to our surgical universe and how will they transform how we operate? Witness complete response rates in neo-adjuvant rectal cancer therapy, endoscopic and interventional radiological techniques supplanting surgery. Though its genesis was before Covid struck, its focus seems even more apt now. Working under Covid has changed our mindset and shown that traditional ways of working don’t have to be the only ways of working. The Covid era has demonstrated what can be achieved with technology. How can we now harness the opportunities of technology and apply them to surgery?

What will be the synergy between surgery and the rest of medicine – synergy with the brains trust (our physician colleagues), synergy with the microsphere, with the machine, with the web, and synergy with the mind? The million-dollar question is, could AI et al put us out of work? If so, how much time do we have left, Doc? Come and learn from 6 overseas and 20 local experts.

Welcome to the future.
Gary Stone, NZAGS 2022 Convenor