Profile
About Associate Professor Chamara Basnayake
Translating cutting-edge research directly into clinical practice, Associate Professor Chamara Basnayake maintains an active commitment to both the public and private health sectors.
An internationally recognised expert in gastroenterology, Associate Professor Chamara Basnayake is committed to providing high-quality care across both the public and private health sectors, alongside an active clinical research program.
He completed his medical and physician training at Monash University and Monash Health, followed by a PhD at the University of Melbourne and an advanced fellowship in oesophageal motility disorders at KU Leuven in Belgium. His PhD was awarded the TJ Martin Award for the best research project at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne in 2022.
His contributions to clinical research have been honoured globally, notably receiving the 2021 Ray Clouse Award from The Rome Foundation, the premier international society for functional gut disorders.
As Clinical Lead for the Oesophageal Physiology Laboratory and Co-founder of the Multidisciplinary Functional Gut Clinic at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, he brings extensive tertiary experience to his consulting practice. By maintaining a selective private practice and limiting referral volume, he ensures every patient receives a comprehensive and unhurried assessment.
Training and qualifications
He completed his MBBS (Hons), FRACP, a University of Melbourne PhD, and advanced fellowship exposure in oesophageal motility disorders in Belgium.
Clinical expertise
He accepts referrals including digestive symptoms, bowel cancer screening, iron deficiency and anaemia, coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, reflux, dysphagia, eosinophilic oesophagitis, and specialist assessment of oesophageal disorders.
Academic roles
Associate Professor Basnayake holds an academic appointment with the University of Melbourne, works as a consultant gastroenterologist at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, and serves as PhD Committee Chair in the Department of Surgery at the University of Melbourne. His academic activity is tightly linked to clinical practice, teaching, and supervision of higher-degree researchers.
Research interests
His research interests include disorders of gut-brain interaction, oesophageal physiology, eosinophilic oesophagitis, inflammatory bowel disease, microbiota-based therapies including faecal microbiota transplantation in Crohn's disease, dietary interventions, and digital-health tools including AI applications in IBD. He has contributed to national and international publications and remains active in collaborative clinical research.
Leadership and service development
He co-founded the multidisciplinary functional gut disorders clinic at St Vincent's Hospital in 2019 and is the clinical lead for the oesophageal physiology laboratory. His service-development work has included building referral pathways, expanding access to high-resolution manometry, introducing prospective outcomes collection, and convening regular multidisciplinary case forums across institutions.
Clinical trials and publications
Selected work includes the MANTRA randomised controlled trial in Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, long-term outcomes work in Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology, and systematic reviews in oesophageal disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and multidisciplinary gastrointestinal care. He also serves as principal investigator on pharmaceutical trials in coeliac disease, eosinophilic oesophagitis, and oesophageal motility disorders.
Awards and Affiliations
Academic and service contributions
- MBBS (Hons), FRACP, PhD
- John Burgess Prize for Best Medical Registrar, Monash Health
- TJ Martin Award for Best PhD Project, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne (2022)
- Ray Clouse Award, Rome Foundation (2021)
- GESA Luminal Committee and former Young GESA steering committee
- BMC Gastroenterology editorial board member and regular peer reviewer
Publications
Live publication record
Google Scholar provides the most current list of journal publications and collaborative research output.