Dr Edward J. Despott

Edward John Despott is the clinical lead of Endoscopy Services at the Royal Free Unit for Endoscopy of the Royal Free Hospital and Hon. Associate Professor at University College London (UCL) Institute for Liver and Digestive Health (Royal Free campus) in Hampstead, London. Through this position, he is in charge of endoscopy service delivery, education and training. He is a consultant gastroenterologist and interventional endoscopist whose specialist interests include device assisted enteroscopy (double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) in particular), capsule endoscopy (CE), therapeutic colonoscopy (particularly complex polypectomy including wide-field endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and endoscopic submucosal dissection ESD)) and transnasal upper GI endoscopy. He is also interested in the diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease and related complications (such as endoscopic management of small bowel and colonic strictures). Since his appointment as a consutant in 2012, Dr Despott instigated significant advances at the Royal Free Unit for Endoscopy by making it one of the only 2 centres in London (and one of a handful in the UK) to offer a comprehensive small bowel endoscopy service including DBE and the development of a tertiary advanced polypectomy service. Dr Despott is the Senior Associate Editor of VideoGIE (an official journal of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE)) and is regularly invited to lecture and perform live endoscopy demonstrations at prestigious national and international meetings (including Endolive Roma, Rome, Italy, GEEW, Erasme Hospital, Brussels, Belgium, Dusseldorf Live Endoscopy, Dusseldorf, Germany, IRCAD Brazil, Digestive Endoscopy Cluj, Cluj, Romania and BSG Live Endoscopy, London, UK). He was awarded a bursary by the Japanese GI Endoscopy Society (JGES) to present his work at the 85th JGES Congress held in Kyoto, Japan and the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) has also awarded Dr Despott another travelling fellowship to Japan, where he underwent further training in a ESD and therapeutic DBE at the National Cancer Centre in Tokyo and the Jichi Medical University, Tochigi Japan, under the direct mentorship of Dr Yutaka Saito and Prof Hironori Yamamoto, respectively. In 2007 Dr Despott received a prestigious scholarship to undergo advanced endoscopy training (particularly in DBE, CE and advanced therapeutic colonoscopy) at the Wolfson Unit for Endoscopy at St Mark’s Hospital and Academic Institute. He spent a total of 3½ years of dedicated endoscopy training at the Wolfson Unit at St Mark’s, during which time he also undertook formal research at the same institution and Imperial College London achieving a further doctorate in medical research -MD(Res), a PhD equivalent, with a thesis entitled ‘Advancing Minimally Invasive Aspects of Flexible GI Endoscopy’. He continues to be actively involved in endoscopic research and currently forms part of the European Society of Gastrointestinal

Interventional endoscopy: Double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE); upper GI endoscopy; transnasal endoscopy; GI endoscopy; colonoscopy; polypectomy; EMR; ESD; dilatation; PEG placement; capsule endoscopy; colon capsule General gastroenterology: Reflux; dyspepsia; dysphagia; abdominal pain; bloating; change in bowel habit; bleeding; polyps; diarrhoea; loose motions; constipation; IBS; complex endoscopy