Dr David Burnett

David is an experienced specialist hepatobiliary surgeon who works at John Hunter Hospital. He has undergone additional sub-specialist training with some of the best surgeons in Melbourne and Sydney, through the ANZHPA training program, and graduated from this program first in Australasia with the prestigious Robert Padbury medal. David completed his medical school in Sydney at UNSW, and underwent early training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. However, after falling in love with Newcastle during 5 years of general surgical training, he, his wife, and two daughters chose to return.

David has a passion for providing world-class cancer care to patients in Newcastle, and strongly believes that they deserve the same standard of care as those in Sydney or Melbourne. He brings his extensive training and experience in liver transplant, liver resection, and pancreatic surgery to his work in Newcastle. Over the past three years, he has performed approximately 90 Whipples procedures, 160 major liver resections, extended resections, and vena cava resections. Additionally, he has been involved in ALPPS procedures, major vascular resections, and Australia’s 6th multivisceral transplant.

David is constantly involved in teaching surgery at all levels, and works closely with his team of highly qualified anaesthetists and allied health staff to provide the fastest possible return to home, function, and life. He offers complex liver and pancreas surgery, as well as the full spectrum of laparoscopic general surgical operations, including gallbladder, hiatus hernia, ventral and inguinal hernia, and endoscopy.

In the past 12 months, David has written a book chapter on pancreatic cancer and started a major multi-centre randomised controlled trial in collaboration with experts from Peter Macallum Cancer Centre, Westmead, and John Hunter Hospital. The trial aims to improve perioperative health outcomes in cancer patients through prehabilitation, the process of enhancing an individual’s functional capacity to enable them to withstand a forthcoming stressor, such as major surgery. David is also driving a collaboration between CSIRO and experts from Monash Health, Austin Health, and influential Australian business executives to improve cancer outcomes for patients well into the future.