David Morris

Our Department concentrates on the management of Metastatic disease to the liver and peritoneal.  We treat appendix, colorectal, gastric and ovarian cancers as well as mesothelioma and some rare sarcomas.

Our clinical research is based on our large clinical databases of patients with liver (>5000) and peritoneal (>1500) cancers, as well as prospective trials.  We also have a basic cancer research program which concentrates on anti-cancer drug discovery and has been responsible for 4 new drugs reaching clinical trials.  Monepantel and BromAc have been the most recent drugs which have exciting potential in a variety of cancer types.

In the last decade, I have pioneered cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC in Australia for the treatment of pseudomyxoma peritonei, appendix cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, mesothelioma and gastric cancer. I performed my first peritonectomy procedure in 1996. I have since performed over 1400 peritonectomy procedures to date (approx. 600 CRS procedures in the last 5 years with approx. 500 liver surgeries and debulk surgeries) with most encouraging results. My primary interest and commitment of time is to CRS and patient outcome.

I have developed a strong multidisciplinary team who have all contributed immensely to a unit, which is amongst the best in the world. I am on the central committee of Peritoneal Surface Oncology Group International (PSOGI) with extensive research contributing to a large volume of published world literature on CRS and have made a considerable contribution to publishing an atlas on CRS and peritoneal surface malignancy.

We also have a basic science cancer laboratory and have developed a number of anti-cancer drugs.  The most recent of these (BromAc) dissolves mucinous tumours and increases their sensitivity to chemotherapy.  I have approximately 1,000 publications and the 30 of these related to BromAc are on our company website – Mucpharm.

Editorial Board
Terms of Appointment: December 2020 - November 2022