A/Prof Britt Christensen

Associate Professor Britt Christensen is a consultant gastroenterologist and endoscopist who combines public practice at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and private practice at The Melbourne Private Hospital. She is the Head of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease service at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, a board member of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia, Chair of the Australian IBD Faculty, board member and scientific lead of the International Bowel Ultrasound Group and an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne.

Britt maintains a particular interest in the inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. She leads a pregnancy-IBD service at the The Royal Melbourne and The Royal Women's Hospital, an intestinal ultrasound service at The Royal Melbourne, has an interest in transition care services and complex IBD and leads a large clinical and translational research program. She is also highly experienced in investigating and managing all gastroenterological complaints, including irritable bowel syndrome, iron deficiency anaemia, gastrointestinal bleeding, bowel cancer screening, coeliac disease and liver disorders. She is trained in gastroscopy, colonoscopy and intestinal ultrasound.

Britt studied Medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduating with honours in 2006 and has completed a Masters of Public Health at Monash University, for which she was awarded a Medal of Academic Excellence. After completing her gastroenterology training at St Vincent’s and Alfred Hospitals, she was awarded the Joseph B. Kirsner fellowship and spent over two years undertaking advanced training in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at the prestigious University of Chicago Medicine, one of the largest and most prominent IBD centers in the world. Whilst there, she completed a PhD looking at histological outcomes and novel therapies in IBD. She is actively involved in research and collaborates with multiple international IBD centers in research and IBD education. She has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences and has been published widely. In addition, Britt is the author of multiple book chapters on IBD and is a reviewer for many of the top journals in the field of Gastroenterology. She has also completed an intestinal ultrasound fellowship at the Ospedale Luigi Sacco in Milan and performs and trains other doctors in intestinal ultrasound to diagnose and monitor IBD disease activity.

Britt lives in inner city Melbourne with her husband and three young children. When not at work her passions include spending time with her family, traveling and reading. She values communication with patients and families and is committed to improving patient health outcomes and providing holistic, compassionate medical care.