Specialists
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Specialists
OUR DOCTORS
DR ANDREW EAKIN
Andrew has a Medical Degree (1998) and Masters of Public Health (2001) from Sydney University. His physician training was carried out at Royal North Shore Hospital with subspecialty training in gastroenterology and hepatology at Nepean Hospital and St George Hospital. Andrew is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP).
Since 2006, he has been practicing in Port Macquarie. Dr Eakin’s practice involves all areas of intestinal and liver disease, including diagnosis and management of Chron's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Coeliac disease, iron deficiency, gut motility disorders, chronic constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic diarrhea and swallowing difficulty.
He also investigates liver disease, including chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection, and manages patients with liver cirrhosis.
He is trained in diagnostic and interventional endoscopy procedures, including gastroscopy, colonoscopy and capsule endoscopy (PillCam). He has a particular interest in providing high quality colonoscopy procedures for optimal detection of colon polyps and prevention of bowel cancer.
Dr Eakin also undertakes on-call services as a general physician at Port Macquarie Base Hospital, where he is Head of Department (Gastroenterology) and also provides consultations, inpatient treatment and emergency and planned endoscopy services there.
He undertakes regular endoscopy at Kempsey Hospital and Wauchope hospital and has an appointment at Port Macquarie Private Hospital, where he performs gastroscopy and colonoscopy for privately-insured and self funding patients.
Dr Eakin, along with Hepatitis C nurse Jane Van Der Jagt and Hepatitis C counsellor Lynelle Wood, established the local Hepatitis C treatment clinic in 2009.
As regional examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, he has organised the RACP examinations in Port Macquarie annually since 2008, which assesses the next generation of specialist physicians.
DR LEIGH DAHLENBURG, FRACP
Dr Leigh Dahlenburg is a gastroenterologist and hepatologist in practice at Highfields Gastroenterology and a physician at the Port Macquarie Base Hospital.
A graduate of the University of Tasmania, he completed his fellowship at the AW Morrow Centre for Gastroenterology and Transplant Services at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.
Dr Dahlenburg has a research background in colorectal cancer prevention and quality improvement in endoscopy and a clinical interest in cancer biology, oesophageal reflux, and autoimmune liver disease.
He has extensive experience in the management of both general gastroenterology and end-stage liver disease, and is an active advocate for both Hepatitis C services in regional areas and access for indigenous patients.
Dr Dahlenburg believes strongly in a close clinical relationship with his patients and that the role of the physician gastroenterologist is not just to perform tests and return a patient back to the referring doctor; he sees patients throughout the whole course of their issue.
He undertakes on-call services as a general physician at Port Macquarie Base Hospital and provides consultations, inpatient treatment and emergency/planned endoscopy services there.
Dr Dahlenburg lectures medical students weekly at the UNSW Regional Medical School Port Macquarie Campus where he was awarded "Hospital Tutor of the Year" in 2016.
He is also happy to have discussions with general practitioners.
Bec Eakin, Practice Nurse.
Bec Eakin has been a registered nurse since 1998. She received her Bachelor of Nursing from the University of New England in 1997.
Bec started her nursing career in critical care at Gosford Hospital and then moved on to critical care at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney.
She relocated to Port Macquarie with her family in 2006. Bec took on the role of Nurse Educator at the University of New South Wales School of Medicine Rural Campus in Port Macquarie in 2012. In this role she taught clinical skills to medical students.
Bec took on the role of Practice Nurse at Highfields Gastroenterology in 2016 where she specialises in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Nursing.
In this role, she is as a central point of contact and support for patients, providing education, managing therapies including biologics, and coordinating care within a multidisciplinary team.