Dr David Sillar

After graduating from the University of Queensland in 1985 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Dr Sillar’s early medical training was predominantly in Brisbane, but he also spent time as the acting Medical Superintendant at the Biggenden and Surat Hospitals.

Having decided to pursue a career in Surgery, David spent time as a Surgical registrar at the Cairns and the Southport Hospitals. His Urology training was complete in Brisbane including an initial six months in the Hepato-Biliary Unit at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, at which time he was exposed to Laparoscopic surgery, which was in it’s infancy in the early 1990’s. He continued on this interest in Laparoscopy during his Urology Training, which included presenting some of the early techniques to the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Urological Society.

Dr Sillar obtained his Fellowship to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Urology in 1994. During his last year he received the Keith Kirkland Prize, the prestigious annual research award for Australasian Urology Trainees, having earlier been runner up in the Neville Davis prize for research in General Surgery.

After this David did 12 months of Locum work, throughout Queensland and Northern NSW, while deciding where he would settle down with his by then young family, before settling up practice in Lismore. He was the third generation to practice Medicine in Lismore, following his Grandfather Dr Don Sillar a Surgeon-GP, and his Uncle Dr Stuart Sillar, who was amongst the first in Australia to set up a specialist Urology practice outside of a capital city.

After 10 years, David moved his practice to the Southern Gold Coast, with his private practice based at the John Flynn hospital, with his rooms onsite in the Fred McKay House. Dr Sillar continues to provide a public Urology service through the Tweed and Murwillumbah Hospitals.

David developed an interest in Minimally Invasive Surgery, from early in his training. He has been doing laparoscopic procedures in General and Urological Surgery since the early 1990’s, this has included laparoscopic nephrectomy, laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, and pyeloplasty. This has continued into Robotic assisted laparoscopic procedures with the availability of the da Vinci Robot at the John Flynn Hospital. David is accredited with Intuitive Surgical having completed their international training program, and is using the da Vinci Robot for the management of Prostate Cancer performing Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomies as well as using the device for partial nephrectomies in the management of Renal ( kidney ) cancer.

For almost as long David has been doing endourology procedures, such as rigid and flexible ureteroscopy and percutaneous procedures for the management of renal tract calculi (Kidney Stones). Recently as the technology became available Dr Sillar has also been using LASER’s for Urological procedures and he convened a LASER workshop in 2004 in Lismore.

Through his public hospital commitment and with David’s colleagues in East Coast Urology, he provides teaching to the next generation of Doctors and Urologists. At present he is the supervising an accredited Advanced Trainee in Urology at the Tweed Hospital, and also lectures to Medical Students at the Bond University