Professor El-Omar graduated in Medicine from Glasgow University, Scotland, and trained as a gastroenterologist. He worked as a Visiting Scholar/Scientist at Vanderbilt University, TN, and National Cancer Institute, MD, USA, and was Professor of Gastroenterology at Aberdeen University, Scotland, for 16 years before taking up the Chair of Medicine at St George & Sutherland Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He is the Ex-Editor in Chief of the journal Gut and currently acts as Senior Advisor to all Gut Portfolio Journals. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal eGastroenterology. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Society of Gastroenterology in 2025. He is the Director of the Microbiome Research Centre at UNSW/St George Hospital, Sydney. He is the Incoming Director of the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Science Engineering (SCELSE), taking up the position on September 1st 2026. His research interests include all aspects of the microbiome in health and disease.
