Dr Carolyn Vasey, Colorectal & General Surgeon
MBBS BMedSci PGDipSurgAnat MSurgEd FRACS
Dr Carolyn Vasey is a highly trained specialist General & Colorectal Surgeon.
Dr Carolyn Vasey General & Colorectal Surgeon Ballarat Victoria
Dr Carolyn Vasey is a specialist general and colorectal surgeon who integrates technical expertise with an authentic patient-centred approach. Her treatment philosophy is underpinned by attention to detail and she tailors a highly-specific surgical approach to achieve excellent outcomes for her patients.
Dr Vasey completed her undergraduate medical training at The University of Melbourne in 2006 before undertaking General Surgical training at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She subsequently undertook the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSSANZ) sub-speciality training program where she worked in high-volume, complex-case colorectal units in Geelong, Auckland, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Dr Vasey undertook much of her training using minimally invasive approaches (including laparoscopic and robotic surgery) and she offers complex surgery through a minimally invasive approach.
Carolyn has held multiple leadership positions, including being selected by her peers as Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Trainee Association where she was a member of RACS College Council, the peak board governing RACS. This has allowed Carolyn to develop skills in advocacy, health leadership, and corporate governance. Dr Vasey chairs the colorectal multidisciplinary team meetings at Ballarat Health Services.
Dr Vasey has been an invited speaker at national and international conferences and has received a number of awards for her research work, including the Ian & Ruth Gough Surgical Education Scholarship and the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain & Ireland Travelling Fellowship. She holds a Masters of Surgical Education and enjoys teaching and mentoring her medical students and surgical trainees.
Dr Vasey also holds a passion for medical outreach work and has worked in Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Mauritius, India, Nepal and in Darwin and remote Indigenous communities within Australia.
Having grown up in regional Victoria, Carolyn has a long-held aspiration to deliver equivalent skills and expertise to regional patients. She enjoys working with like-minded specialists in the collaborative medical framework that Ballarat provides and she and her husband are pleased to be raising their children here.
Carolyn loves her job and enjoys caring for her patients and offering them warm and personalised care for a full range of both general surgical and colorectal conditions. Dr Vasey consults at the Specialist Centre Ballarat and operates at St John of God Hospital Ballarat and Ballarat Health Services.
Services offered:
Including laparoscopic and trans-anal microsurgical resection (TAMIS) approaches
Recurrent rectal or bowel cancers, including pelvic exenterations and reconstructions
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
Including surgery for Crohn’s disease & Ulcerative colitis
Dr Vasey works closely with a team of Gastroenterologists to offer multidisciplinary care for IBD patients
Advanced polypectomy techniques
Colonic stenting for bowel obstruction
Rectal prolapse, faecal incontinence, and obstructive defecation (difficulty evacuating stool)
Dr Vasey offers sensitive testing for pelvic floor conditions in the proctology laboratory in the rooms, including manometry and endoanal ultrasound
She works closely with pelvic floor physiotherapists in Ballarat
She offers a number of procedures to improve pelvic floor function including laparoscopic ventral rectopexy and sacral nerve neuromodulation
Dr Vasey works with specialist gynaecologists to perform complex pelvic surgery for endometriosis
Emergency abdominal surgery
Including appendix, gallbladder and hernia surgery
Dr Vasey also offers a full range of surgery for other General Surgical conditions, including thoracic surgery.
