Kunwarjit Sangla

Professor Kunwarjit Sangla is a Medical Director and Pre-Eminent staff specialist with Queensland Health based at the Townsville University Hospital. He is trained as an Internal Medicine Physician, Endocrinologist and Obstetric Medicine Physician.

He is currently a board member for Townsville Hospital and Health Services and deputy chair of the board safety and quality committee.

He is also an assessor for Australian Council on Healthcare Standards.

His keen area of interest is inpatient diabetes management and peripheral vascular disease

He key research contributions include the diabetes ketoacidosis protocol for adults which is now used across Queensland public and many private hospitals; the nurse practitioner lead virtual diabetes dashboard (whole of hospital with intention to treat) and the virtual (whole of hospital with intention to treat) venous thromboembolism dashboard to prevent deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in patients admitted to hospital.

He received the best poster for innovation and top three oral presentation at the BMJ international conference for Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Melbourne in 2023 and the Australian Health Roundtable Innovation of the year award in 2023.

Professor Sangla works in close collaboration with the team at the NHMRC funded centre of research excellence for Peripheral Vascular Disease at JCU and has received numerous external grant support as part of the team.

His research commitment is illustrated by presentations at national and international meetings and publications in peer-reviewed journals, He has reviewed grant applications and is a peer reviewer for national and international peer reviewed journals.

He was awarded the Rural Services Medal in 2015 by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians for services to rural, remote and indigenous communities, NAIDOC award in 2019 from Townsville HHS, Queensland Heath award for excellence in digitising healthcare in 2024 and TIHRI researcher of the year for 2025.

He was awarded Member of the order of Australia in 2026.