Dr. Maria T. Abreu is a Gastroenterologist who specializes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). She completed her medical degree at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Her postdoctoral training included an internship and residency in medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and a clinical and research fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYC, and head of the IBD Center. She is currently the Director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Center, Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. Abreu has more than 20 years of leadership experience in basic, translational, and clinical research and mentoring. Dr. Abreu was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2010 and, in 2018, to the Association of American Physicians (AAP). She completed a three-year term as Chair of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD) in 2022. In 2019, she was elected Councillor-at-Large of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Governing Board for a term of three years. Most recently, she is President-Elect of the AGA, on the path to becoming President in 2024. She will be the fifth woman and first Latina to hold this position.

Dr. Abreu is a recipient of the 2019 Sherman Prize by The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation, which recognizes outstanding achievements in IBD. In 2020, she received the Mentoring Award from the IMIBD section of the AGA. In the Fall of 2020, she received the Healio’s Lifetime Disruptor Award. This award goes to a gastroenterologist or hepatologist who consistently pushed the gastroenterology field forward through innovative treatments, practice management, patient care, or research. She is the 30th alumnus inducted into the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Hall of Fame.

At Digestive Diseases Week 2022, Dr. Abreu gave the Morton Grossman Lecture; at the Florida Gastroenterology Society Annual Meeting, she gave the James L. Borland, Sr. Memorial Lecture.

Dr. Abreu is frequently invited as a speaker (in English and Spanish) at symposia on basic science and clinical topics all over the world. She has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters, and reviews.

Johan Burisch earned his medical degree from the University of Copenhagen in 2010. Subsequently, in 2013, he completed his PhD, followed by the attainment of a Doctor of Medical Sciences degree in 2022, all from the same university.
His research focused on the epidemiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in Europe. Dr. Burisch has also held postdoctoral positions at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, USA, as well as at the Danish Center for E-health and Epidemiology.
He currently serves as a staff member at the Gastro-unit at Hvidovre University Hospital in Denmark and is affiliated with the Danish Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Children, Adolescents, and Adults.

Dr. Burisch ‘s research interests encompass various aspects of IBD, including the natural disease progression and prognosis among patients in Europe, the influence of modern treatments and treatment strategies on patient outcomes, and the identification of prognostic and predictive markers for treatment response and disease prognosis in newly-diagnosed and treatment-naive patient populations. He is also involved in the development of novel monitoring tools, such as e-Health solutions.

• Director, Division of Gastroenterology, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel.
• Affiliated with Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• Past president, Israeli Association of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases.
• IOIBD chair
• Translational mucosal immunology, Nutrition in IBD, novel therapy.
• Establish the comprehensive pouch clinic; biomarker based multidisciplinary team approach for treatment and research in IBD; Mediterranean diet treatment and prevention.
• Grants: The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; IPNP- ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Program Director, Colorectal Surgery Residency, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Clinical Professor of Surgery UCLA School of Medicine

Phillip R. Fleshner, M.D., holds an academic appointment of Clinical Professor of Surgery from the UCLA School of Medicine. He holds the Shierley, Jesslyne, and Emmeline Widjaja Chair in Colorectal Surgery. He has been an integral part of the Cedars Sinai Medical Center teaching staff on a number of levels. First, in conjunction with the Department of Surgery, he has remained the Program Director of the ACGME accredited residency and has successfully trained board certified colorectal surgeons.

Dr. Fleshner has been engaged in the study of colorectal surgery and for over 25 years and has been treating patients with colorectal disease surgically for the same period of time. He has presented at multiple invited lectures and served on multiple panels at various fora on surgical topics. He has also been invited to present state of the art lectures and serve on panels at meetings of two national, non-surgical entities, the American Gastroenterological Association and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

Dr. Fleshner has published over 100 peer reviewed papers on a variety of colorectal surgical issues. A primary focus of his research has been multidisciplinary examinations of clinical and subclinical factors affecting the perioperative care of the surgical patient. Also related to inflammatory bowel diseases, he has focused on research aimed at stratification of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis phenotypic subgroups, relating these to surgical outcomes and using the results to shape pre-and post-operative protocols. Another area of key interest is optimizing the surgical outcomes of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Finally, he has been interested in examining the effects of perioperative immune suppression on the outcomes of IBD surgery.

Dr. Fleshner received his bachelor's degree from McGill University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

Jonas Halfvarson is a consultant Gastroenterologist at Örebro University hospital and Professor of Gastroenterology at Örebro University, Sweden. Prof Halfvarson graduated as MD at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, before training in gastroenterology at Örebro University Hospital. He undertook research with Professor Gunnar Järnerot and obtained his PhD, entitled ‘Inflammatory bowel disease in twins; Studies of genetics and environmental factors’ in 2004. Part of his PhD was done at the University of Oxford, UK with Professor Derek Jewell.

Prof Halfvarson was named a Rising Star in Gastroenterology at the United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW) in 2011. He has served as a board member (Treasurer) of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD) 2017-2023. Currently, he heads the taskforce for genetics and pathophysiology at the Swedish Organisation for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (SOIBD), serves as the Scientific Director of the Swedish national quality registry for IBD (SWIBREG) and is also a member of the management committee of the international IBD genetic consortium (IIBDGC).

He has contributed to numerous impactful clinical studies across multiple facets of IBD, and has over 200 publications. His current research focuses on biomarkers in IBD, from both a clinical and mechanistic perspective. His work has been funded by the EU (7^th Framwork Programme, Horizon 2020 and IMI2), the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, Nordforsk, Vinnova, and the Swedish Research Council.

Dr. Kaplan is a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. Dr. Kaplan is a gastroenterologist who is internationally renowned for studying the global epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Clarivate, Web of Science (2020-2022) named Dr. Kaplan a Highly Cited Researcher in recognition of being in the top one percent of cited researchers. In 2021, Dr. Kaplan received Crohn’s and Colitis Canada’s Research Leader Award and was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is a Killam Laureate, receiving the Killam Annual Professor Award in 2022. His research has been widely cited in the news media including Time Magazine, BBC, The New York Times, and Scientific American

• Professor of the Postgraduate Health Sciences Program at the Catholic University of Paraná. 
• Adjunct Senior Professor of Surgery of the Colorectal Surgery Unit at Cajuru University Hospital of the Catholic University in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. 
• Masters' Degree on Surgery at the Catholic University in 2008 
• PhD degree studying the influence of biological therapy on surgical outcomes in Crohn´s disease, in the University of Campinas, in São Paulo, Brazil (UNICAMP) in 2015. 
• IBD advanced visiting fellow at the University of Calgary (Cumming school of medicine), Canada, for the period of 2017-2018. 
• Former committee member of S-ECCO (surgeons of ECCO) from 2015-2018 and a member of the ECCO EduCOM (educational committee), from 2018-2022.

Peter Lakatos is professor of medicine and director of IBD Centre at McGill University Health Centre. Until January 2017 he was head of the gastroenterology/hepatology ward, endoscopy unit and outpatient clinic at the 1^st Department of Medicine, Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary.
He is member of scientific committee of CIRC, and an IOIBD member. He is one of the founders and leader of the Hungarian IBD Study Group. He is associate editor in Journals  Crohn’s Colitis, Digestive Liver Diseases and World Journal of Gastroenterology and section editor in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
During his career he published more than 400 original papers and reviews and 26 book chapters.
His primary research interest is the epidemiology, quality of care, outcomes research and optimization of old and new medical therapies in IBD.

• Lynne and Marc Benioff Professor of Gastroenterology
• Director, Colitis and Crohn’s Disease Center, University of California, San Francisco
• Past Chair, IMIBD, American Gastroenterology Association
• AGA, IMIBD Research Mentor Award 2022
• Sherman Prize Winner 2022
• Pregnancy and Drug Safety in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Chair, Global Consensus on Management of Pregnancy and IBD
• Grants: The Leona M. And Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Fisher Family

Dr/Prof Remo Panaccione is a Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. He serves as the Dean of MD Admissions and Director of the IBD Fellowship Program. He holds the  Crohn’s Colitis Canada Endowed Research Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  He serves as an executive member for the IOIBD.

He is the 2020 Crohn's Colitis Canada Outstanding Physician of the Year is recognized as a 2020-23 Clarivate Research Scholar for being cited in the top 1% of researchers in the world. He has co-authored over 350 manuscripts, 20 book chapters, and 625 abstracts including publications in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, Nature, and Annals of Internal Medicine. 

Prof. Panaccione’s main research interest is the design and implementation of clinical trials. He has been the principal investigator on several studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of new therapeutic agents in subjects with IBD.

Dr. Zhihua Ran is the Professor of Medicine, Chief of Department of Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy Center, Zhou Pu Hospital, Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences. Currently, he is the member of International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD), Co-founder and first president of BRICS IBD Consortium, governing board member of Asian Organization for Crohn’s and Colitis (AOCC), director of IBD Group, Chinese Association of Digestive Disease, Director of Shanghai IBD Research Center. associated editor of Inflammatory Intestinal Disease, Chinese Journal o Inflammatory Bowel Disease..

His major clinical and research activities have been focused in the field of gastrointestinal diseases, particularly in inflammatory bowel disease, such as immunopathogenesis of IBD, therapeutic monitoring of IBD etc. As a tutor of Doctorial student, he had published a total of 158 papers and reviews in Chinese Journal and 118 SCI Journals, edited two scientific monographs, manuscript reviewer of 18 SCI Journals. He is the project leader of more than 15 scientific research projects, including five National Natural Science Foundation of China, and two joint projects with Germany. He had received Prof. Anne Ferguson Lecture award from University of Edinburgh in November 2016, Shanghai Conference Ambassador by Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration in October 2017.

David T. Rubin is the Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition at the University of Chicago Medicine.
He earned a medical degree with honors at The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine where he also completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowships in gastroenterology and clinical medical ethics.
He is associate faculty member at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, associate investigator at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the University of Chicago Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics.
He is the chair of the National Scientific Advisory Committee of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.
He is the deputy chair of the Executive Committee of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD).

Dr. Rubin twice received the ACG’s Governor’s Award of Excellence in Clinical Research (2003 and 2013), and in 2020, Dr. Rubin received the Sherman Prize for Excellence in Crohn’s and Colitis.
He is an Associate Editor of the journal Gastroenterology and Editor-in-Chief of the ACG On-Line Education Universe. Dr. Rubin is an editor of Curbside Consultation in IBD (third ed), senior editor of Sleisenger and Fordtran’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease(twelfth ed), and an author on >500 articles on management of IBD, including the 2019 ACG Guidelines for ulcerative colitis.
He has a verified Twitter account @IBDMD with over 20,500 followers.

Prof. Spinelli is the Director of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Full Professor of Surgery at Humanitas University, Rozzano Milano, Italy. He trained for two years (2003-2005) at the University of Berlin – Charité, and later he gained his PhD on enhanced recovery protocols in colorectal surgery.

He is dedicated to the development of innovative techniques in minimally invasive colorectal surgery. Prof. Spinelli is Associate Editor at Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, at Journal of Anus, Rectum & Colon and was Associate Editor at Colorectal Disease (2014 – 2023). He is Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Crohn’s Colitis and of Coloproctology.

He authored/co-authored more than 370 PubMed-indexed publications (IF > 3000, H Index Scopus 53, H Index Google Scholar 63).

Prof. Spinelli currently serves as General Secretary and President in Waiting of the European Society of ColoProctology (ESCP) and is Fellow of European Surgical Association (F-ESA), Fellow of the European Board of Surgery (FEBS), Fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery (FASCRS) and Member of the International Organization for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD).

In 2016 he was awarded with the Honorary Fellowship of the Czech Society of Surgery and is Honorary Member of the Brazilian College of Digestive Surgery (CBCD) since 2017.

Harry Sokol is Professor in the Gastroenterology department of Saint-Antoine Hospital (APHP, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France). He is an internationally recognized expert in the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and gut microbiota fields, in which he has published more than 300 papers in major journals. He is the coordinator of the Paris Center for Microbiome Medicine, the current president of the French group of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation, and the head of the APHP Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Center. His work on the role of gut microbiota in IBD pathogenesis led to landmark papers, including the identification of the pivotal role of the commensal bacteria Faecal bacterium prausnitzii in gut homeostasis and IBD. Currently, his work focuses on deciphering gut microbiota–host interactions in health and disease to better understand their role in pathogenesis and develop innovative treatments. Harry received two grants from the European Research Council (ERC) in 2016 and 2022, and he is currently Associate Editor for Gastroenterology. Since 2020, he is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate, Web of Science).

Simon Travis is Professor of Clinical Gastroenterology at the University of Oxford, Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Kennedy Institute and Honorary Consultant Gastroenterologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is a former President of the European Crohn’s & Colitis Organisation (ECCO).

His research interests involve the integration of science and clinical practice, inflammation across tissues, endoscopic assessment of disease activity, predictive indices, and novel therapy in inflammatory bowel disease.

He has received many international awards, including the Joanna and David B Sachar International Award, New York, the Inaugural Distinguished Visiting Professor of IBD, Sydney, Lifetime Achievement Award of the Colitis & Crohn’s Foundation, India and Crystal Award for Distinguished Educator, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology.

He has written 7 books, over 30 chapters, 25 peer-reviewed international guidelines and more than 400 original papers.

Séverine Vermeire obtained her MD from KU Leuven in 1995 and a PhD at the same University in 2001. She further trained at the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Paraguay (1993), at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, UK (1997-1998) and at the Montreal General Hospital McGill University Canada in 2000–2001. She is staff member at the Gastroenterology & Hepatology Department of the University Hospital Leuven and Full Professor of Medicine at the KU Leuven. She is the Research Director of Biomedical Sciences at KU Leuven.

Prof. Vermeire is actively involved as principal investigator in RCTs with new therapeutic compounds and has been lead investigator on several of these programs. Her scientific work resulted in more than 600 peer-reviewed articles and focusses on the role of the microbiome and genetic susceptibility in IBD and on identifying prognostic and predictive signatures of treatment response. She participated in the International iCHOM consortium on development of Patient-Centered Outcomes for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

She was awarded an Advanced H2020-European Research Council (ERC) Grant (2016-2022) and was President of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) from 2014-2016 and of the Belgian IBD Research & Development (BIRD) Group from 2011-2013