Jean-Frederic Colombel, MD, is the Director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Since 1984, his research has focused on IBD, and thanks to the development of multiple local, national, and international collaborations, he has been able to contribute to important advances in the pathophysiology of the disease. He is past president of the GETAID, European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization and past chair of International Organization for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD).

Dr. Colombel was awarded the United European Gastroenterology Federation Research Prize in 2009, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Clinical Research Award in 2014, the Sherman Prize in 2018 and the Jacobi Medallion in 2022. One tangible result of Dr. Colombel’s work has been the publication as primary author or co-author of more than 1,070 peer-reviewed papers with an H index of 185.

Background as a gastrointestinal surgeon,
Professor in Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm.
Former head at the Department of Medicine at KI,
Former member in the Nobel Assembly.

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.

Dr Mantzaris has authored and/or co-authored more than 350 manuscripts in peer review national and international medical Journals and medical books, including Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of IBD, Dyspepsia and H. pylori infection, Colorectal cancer, Sedation in GI Endoscopy,  and the ECCO-EFCCA Patient Guidelines.

He has run as PI a plethora of international and national industry-initiated and researcher-initiated clinical trials.

He was elected President of the Hellenic Gastroenterological Association, the Hellenic IBD Club, and the Hellenic Club for the study of H. pylori infection.

He has served as member and chairman of the ECCO educational Committee and member of the ECCO Governing Board as Educational Officer, member of the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) and the UEG General Assembly, the Nomination Committee, and the Publication Committee of IOIBD, the governing board of the Medical Society of Athens, and Member of the Governing Board of the Hellenic Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Technology. 

For 14 years he was a member of the Examination Committee for the Specialty of Gastroenterology in Greece. He is honorary member of the Hellenic GI Association, the Hellenic IBD Club and the Romanian IBD Club.  In addition, he is Fellow of the AGA, International Member of the ACG, member of the IOIBD, the International Coeliac Society, and (in the past) of the BSG, the Hellenic Immunological Association and the Hellenic Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

He is serving or has served as member of Editorial Boards of the Journals JCC, APT, IBD, GRP, WJG, and Annals of Gastroenterology, and as reviewer in many national and International medical journals. he has organized numerous educational activities, including National and International GI and IBD Congresses, Symposia, Postgraduate Courses, Tutorials, and Webinars. He has served as consultant in numerous national and international advisory boards for the industry.

Professor Colm O’Morain graduated from University College Dublin and received his post-graduate training in Dublin, Nice, London and New York.

• He is immediate past President of the BioMedical Alliance for Health Research in Europe representing 28 major European Scientific societies of which serve the interest of 300,000 medical scientists.
• He is the past President of United European Gastroenterology from 2011 to 2013.
• He is the past President of the Bockus International Society of Gastroenterology.
• He was the foundation Professor of Medicine at Tallaght Hospital, Trinity College Dublin. He was
  elected Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Trinity College from 2007 – 2012.
• He has held many positions of authority in National, European and World Organisations most
  notably President of the Irish Society of Gastroenterology between 2000 – 2004, President of the
  European National Societies of Gastroenterology 1997 – 2000.
• He has published over 300 peer reviewed articles and authored eight books.
• He was the President of the European Helicobacter Study of which he is a founder member.
• He was the Irish representative on the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation.
• He is a patron of the European Federation of Crohn’s Colitis Association.
• He is a founder member of the European Board of Gastroenterology.
• He is a co-author of the European Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer Screening and an advisor to the National Cancer Screening Service in Ireland.
• He was awarded a D.Sc from the University of London for his published work and a D.Sc from the University of Athens for his contribution to Gastroenterology.
• He is a fellow of The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, the London College of Physicians and of Trinity College Dublin.
• He is an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy of Ireland.
• He has been awarded the Max Suirala Medal by the Finnish Society of Gastroenterology and was made an honorary member of the Belgian Society of Gastroenterology and of the Hungarian Society
  of Gastroenterology and an Orator of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology. He was awarded the Felix Burda prize for his efforts to promote colorectal cancer in Europe.
• His research interests are in Helicobacter pylori, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Colorectal Cancer Screening.

Dr. Julian Panes is senior investigator at Institut Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, and formerly the head of the IBD Unit at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona for 1996 – 2022.

His research group is focused on the development of new diagnostic tools particularly imaging modalities, the identification of new molecular targets for treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases, and the development of cell therapies.
He has published more than 400 manuscripts in international peer-reviewed journals, has served as a member of the Scientific Committee of the United European Gastroenterology Federation, the Scientific Committee of European Crohn’s and Colitis organization, has been member of the board of International Organization for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD), Associate Editor of Gut, and President of ECCO.

Dr. Schölmerich was born in Marburg, Germany and educated at the University of Heidelberg ("Physikum" 1971) and the University of Freiburg (MD, 1973). He obtained lecturer in medicine (PhD) at the University of Freiburg (1984), the certification for internal medicine (1985), the certification for gastroenterology (1988) and for "Special intensive care medicine" for internal medicine (1993). He was research fellow (1982, 1985) and visiting professor (1995) at the University of California, San Diego.

From 1991 until 2010 he was Director of the Department for Internal Medicine I (Gastroenterology/Hepatology, Hematology/Oncology, Endocrinology/ Metabolic diseases, Infectious diseases, Rheumatology/Immunology, Intensive Care Medicine) at the University of Regensburg (since 1991). He served as Deputy Medical Director (1992 – 1994) and Medical Director (1996 – 1999) at the University Medical Center of Regensburg. From 2010 -- 2016 he was Medical Director and CEO of the Hospital of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt.

He was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD, 1998 – 2001). He served as Deputy Chairman (2001 – 2004) and Chairman of the IOIBD (2004-2007). In 2004 he was elected to the Senate of the Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft (DFG) and was Vice president of the DFG from 2005 until 2011.

His research areas are inflammatory bowel disease, the innate immune system and bacterial-epithelial interactions in the intestine, liver cirrhosis and complications, and bile acid metabolism.

In 1988 he returned to Brazil and became an Assistant Professor at Santos School of Medicine and was Board Certified in Gastroenterology by the Brazilian Medical Association (AMB) and the Brazilian Federation of Gastroenterology (FBG).

In 1994 he became a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) and in 1996 he received, with honour, his Master degree in Gastroenterology by the Brazilian Institute for the Study and Research in Gastroenterology.

MEMBERSHIPS, EXTRA CURRICUALAR ACTIVITIES, AND AWARDS
He’s emeritus president of the Brazilian Association for Crohn’s and Colitis after 16 years as president.
From 2004 to 2010 he was a Governor for the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) for Brazil and from 2007 to 2010 the Director of Research of the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil.
In 2010 he became a member of the International Organization for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD).
He’s also a member of the advisory board and/or reviewer for many scientific journals like the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease and Sciences, Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, and Clinics.
In 2010, Dr. Steinwurz received the Geraldo Siffert Award for the Best Abstract presented at the Brazilian Week of Gastroenterology.
In 2012 was honoured with the International Leadership Award from the American College of Gastroenterology in Las Vegas-USA. In 2014 was granted with the William D. Carey Award from the American College of Gastroenterology in Philadelphia –USA.
In 2016 was elected secretary general of the Sao Paulo society of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, and Chair of the international relations committee of the Brazilian Federation of Gastroenterology.
He was the recipient of the 2016 Master award from the American College of Gastroenterology and again, elected Governor of the ACG for Brazil.
President of the PANCCO - Pan-American Crohn’s and Colitis Organization, from 2019 to 2022.
He is a board member and reviewer for many high impact publications in the field of IBD.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES
Nowadays Dr. Steinwurz is taking care of over 3000 patients with IBD in Instituto Steinwurz de Saude do Intestino and Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo, and involved in many research projects, including epidemiology, therapeutic, clinical trials, and biomarkers.

Since 1979, he has been working at Rikshospitalet university hospital, and after 1980 as a specialist in gastroenterology and internal medicine, and from 1988 as a consultant at the department of gastroenterology and hepatology until clinical retirement in 2012, whereafter he has been a professor emeritus at the Institute of Clinical Medicine, the university of Oslo (UiO).

Major areas of research have been gastrointestinal pathophysiology, intestinal neoplasia, including endocrine tumors and especially colorectal polyps, clinical nutrition, and gastrointestinal inflammation.
He was appointed professor of gastroenterology first time in 1985, and later of clinical nutrition, and full professor of clinical epidemiology, advising many PhD candidates, master students and student fellows.
His international collaboration includes several EU-projects, editorial work, opponent at dissertations, international prizes, invited member of the New York academy of Science, Fellow of the American gastroenterological association, honorary member of the Norwegian Gastroenterology association, appointed visiting professor at the university of Lanzhou, China, and in 1989, founder of the IBSEN study group.

Since 1995, member of the International Organisation for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IOIBD).

The publication list counts close to 500 articles in addition to many conference presentations. Morten Vatn still has advisory tasks in his major fields, partly on behalf of the university.