Matilda Ahdrian – breaking taboo about life with a stoma through activities on social media, podcast, participation in national TV, radio, lectures etc. Got her stoma at age of 17 and it saved her life. Since then it’s been a natural part of sharing her life and spreading awareness and confidence that life isn’t over just because you get a stoma.

Professor Aurélien Amiot is a distinguished French gastroenterologist specializing in inflammatory bowel diseases. He practices at Bicêtre University Hospital, in the Paris area. In addition to his clinical duties, Professor Amiot is actively involved in medical and epidemiological research. He is a member of the Epidemiology Research Center on Population Health (INSERM U1018) at Paris-Saclay University. He has contributed to 159 articles referenced in the PubMed library, resulting in an H-index of 45. His main fields of interest include acute severe ulcerative colitis, the optimization of advanced therapies in real-world studies, and the study of environmental risk factors for IBD in epidemiological cohort studies within the E3N and EPIC groups. Furthermore, Professor Amiot is a member of the executive board of the Groupe d’Étude des Affections Inflammatoires du tube Digestif (GETAID) and of the French National Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (SNFGE).

Aron Arzoomand, M.D. from Karolinska Institutet. Completed his degree project in bioinformatics at the Centre for Translational Microbiome Research, contributing to the development of computational pipelines for processing of large-scale sequencing data (StaG-mwc). In 2021 he was registered as a PhD student under the supervision of Petter Brodin to study development of the gut microbiome and immune system in early life.

Their research involves discovery of microbial and breast-milk derived compounds with immunomodulatory properties, exploration of immune responses towards commensal microbes, and how gut microbial exposures can lead to immune imprinting effects in infants. Particular emphasis is placed on the immune and microbial events that follow birth, as a child transition from a sterile womb into a microbial environment.

Christianne Buskens graduated at the Medical School at the University of Utrecht in 1999. From 2000 until 2003 she worked as a research fellow at the department of surgery, and the department of experimental oncology at the Academic Medical Centre (AMC) in Amsterdam. This resulted in her PhD thesis ´The development of new treatment strategies for oesophageal cancer’, which she defended with distinction in 2004. She was trained as a surgeon from 2003 until 2009 at the AMC, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (Amsterdam), and Gelre Hospitals (Apeldoorn). After completion of her surgical training, she was granted a fellowship from the Dutch Cancer Organization (KWF) at the department of colorectal surgery in Oxford, United Kingdom. Here, she specialized in proctology and minimally invasive surgery. In January 2012, she became a staff member of the AMC colorectal surgeons group. Nowadays, she combines her clinical work as an IBD surgeon with translational research which is funded by an innovative research incentive grant from The Netherlands organisation for health research and development. Her research lines focus on the role of the appendix in ulcerative colitis, and the the effector functions of (myeloid) immune cells. She also has a masters in clinical epidemiology

Geert D’Haens is Professor of gastroenterology at University of Amsterdam and head of the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. After graduation at the University of Leuven, Belgium, he was trained in gastroenterology, gastrointestinal endoscopy and inflammatory bowel diseases at the University Hospitals in Leuven and at the University of Chicago Hospitals under the mentorship of Paul Rutgeerts and Steven Hanauer, respectively. He finished his PhD thesis in 1996 on mechanisms causing postoperative recurrence of Crohn’s disease. After that, most of his research efforts went into the mechanism of action of new IBD drugs, the development of endoscopic endpoints and surrogate markers for IBD and novel treatment algorithms.

In 1999, D’Haens was co-founder of ECCO, the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization. Currently, D’Haens is the head of the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at AmsterdamUMC. He also leads a group of more than 50 IBD researchers with a group of 8 principal investigators. Geert D’Haens is also senior medical advisor to Alimentiv Inc. and former chairman of IOIBD, the international organization for study of IBD. He authored more than 600 peer reviewed articles and is leading many drug development programs and clinical trials for IBD.

Adam S. Faye MD MS, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Population Health, and Director of Clinical Research at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine IBD Center.

Dr. Faye’s research is focused at the intersection of geriatrics and gastroenterology. His specific focus area centers around understanding how biological measures such as frailty and sarcopenia can be used to improve both risk stratification tools and clinical outcomes among older adults with inflammatory bowel disease. He has received funding from the NIH/NIA including a GEMSSTAR and Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award, the American College of Gastroenterology, and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Dr. Faye holds leadership positions throughout the national and international geriatric and gastroenterology communities, has published extensively in this area (including the top Gut article for 2023), is an invited NIH study section member, and given his expertise has been invited to speak both nationally and internationally on his research.

Dr. Simona Fourie, PhD, RN, is a clinical academic and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, affiliated with the Radcliffe Department of Medicine and the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. She is a Clinical Research Facility Operational Lead and leads the Oxford Research Nurses for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases (ORNIID), focusing on gastrointestinal diseases, surgery, and cancer

With over 35 years of nursing experience, Dr. Fourie has specialised in IBD, colorectal and pelvic floor care. She transitioned into research more than a decade ago, bringing her clinical expertise to qualitative studies. Her research primarily explores sexual wellbeing in individuals with chronic digestive conditions, aiming to bridge patient needs with healthcare practices through evidence-based, holistic approaches. She is also actively involved in mentoring early-career nurse researchers and advocating for the advancement of the nursing profession.

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. He has contributed to numerous impactful clinical studies across multiple facets of IBD, and has over 270 peer-reviewed publications. His current research focuses on biomarkers in IBD, from both a clinical and mechanistic perspective.

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 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).

Professor Peter Irving is Consultant Gastroenterologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Foundation Trust in London and Professor of IBD at King’s College London

He trained in medicine at Cambridge University and The London Hospital Medical College and then specialised in gastroenterology in London before undertaking an IBD fellowship in Melbourne, Australia. He has a large IBD practice and a number of active research interests in translational research, clinical IBD and clinical trials. He has published widely in IBD including several books and book chapters and over 250 peer-reviewed articles. He has formerly been a member of the BSG IBD Committee, Chair of the Education Committee of ECCO and ECCO e-Learning Ambassador and previously sat on the UEG Education Committee.

Biography: Age 56

Specialist in gastroenterology since 2010. Associate professor, Aarhus University.

Clinical director of the Dept. of Hepatology & Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital.

PhD thesis on regulatory T cells in Crohn´s disease. Research field: IBD & pregnancy, Clostridioides difficile and fecal microbiota therapy (FMT).

Karen is a clinical academic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Consultant Nurse for Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, providing clinical leadership and expertise to the IBD services across the Manchester hospitals. Karen is also Head of Nursing research at Manchester Royal Infirmary, acting as a research enabler to build capability and capacity within the nursing workforce. Karen holds an Honorary Lecturer (research and teaching) post at the University of Manchester and is currently co- supervising two PhD students. Karen is the Lead for IBD at MFT, strategically leading the IBD services across the city of Manchester, encompassing 10 hospitals. Karen was awarded one of the first NIHR Clinical Academic Trainee doctoral fellowships in 2009 and awarded one of the first NIHR 70@70 Senior Nurse Research Leader posts in April 2019. Karen was part of the pilot scheme for the NIHR Academy Nursing and Midwifery Careers Advisory Service whilst continuing her own post- doctoral research projects. Karen is one of the Deputy Directors of the Manchester Clinical Academic Centre (MCAC). The centre’s mission is to improve patient outcomes by advancing education, knowledge, and wisdom among clinical academic health and social care professionals. Karen’s interests are qualitative methods, patient reported outcomes, follow up care and the impact of the IBD nurse on patient care. She now sits on the Research Committee of the BSG and has just retired from the chair of Crohn’s Colitis ‘Living with IBD’ research stream after 10 years. Internationally, she is the past Chair of the Nurse European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation Committee (N-ECCO 2016-2017) developing the first Nurse Education Programme within European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation which took place in Italy in 2018/2019 and the NECCO Research Nurse Forum which has now become part of the NECCO educational portfolio which provides a collaborative platform for nurses undertaking research across Europe. Karen continues to collaborate with multiple groups in the UK and across Europe to develop IBD research.

Professor of Gastroenterology (University of Edinburgh) and Consultant Gastroenterologist (Edinburgh IBD Unit). Trained in London (UCL MBBS, 2000), moved to Edinburgh in 2001 for medical and gastroenterology training, PhD in IBD genetics (2009), NHS Consultant since 2009, and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow since 2019. Charlie maintains a large, complex IBD clinic while leading a translational research team focused on prediction, prevention and practical care impact.

Marte Lie Høivik is a gastroenterologist and senior consultant at the Department of Gastroenterology Oslo University Hospital (OUH) and professor of Gastroenterology at University of Oslo. She heads the IBD unit and the IBD research group at OUH.

Høivik is PI of the IBSEN III study, project leader for the OUH-IBD research registry and Norwegian PI in the NORDTREAT consortium. She is involved in a broad range of clinical, epidemiological and translation IBD research projects.
She is a member of the Norwegian IBD Study Group, and she has been a National Representative in ECCO.

Dr. Laura Merras-Salmio is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist at the Helsinki University Children’s Hospital. She studied medicine and completed her PhD at the University of Helsinki.

Currently, Dr. Merras-Salmio serves as the leader of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Unit at Helsinki University Children’s Hospital, where she oversees the team of dedicated healthcare professionals. In addition, she holds the position of an adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki, with keen interest to educate the next generation of medical professionals.

Dr. Merras-Salmio’s major interest lies in the treatment of intestinal failure and short bowel patients, with the emphasis on everyday life quality and family wellbeing. She is always eager to take on new challenges and to implement new practices in clinics. Her current research interests include topics within the realm of inflammatory bowel diseases, artificial feeding (both parenteral nutrition and tube feeding), and pediatric hepatology.

Outside of her professional life, Dr. Merras-Salmio enjoys spending her free time choir singing and taking leisurely walks along the shorelines of Helsinki with dog.

I am head of the Department of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Intestinal Failure Surgery at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. I trained at the Karolinska Institute and Mayo Clinic Rochester where I completed a clinical fellowship in colorectal surgery 2006-2008. I worked a total of 10 years at Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester, where I was consultant surgeon and reader at the Irving National Intestinal Failure Unit. In 2019, I returned to Stockholm to develop surgical services for inflammatory bowel disease and intestinal failure services. I supervise several PhD students and have national and international roles in intestinal failure.

Working as a consultant at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Aarhus University Hospital.

Associate professor at Health, Aarhus University.

2001 PhD on the thesis: In-vitro growth, cytokine production and susceptibility to immune-  modifying drugs of in-situ activated intestinal mucosal T cells in Crohn’s disease.

Main scientific interest: Immunological mechanisms in IBD with focus on therapeutic impact, biologicals and small molecules. Endoscopy in inflammatory bowel disease patients, small bowel endoscopy.

Curt Tysk has been Consultant Gastroenterologist at Örebro University Hospital and Professor of Gastroenterology at Örebro University. His research in IBD has been focused on twin studies and epidemiology. His interest and clinical research in Microscopic Colitis started in late 1980´s. He is a member of the Swedish Organisation for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (SOIBD), elected member of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD) since 2003, and former member of European Microscopic Colitis Group (EMCG).

Riitta Veijola is a Professor of Pediatrics at University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland. She received her training in medicine and pediatrics at the University of Oulu and completed training in pediatric endocrinology at the University of Helsinki.

Her research focuses on risk factors and pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes as well as prevention of the disease. Her PhD about genetic susceptibility and natural course of type 1 diabetes was published in 1996 at the University of Oulu, and after that she spent a 2-year postdoctoral period at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Since 2001 her research expanded to prospective birth cohort studies following children at increased genetic risk. She chairs the Finnish Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) study and leads the Diabetes Research Laboratory in University of Oulu, where islet autoantibodies are measured. She has also participated in several international prospective studies such as the TEDDY Study (The Environmental Determinant of Diabetes in the Young) and the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI-2) project INNODIA (Translational Approaches to Disease Modifying Therapy of Type 1 Diabetes: An Innovative Approach Towards Understanding and Arresting Type 1 Diabetes).  Riitta Veijola also leads and participates in several RCTs testing therapies to prevent or delay type 1 diabetes.

Riitta Veijola has published >485 original articles and her H index is 69. She received The Swedish Child Diabetes Foundations’s Johnny Ludvigsson Prize in 2016 and Knut Lundbæk Award from the Scandinavian Society for the Study of Diabetes, SSSD, in 2023. She became a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters in 2021.

Alexandra Vulcan is a Dietitian specialized in Gastroenterology at Clinical nutrition, Department of Surgery and Gastroenterology in Skåne university hospital in Malmö and have been working with IBD patients for more than 20 years, both in the gastroenterological and surgical setting. She earned her PhD in 2018 at Lund University (Nutrition and colorectal cancer – The role of BMI, sex, biomarkers and dietary index.). Her research now focuses on the nutritional aspects of IBD with a special interest in decreasing selective food choices and increasing food related quality of life in patients with IBD.

Alexandra Vulcan has been involved in the work of producing National clinical care guidelines for IBD and is a board member in the national Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology within the dietitians’ professional association in Sweden.