Matthieu Allez is Head of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris. He is specialized in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). His main research interests focus on regulation of mucosal immune responses, identification of biomarkers, and biological therapies for IBD. Matthieu Allez served the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) as Chair of the Scientific Committee and Scientific Officer, and as member of the Scientific Committee of United European Gastroenterology (UEG). He is a member of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IOIBD), a member of the Groupe d’Étude Thérapeutique des Affections Inflammatoires Digestives (GETAID), co-founder and President of the French research group REMIND, and past President of the AFEMI (a national organization for therapeutic education in IBD).

Dr Annika Bergquist graduated from Karolinska Institutet and completed her postgraduate training at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. She was appointed as a senior consultant hepatologist in 2007 and received her PhD from the Karolinska Institutet in 2001 with the thesis “Cholangiocarcinoma in PSC”. She became adjunct professor at the Karolinska Institutet in 2013 and professor in 2023. She is  leading the research group of PSC studies at Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet.  The research focus is on clinical studies and biomarkers in PSC. She was the PI for the national surveillance study in PSC between 2012 and 2020.

Dr. Peter Bossuyt is a gastroenterologist at the IBD clinic in the Imelda General Hospital in Bonheiden, Belgium. He is also Co-director of the Imelda GI Clinical Research Centre in Bonheiden. Dr. Bossuyt studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and graduated in 2004 with magna cum laude. He pursued his GI fellowship in Kortrijk, Roeselare, Bonheiden and Leuven. After completing his GI fellowship, he took up a fellowship in advanced endoscopy at the Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam. Between 2010 and 2015 he was a consulting staff member for endoscopic ultrasound at the University Hospitals of Leuven. In 2021 he obtained his PhD degree entitled, Value of endoscopic scoring and imaging for the prognosis and follow up of IBD, at the Catholic University of Leuven. His research focuses on strategic clinical trials in IBD and the definitions of endoscopic and imaging targets in IBD. He is a pioneer in working with e-health tools and AI in IBD. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, past-chair of the Scientific Committee and past secretary and current president of the Belgian IBD Research and Development Group, past board member of ECCO’s Clinical Research Committee, ClinCom and current board member of the Belgian society of GI endoscopy.  He has (co-)authored  >120 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (Lancet, Gut, Gastroenterology, Lancet Gastro & Hep, JCC, Clinical Gastro & Hep among others; h-index 36) and was invited speaker at multiple international congresses.

Martti Färkkilä is professor emeritus at the University of Helsinki and former Chief Physician of the Gastroenterology Clinic at Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) Abdominal Center. At present he works in FinnGen’s research project on gastroenterological diseases and is involved in the Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics, with a special focus on cholestatic liver disease, especially primary sclerosing cholangitis and inflammatory bowel diseases. He has also conducted research related to registries and genetics and has been building both IBD, PSC and hepatitis C treatment registries at HUS.

Professor Konstantinos Gerasimidis is Professor of Clinical Nutrition and dietitian by training. During his doctoral research at the University of Glasgow, he explored the effect of exclusive enteral nutrition on the gut microbiota and nutritional status of children with Crohn’s disease. Professor Gerasimidis leads a team which explores the role of gut microbiota and its interaction with diet in the onset, propagation and management of acute and chronic conditions. He has a strong interest in exploring the effect of habitual diet, elimination diets and artificial nutritional support on the gut microbiota of children and adults with gastrointestinal conditions. With clinical colleagues from the National Health Service, they developed a novel diet (Crohn’s Disease Treatment by Eating or CD-TREAT) to treat Crohn’s disease through manipulation of the gut microbiota. Professor Gerasimidis was previously faculty member of the Committee on Nutrition, ESPGHAN, The Dietetic Group of ECCO, The Special Interest Group in Paediatrics ESPEN and he is currently member of the Porto IBD Group and Nutrition Lead for the Quality of Care Task Force of ESPGHAN. He has published more than 138 papers cited on PubMed and a cumulative collaborative grant income exceeding the £11.6M.

Subrata Ghosh is the Chair and Head of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health at University College Cork since March 2021. He is a principal investigator and deputy director at APC Microbiome Ireland. Subrata did his doctoral research on the immunology of inflammatory bowel disease at University of Edinburgh where he was appointed as faculty. His research interests are precision medicine in IBD, innovative clinical trials, immune cell plasticity, targeted immunotherapies in IBD, interaction of nutrients, microbes and immune system, gut inflammation and nutrition, innate immunity and epidemiology and health care in IBD. His research has been published in New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Gastroenterology, Gut and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. He has delivered over 700 international invited lectures including named keynote lectures. Previously he was the inaugural director of the Institute of Translational Medicine, and Professor of Translational Medicine, University of Birmingham between 2016 and 2020. Between 2009 and 2016 he was the Professor and Chairman of Medicine, University of Calgary, and Head of Medicine, Alberta Health Services, Canada. Between 2002 and 2008 he was the Professor and Chair of Gastroenterology at Imperial College London.

Subrata Ghosh is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is the theme lead for Integration cluster of the International Organisation for Study of IBD (IOIBD). He has been the recipient of numerous individual and large team grants from CIHR, AIHS, MRC, NIHR, Wellcome Trust, CCFA, CCUK and CCC, as well as industry partnered research projects. He has served on numerous committees, councils and grant panels regionally, nationally and internationally, and been chief editor, associate editor and editorial board member of a number of international reputable journals.

Kay Greveson,  a qualified independent nurse prescriber, works as Advanced  IBD nurse practitioner at The London IBD Clinic, which she founded in 2021. Having 21 years experience in the NHS at various teaching hospitals, Kay also developed  the IBD Passport Charity, aimed at educating and supporting individuals with IBD who travel overseas, providing logistical support to connect with  IBD centers globally. This has since won numerous prestigious medical and nursing awards for its development and success. Her research interests include in travel health and IBD, transitional care and screening prior to Anti-TNF therapy.  A speaker at national and international events, she has published work in numerous journals and co-authored  chapters in several books including  ‘IBD Nursing’ and ‘Curbside Consultation in IBD’.  Kay was a committee member of the Nurses section of European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation  2015-2018 and chair in 2018. She has been  involved in writing the 2019  European consensus statement  on the role of the IBD nurse specialist.

James Lindsay is the Professor of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London and a Consultant Gastroenterologist at Barts Health NHS Trust. Along with a full multidisciplinary team he runs the adolescent and adult IBD service at The Royal London Hospital.

Professor Lindsay serves on the British Society of Gastroenterology IBD Clinical Trials Steering Group and is Chief Investigator for a series of investigator-led and commercial clinical trials in IBD.  In addition, he leads a program of translational mucosal immunology research investigating leukocyte trafficking, monocyte / macrophage differentiation and the control of fibrosis in IBD.

He has previously been the Education Officer and a member of the Governing Board of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO).  Before this he served as ECCO e-learning ambassador and chair of the ECCO Education Committee. He has also chaired working groups for the ECCO consensus on the management of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. He is a member of the International Organisation of IBD (IOIBD).

Edouard Louis was born in Belgium, on April 1st 1965. He obtained the title of Medical Doctor with Magna cum laude in June 1990, at the state university of Liège, Belgium. Part of his training in Gastroenterology, was done at the Oxford University, UK (1994-1995). He graduated in June 1996 as a specialist in Gastroenterology. Edouard Louis obtained his Ph.D. in 1996, as a fellow of the National Funds for Scientific Research of Belgium (FNRS), with a work on gastrointestinal immunization with soluble antigens. He obtained his “aggregation” for University teaching in 1999 with a work on the characterisation and genetics of immuno-inflammatory reaction in Crohn’s disease. Edouard Louis was promoted associate Professor of Gastroenterology at Liège University in October 2002 and Senior Research Associate at the National Funds for Scientific Research of Belgium (FNRS) in October 2005. He has been Professor of Gastroenterology and Head of the Gastroenterology department at Liège University hospital since October 2010. He is currently the Dean of the faculty of Medicine at Liège University (2021-ongoing). His Scientific work contributed to more than 330 papers in international journals (H-Index Scopus 2023=83). He has been General Secretary of the Belgian Society of Gastroenterology 2005-2009, President of the Belgian IBD Research group (2008-2011), member of the Scientific Committee of the ECCO (European Crohn and Colitis Organisation) (2010-2013) and Chair of this Scientific Committee (2013-2015). He has been member of the board of the GETAID (groupe d’étude thérapeutique des affections inflammatoires digestives) (2004-2023), president of the GETAID (2012-2015), ember of the IOIBD (International Organisation for IBD) (2014-ongoing), Associate Editor of Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis (2018-2023). Secretary of ECCO (2024-2027).

Pär Myrelid is a Colorectal surgeon at Linköping University hospital. Previously president of the Swedish society of colorectal surgeons and member of the S-ECCO 2019-2024. Published numerous papers within IBD and involved in the ECCO guidelines for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Ole Haagen Nielsen, Professor of Medicine and Consultant at Herlev-Gentofte Hospital defended in 1988 at University of Copenhagen his doctoral dissertation on inflammatory mediators relevant to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to become Doctor of Medical Sciences (DMSc); in 1992 specialist in internal medicine, and in 1993 in the subspeciality of medical gastroenterology. He was promoted to Associate Professor of internal medicine in 1995, and to Professor in 2009. He served as Editor of the Danish Medical Journal, i.e., ”Ugeskrift for Læger” from 2001 to 2007, and is presently involved in editorial boards of international journals, including Drugs, eLife, Inflammation Research, and Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. He is a former or current member of various funding bodies, such as the Danish Council for Independent Research (medicine), Norway (FRIMEDBIO), Sweden (”Vetenskapsrådet”), Germany (DFG), Ireland (SFI), France (HCERES/ANR), Hong Kong (ITC), and at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Chairman of the University of Copenhagen’s written internal medicine board exam (1995–2007), and Chairman of the written section of the Danish Medical Licensing Examination (internal medicine and surgery) (2010-2020), in compliance with the guidelines established by the Danish Patient Safety Authority targeting physicians trained in 3^rd world countries prior to being allowed to practice in Denmark. From February 2004 to January 2016, he served as a board member of the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty. Since September 2010 he has been ad hoc Expert Consultant in medical gastroenterology at the Danish Medico-Legal Council (”Retslægerådet”). Finally, from 2011 until 2024 as Expert Advisor in ”internal medicine” for the Danish Health Authority/Danish Patient Safety Authority, and since 2013 board member of the Danish Appeal Tribunal for Patient Injuries.

Christine Norton PhD MA RN is Professor of Clinical Nursing Research at  the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, King’s College London (KCL) Most of her 47 year nursing career has been  devoted  developing services for people with urinary and faecal incontinence.  She has authored over 200 peer reviewed papers and 7 books, chaired the UK national NICE guideline on faecal incontinence, the International Consultation on Incontinence committee on faecal incontinence  and has been a Cochrane editor. Her most recent major grant has been leading a 5 year programme of work, aiming to improve symptoms of fatigue, pain and incontinence in people living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Johannes Kurt Schultz FEBS is a consultant IBD surgeon and associate professor at the University of Oslo. Medical degree from the Humboldt University in Berlin. Basic surgical training in Molde Norway, specialization in colorectal and IBD surgery at Akershus University Hospital. He defended his PhD thesis “Surgical aspects of diverticular disease of the colon” in 2018. PhDCertified Fellow of the European Borad of Surgeons in Coloproctology since 2019.

He is currently working as senior consultant colorectal surgeon at the two university hospitals in Oslo (Oslo university hospital and Akershus university hospital). His surgical expertise lies mainly in advanced IBD surgery and in rectal canner surgery. The main focus of his research lies in clinical and registry studies on IBD and colorectal surgery.

Jessica Sjölund, MD, graduated from the University of Gothenburg in 2016. She is currently completing her residency in internal medicine and gastroenterology and hepatology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. In addition to her clinical training, Dr. Sjölund is pursuing a PhD at the University of Gothenburg, where she is researching epidemiological aspects of Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction across the lifespan. She is scheduled to defend her thesis in April 2025.

Bram Verstockt, MD PhD, is assistant professor at KU Leuven (Belgium) and IBD staff member at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the University Hospitals Leuven since 2021. Besides the regular IBD care, Bram is responsible for the multidisciplinary IBD clinic and the implementation of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) in the Leuven IBD unit.

Bram graduated medical school at KU Leuven in 2013, and interrupted his residency to start a PhD which he successfully defended in 2019. During the first year of his PhD, he worked at the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2021 he performed an additional fellowship in Lüneburg (Germany) for intestinal ultrasound.

Besides clinical trials as PI or co-investigator, his clinical research focusses on non-invasive monitoring – including IUS – and the optimisation of radiology tools. His translational research mainly focusses on the development of predictive/prognostic markers for a more personalised medicine in IBD, as well as on further unravelling IBD disease heterogeneity (including perianal disease, fibrostricturing disease and fatigue) trough multi-omics and organoid models. Together with Jonas Halfvarson and Séverine Vermeire, he co-founded the international COLLIBRI proteomics consortium.

Bram is current Y-ECCO chair and chair of the Belgian IBD Biobank. He is board member of the International Bowel Ultrasound (IBUS) Scientific Committee and the Belgian IBD Scientific Committee. Finally, he is associate editor at the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, and reviewer for many gastroenterology journals, international funding bodies and conferences.

Kevin Whelan is the Professor of Dietetics and Head of Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London. He is a Principal Investigator leading a translational research programme exploring the effect of dietary interventions on the gut microbiome, nutritional status and quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease and other gut disorders. He has published over 230 journal papers including numerous clinical trials of fibre, probiotics, prebiotics, FODMAPs and food additives. Kevin is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition that provides independent risk assessment and advice to UK Government Departments. He was formerly an expert member of the panels developing the NICE Quality Standards for IBD and the ECCO Topical Reviews of Diet in IBD. He is currently a member of the ECCO Guidelines for Diet in IBD group. He is leading a large clinical trial (ADDapt trial) of the role of food additive emulsifiers in Crohn’s disease.

Janneke van der Woude is currently a professor and vicedean at the Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In her previous role she was director of the IBD program at the Erasmus. At the Erasmus MC she focused on the integrated medical therapy of inflammatory digestive diseases with a patient centered approach, and specific guidance and counselling on reproduction in patients with IBD.

She is a leader in research with various investigator-initiated studies and pharmaceutical studies in IBD. Further she was president of the Dutch gastroenterology association, and a member of the ECCO governing board. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and acts as a reviewer for several scientific journals. Professor van der Woude is the co-founder of the Initiative on Crohn and Colitis (a collaboration of the  8 universities and non-academic outpatient centers on IBD).