Filip Baert, MD, PhD (AZ Delta, Roeselare, Belgium)
AZ Delta, Roeselare
AZ Delta, Roeselare
Dr Filip
Baert is currently head of UR-Care (United Registries of Clinical
Assessment and Research) at ECCO and former Chief Scientific
Officer for the Governing Board of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization
(ECCO). Filip has over 25 years of experience in clinical research and is
currently Head of the Department of Gastroenterology of AZ Delta Hospital in
Roeselare, Belgium, where he has developed special expertise in IBD, microscopic colitis as well as celiac disease.
Filip
graduated in medicine, surgery and obstetrics from the University of Leuven in
1989. He then underwent specialization in internal medicine, gastrointestinal
and liver diseases (1994), becoming a Fellow in Gastroenterology of the
University of Chicago Hospitals. Next to his clinical practice he continued to
be involved in translational research and acquired a PhD from the University of
Leuven in 2014 on pharmacokinetics of monoclonal antibodies. He is director of
the Fellowship training program in AZ Delta for the Universities of Ghent and
Leuven.
He authored and
co-authored > 130 peer reviewed publications and several chapters and serves
as a reviewer for the key GI Journals, ECCO and UEGW. He is a Board member of
BIRD (Belgian IBD Research and Development) and chairing Educom. Among his ongoing important research projects
are two European registriesUR-Care (a
pan European IBD electronic record/dBase) and of I-Care (Ibd CAncer and seRious infections in Europe) . Finally he serves on the editorial Board of
the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis.
Willem Bemelman, MD, PhD (Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands)
Amsterdam UMC
Amsterdam UMC
Willem Bemelman is working currently as the lead of
the colorectal group in the department of surgery of the Amsterdam University
Medical Centers (with Prof. P.J. Tanis, Dr. R. Hompes, Dr. C.J. Buskens, Prof.
M.I. Boermeester, Dr. J. Tuynman, Dr. M. Kusters).
The
colorectal group focusses on the treatment of rectal cancers, colorectal cancer
and synchronous metastatic disease, cytoreduction, HIPEC, intestinal failure,
inflammatory bowel disease, complication surgery and pelvic sepsis. The group
has great experience in minimal invasive surgery and particularly TAMIS.
The research follows the areas of clinical interest,
and Bemelman has coached more than 35 PhD students, had over 500 publications
and an H-Index of 62.
Pieter Dewint, MD, PhD (AZ Maria Middelares, Gent and UZ Antwerpen, Belgium)
AZ Maria Middelares, Gent and UZ Antwerpen
AZ Maria Middelares, Gent and UZ Antwerpen
Pieter
Dewint (1977) studied medicine at Ghent University, where he graduated in 2002
with greatest distinction. In 2010 he completed his training in gastroenterology;
and defended a doctoral thesis on aspects in basic immunology.
He
worked for 6 months atthe “Institut de
proctologie Léopold Bellan” in Paris, refining his proctological knowledge. Afterwards,
he worked for almost 5 years in Rotterdam (ErasmusMC and maasstadziekenhuis), with
focus on IBD, proctology and interventional endoscopy. Since May 2015, he works
both in Ghent (AZ Maria-Middelares) and Antwerp (University Hospital).
He
is actively involved in several national and European scientific organizations.
Since 2017 he’s been member of the scientific committee of the BIRD and
national representative for BIRD at ECCO.
In
2018, he became assistant professor at the University Hospital Antwerp.
He’s
the happy father of 2 lovely daughters.
Matthias Lannoo, MD, PhD (UZ Leuven, Belgium)
UZ Leuven
UZ Leuven
Matthias Lannoo has been working at the service of
abdominal surgery at the University Hospitals in Leuven under the guidance of
Prof. A. D’Hoore. He is responsible for the bariatric surgery unit at the UZ
Leuven Obesity Clinic. At this site every year 1200 new patients with morbid
obesity are screened and 450 are eventually being treated surgically. Matthias
Lannoo obtained his PhD on glucose metabolism after bariatric surgery and
contributed to about 100 publications. He was president of the Besoms ( Belgian
section of obesity and metabolic surgery) in 2015 and 2016. At this moment his
research is focused on glucose metabolism and exercise after bariatric surgery.
Triana Lobaton, MD, PhD (UZ Gent, Belgium)
UZ Gent
UZ Gent
Triana Lobatón finished her training as
gastroenterologist in Barcelona in 2010 and in 2015 she obtained her PhD on
"fecal calprotectin as a surrogate marker of disease activity in IBD
patients" at the University of Barcelona. As part of her PhD program,
she spent 18 months (2013-2014) at Leuven University Hospital under the
supervision of Prof. Séverine Vermeire.
Her
clinical activity and research is focused on IBD, in particular
clinical projects. She has been coordinator of the young GETECCU (Spanish
group of Crohn and Colitis), and is also involved in several ECCO
activities.
Since
December 2017 Dr. Lobaton is working as a full time staff member at the IBD
Unit of the Department of Gastroenterology at Ghent
University Hospital (UZ Gent). In 2019 she became assistant professor at
UZ Gent. Triana Lobatón is currently one of the members of educational comittee
(Educom) and national representative for BIRD at ECCO.
Edouard Louis, MD, PhD (CHU Liège, Belgium)
CHU Liège
CHU Liège
Edouard
LOUIS has been Professor of Gastroenterology and Head of the Gastroenterology
department at Liège University hospital since October 2010. His Scientific work
contributed to more than 300 papers in international journals (H-Index 2020=70).
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-ongoing), president of the GETAID (2012-2015)
and vice-president of the GETAID (2015-2018), Associate Editor of Journal of
Crohn’s and Colitis (2018-ongoing).
Bas Oldenburg, MD, PhD (UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands)
UMC Utrecht
UMC Utrecht
Bas
Oldenburg is professor of inflammatory bowel diseases at the University Medical
Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He is director of the gastroenterology
training program, chairs the national post-graduate teaching program, and is
head of the IBD unit of the UMC Utrecht. He is founding member and former chair
of the Dutch Initiative on Crohn’s and Colitis, and member of ECCO and the AGA.
His research focuses on colitis-associated colorectal cancer, the pathogenesis
of IBD, and precision medicine.
Dr.
Oldenburg received his medical degree from the university of Utrecht. He
subsequently trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at the same
institution. From 1997 to 2001, he combined a GI fellowship with his doctoral
thesis work on the role of iron and homocysteine in IBD in Utrecht and at DNAX
laboratories (Palo Alto). His scientific work has resulted in authorship or
co-authorship of more than 150 peer-reviewed papers.
Jean-François Rahier, MD, PhD (CHU UCL Namur, Belgium)
CHU UCL Namur
CHU UCL Namur
Jean-François Rahier was born in Belgium
in 1975. He obtained his diploma of medical doctor with cum laude in 2000 from the University of Louvain (UCL) and
specialized in Gastroenterology in 2007. He was first trained by Pr O Dewit in
Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc in 2005 and then by Pr JF Colombel in Lille
in 2006-2007. Besides, he had a part-time research activity in 2008-2013 at the
INSERM U995 laboratory of Professor Desreumaux in Lille (France) where he
obtained his PhD on “lymphangiogenesis in IBD” in 2014. He is working at the
University Hospital CHU UCL Namur in Belgium where his clinical activity is
focused on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and also acted between 2014 and
2018 as consultant for phase II-III clinical trials in CHU Liège (Pr E Louis).
In 2009 and 2014, he was the leading author for the European consensus on
management and prevention of opportunistic infection in IBD. He has authored or
co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is part of the scientific
and executive committee of I-CARE. He is an active member of the Belgian IBD
Group where he acts as President since 2017, of the European Crohn's and
Colitis Organisation and of the GETAID (France).
Catherine Reenaers, MD, PhD (CHU Liège, Belgium)
CHU Liège
CHU Liège
Professor Catherine Reenaers is a
gastroenterologist at the University hospital of Liege, Belgium. She completed her
specialist training in the University hospital of Liège and was a research
assistant and research fellow of the Belgian fund of research (FNRS) from 2004
to 2011. Her PhD studied the impact of osteoprotegerin on T cells/dendritic
cells interaction and bone remodeling and the role of fibroblasts’ apoptosis on
fibrosis in IBD. After her PhD,
Professor Reenaers was a Senior Clinical and Research Fellow of Dr Travis at
the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. She returned to Liège to take a permanent
position as IBD specialist where she works with Professor Edouard Louis. She is
associated professor and has a charge of course at the university of Liège. She
is part of several scientific associations including the Educationnal committee
of BIRD (Belgian Intestinal Research and Developpment group) and the board of the GETAID (groupe d'Etude
Thérapeutique des Affections Inflammatoires du Tube Digestif). She was the ECCO (European Crohn and Colitis
Organisation) national representative from 2012 till 2020. Dr Reenaers has
obtained several scientific awards in Belgian and European conferences and has
given many lectures for different scientific societies including outside
Belgium. She contributed to more than 50 papers in international reviews
including 10 papers as first or last author.
Peter Verhamme, MD, PhD (UZ Leuven, Belgium)
UZ Leuven
UZ Leuven
Peter Verhamme is a Professor at the
Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Vascular Medicine and Haemostasis, at the
University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. His main clinical interests and clinical
research programmes concern the prevention and treatment of venous and arterial
thrombosis.
Professor Verhamme obtained his medical
degree at the University of Leuven in 1997 and completed a PhD on oxidised
low-density lipoprotein and atherothrombosis.
Professor Verhamme coordinates research
programmes at the Centre for Molecular and Vascular Biology, University of
Leuven, focusing on the development of new fibrinolytic and antithrombotic
strategies, and on the interactions between inflammation, infection and
coagulation. He is Chair of the Thrombosis Guidelines Group. He has authored or
co-authored more than 250 papers published in various peer-reviewed journals.
Veronique Verplancke, MD (UZ Antwerpen, Belgium)
UZ Antwerpen, Belgium
UZ Antwerpen, Belgium
During my whole career, I have lived and
worked near my home town Antwerp in Belgium. I completed my medical studies at
the University of Antwerp in 2010. Thereafter I specialised in respiratory
medicine, which is a trajectory of six years. I started working as a staff
member in my training hospital, the University Hospital of Antwerp, in 2016.
When my department started a lung transplantation project I participated from
the start. To improve my knowledge of lung transplantation I did a fellowship
of six months in Toronto General Hospital (Ontario, Canada). The complex
mechanism of the immune system and how we try to fool it with our immune
suppressive drugs leading us into new challenges, became a major point of
interest to me. In the line of my interest in immunology, I became interested
in auto-immune disease and interstitial lung disease, the most frequent
manifestation of systemic disease in the lung. I am currently working as a
junior lung transplant specialist and I am responsible for the interstitial
lung disease outpatient clinic. I enjoy working multidisciplinary and I am
lucky to have great colleagues across the different disciplines working in our
hospital.
