Prof. Dr. Raja Atreya, M.D., PhD
University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, DE
Raja Atreya is Professor of Translational Immunology in IBD and Head of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Unit and Clinical Study Centre at the University Hospital Erlangen in Germany. Professor Atreya received both his initial degree and his MD, for which he graduated summa cum laude, from the medical school of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany. He then went on to work as a physician at the University Medical Centre, and subsequently participated in the postgraduate program on antigen-specific immunotherapy. In 2010, he was appointed as Professor for IBD at the University Hospital Erlangen, and was appointed to his current post in 2016.
Professor Atreya’s research work focuses on the identification of response predictors (e.g., molecular endoscopy) and resistance mechanisms to biological therapies in IBD. He has received many awards in the course of his career including: the Theodor Frerichs Award from the German Society for Internal Medicine; the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for Young Researchers from the Paul Ehrlich Foundation; and the Rising Star Award from the United European Gastroenterology Federation (UEG). He has also published widely, with articles in peer-reviewed journals including Nature Medicine, The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Gut and Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis. He is Associate Editor for the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis and member of the Editorial Advisory Board for The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Dr. Filip Baert, M.D.
AZ Delta campus Rumbeke Roeselare
Dr Filip Baert is currently Managing Director of IBDIM, former Head of UR-Care steering committee (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 is on the Board of BIRD as president of BIRD (Belgian IBD research & development) Filip has over 25 years of experience in clinical research and is currently chairing the IBD Unit and Head of the Cluster Abdomen and head of the Clinical Trial Center at AZ Delta Hospital and Radar 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 > 150 peer reviewed publications and several chapters and serves as a reviewer for the key GI Journals, ECCO and UEGW. Dr. Baert served as the President of BIRD (Belgian IBD Research and Development) from 2020-2023 and currently holds the position of past-president. Among his ongoing important research projects are two European registries UR-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 and is reviewer for many peer reviewed Journals.
Dr. Peter Bossuyt, M.D., PhD
Imeldaziekenhuis
Dr Bossuyt studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and graduated magna cum laude in 2004. He pursued his GI fellowship in Kortrijk, Roeselare, Bonheiden and Leuven. After completing his GI fellowship in 2009, 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. He obtained a PhD entitled “Value of endoscopic scoring and imaging for the prognosis and follow up of IBD” at the University of Leuven in 2021. His research focuses on clinical trials in IBD and the definitions of endoscopic and imaging targets in IBD. He’s clinical works focuses on e-health tools in IBD and quality improvement projects.
He is currently international principal investigator of 4 clinical trials in IBD and endoscopy. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, president of the Belgian IBD Research and Development Group, past-board member of ECCO’s Clinical Research Committee, ClinCom and board member of the Belgian society of gastrointestinal endoscopy, BSGIE. He won the Belgian IBD research price in 2011 and 2021 and the ESGE Innovation of the year award in 2018. He published over 120 peer-reviewed articles in the NEJM, Lancet, Gastroenterology, Gut, Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, JCC among others (H-index 36).
Dr. Clara Caenepeel, M.D., PhD
ZOL
Dr. Clara Caenepeel received her degree in medicine in 2014 from KU Leuven with high distinction. She did her specialist training at UZ Leuven, AZ Groeninge and AZ Sint-Maarten under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Jan Tack. In 2020, she obtained her PhD with the doctorate “Therapeutic manipulation of the intestinal microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease” under the direction of Prof. Dr. Séverine Vermeire, receiving several awards for her research.
Dr. Caenepeel continues her training in proctology at UZ Leuven. In 2022, Dr. Caenepeel started working at ZOL and currently works in the department of Gastroenterology at ZOL Genk. Her particular areas of interest are pelvic floor pathology and inflammatory bowel disease.
Ms. Sophie Claeys, IBD Nurse
AZ Sint-Lucas Gent
Sophie Claeys obtained a master's degree in management and policy in healthcare in 2014, after she obtained her bachelor's degree in nursing in 2012. After her studies, she worked in the department of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases at AZ Sint-Lucas Ghent as a nurse. She always had an interest in clinical research. In January 2016, she transferred to the gastrointestinal and liver diseases department where she started as an IBD nurse and study nurse.
In 2018, she joined the board of the Belgian IBD Nurses and Study coordinators association (BINAstoria) where she was responsible for communication and liaison with the Crohn's and Colitis patients association (CCV) until 2023.
Dr. Anneline Cremer, M.D.
Hôpital Erasme
Anneline Cremer is a Professor and staff member of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatopancreatology, and Digestive Oncology at Erasme University Hospital, part of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (HUB, Brussels, Belgium). She graduated in Medicine from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 2010 and completed her certification in Gastroenterology with Summa Cum Laude in 2017.
She received a doctoral research fellowship from the Fonds Erasme (ULB) from October 2015 to April 2020 and successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis, titled “Markers in Monitoring Disease Activity and Colorectal Cancer Development in Inflammatory Bowel Disease,” under the supervision of Professor Denis Franchimont in 2023. Since 2015, she has actively participated as a co-investigator and principal investigator in clinical trials focused on Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
She is also actively involved in several national scientific organizations. She currently serves as Treasurer and board member of the Belgian Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research and Development (BIRD) Group and is board member of the Société Royale Belge de Gastroentérologie (SRBGE).
Prof. Dr. Geert D'Haens, M.D., PhD
Amsterdam UMC, NL
Geert D’Haens is Professor of gastroenterology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers (University of Amsterdam). 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 leads a group of more than 50 IBD researchers in the AMC. He is also Medical Director of Alimentiv BV in Europe and former chairman of IOIBD, the international organization for study of IBD. He authored more than 500 peer reviewed articles so far and is leading many drug development programs and clinical trials for IBD.
Dr. Stefan Delen, M.D.
ZOL
Stefan Delen obtained his medical degree at the University of Leuven, Belgium in 1999. He subsequently graduated as gastroenterologist in 2005 at KU Leuven. From 2005 till now, he works at ZOL (ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg), primarily at ZOL Maas en Kempen where he is head of the gastroenterology department. Since 2010 he is a consultant at the IBD outpatient clinic of UZ Leuven.
He is former president of the medical council at Ziekenhuis Maas en Kempen (till the fusion with ZOL Genk) and now member of the unified medical council at ZOL. His interests include organisation of care and value-based care in IBD. Since november 2023 he is a doctoral student at KU Leuven working on the development of innovative strategies for delivering value-based care in IBD.
Prof. Dr. Olivier Dewit, M.D., PhD
Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc
After completing his training in hepato-gastroenterology with Jean-Frédéric Colombel in Lille, he began treating chronic inflammatory bowel disease at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc (UClouvain) in Brussels, which remained his main activity for almost 25 years. His doctoral thesis was devoted to ‘the impact of thiopurine metabolism in IBD’. In addition to endoscopy, he has also trained in anal surgery, a useful and complementary treatment for anoperineal lesions in Crohn's disease.
He is responsible for teaching gastroenterology to medical students at Master 1 level , to doctors in the process of specialising, and regularly runs IBD training sessions for gastroenterology colleagues. He is currently deputy head of gastroenterology department, secretary of the Société Royale Belge de Gastro-entérologie and medical adviser to the patient’s ASBL « Crohn's disease/ulcerative colitis ». He has been a member of BIRD and Getaid since the start of his career. For over 20 years, he has been involved in clinical trials providing access to new treatments for IBD.
Ms. Goedele Dewitte, IBD Nurse
UZ Gent
Goedele graduated as a nurse in 2014 and started on a general revalidation ward in AZ Jan Palfijn Ghent. During her education, she followed a BaNaBa International cooperation en development at UCLL and has completed an internship of 6 months in a dayhospital in Dakar, Senegal.
In 2017 Goedele started her master education at UGhent and combined study and work for 2 years. Since September 2019, she has been working as an IBD nurse in UZ Ghent. She ensured an expansion of the multidisciplinary team at our hospital by establishing contacts with psychologists, dieticians, social services and other disciplines that are involved in the care of IBD patients. In addition, She developed the transition care together with our pediatricians for young IBD patients, where the IBD nurse became the central figure.
Prof. Apr. Erwin Dreesen, Pharm.D., Ph.D
UZ Leuven Gasthuisberg / KU Leuven
Dr. Erwin Dreesen is a full-time assistant professor and head of the Pharmacometrics Research Group in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences of KU Leuven, Belgium. He holds master's degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from KU Leuven with a thesis on the use of pharmacometrics models to improve therapeutic drug monitoring of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. During his postdoctoral training, he focused on the application of pharmacometrics techniques for precision dosing of antimicrobial and biological drugs. His postdoctoral training was at the Pharmacometrics Research Group of Prof. Mats Karlsson at Uppsala University in Sweden, and the Integrative Pharmacology Laboratory of Prof. Rada Savic at the University of California, San Francisco.
His research group at KU Leuven has a specific focus on model-informed precision dosing of monoclonal antibodies, anti-infectives, and immunosuppressives in vulnerable patient populations. Erwin currently supervises nine Ph.D. students and coordinates a precision dosing trial of infliximab in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. At KU Leuven, Erwin teaches courses on applied pharmacometrics, clinical drug development, and model-informed drug development. He is a member of the Ethics Committee Research at the University Hospitals Leuven, works as an expert for the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency, and leads the Individualized Treatment Working Group of the ENOTTA COST Action.
Prof. Dr. Marc Ferrante, M.D., PhD
UZ Leuven Gasthuisberg / KU Leuven
Professor Marc Ferrante is a Full Professor at KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, and staff member of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University Hospitals Leuven since 2012.
His main research topics include intestinal organoids, biological therapy, post-operative recurrence, endoscopy, and quality of care. Prof. Ferrante has published more than 300 papers in high ranked gastroenterology journals (h-index: 57). He has received numerous research grants for his work and received the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Rising Star Award in Gastroenterology in 2014. Prof. Ferrante holds a basic-clinical research position at the Flemish Foundation for Scientific Research (FWO Vlaanderen). He is member of the Scientific Committee of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) and member of the Scientific Committee of the Belgian IBD Research and Development (BIRD) group.
Ms. Amandine Gofflot, Kinésithérapeute
CHU de Liège site Sart-Tilman
As a dedicated physiotherapist, Ms. Gofflot specializes in rehabilitating patients afflicted with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), offering targeted interventions to enhance their quality of life. Her expertise lies in developing tailored rehabilitation programs that address the unique challenges faced by individuals with IBD. Beyond her clinical practice, she is deeply engaged in research, focusing on various aspects of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. Her research endeavors aim to advance understanding of the underlying mechanisms, therapeutic interventions, and psychosocial impacts associated with IBD.
With a passion for multidisciplinary collaboration, Ms. Gofflot strives to integrate insights from diverse fields into comprehensive patient care plans. Through her work, she aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge surrounding IBD, fostering improved outcomes for patients worldwide. By bridging the gap between clinical practice and research, she aspires to make meaningful contributions to both patient care and scientific inquiry in the realm of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.
Dr. Nick Kennedy, M.D., PhD
Royal Devon University, UK
Dr Nick Kennedy is a Consultant Gastroenterologist at the Royal Devon and Exeter and Senior Investigator Fellow at the Exeter Biomedical Research Centre. He undertook his postgraduate training in Adelaide, South Australia and Edinburgh, UK, where he also obtained a PhD. His clinical and research interests are in inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), particularly in understanding treatment response in IBD.
He is a member of the UK IBD genetics consortium and current chair of the British Society of Gastroenterology IBD clinical research group. Nick has broader interest in health data research and is his hospital’s Chief Research Information Officer and the Exeter Health Tech Research Centre’s co-theme lead for data and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Dieter Mesotten, M.D., PhD
ZOL
Dr. Mesotten is the head of anaesthesiology department, director of the anaesthesia training programme and chairman of the Clinical Trial Unit at ZOL-Genk. As associate professor at UHasselt he lectures clinical trial design and Good Clinical Practice. He worked from 2008 to 2015 as a senior staff member in the Dept Intensive Care Medicine of the University Hospitals Leuven, while doing research as assistent professor at KU Leuven and senior clinical investigator of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO). He obtained his PhD under supervision of Prof Greet Van den Berghe at the KU Leuven in 2003. After obtaining his Medical degree at the KU Leuven in 1999, he was a doctoral researcher at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research Kolling Institute of the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney from 1999 to 2002. He is a co-author of more than 100 publications.
Ms. Charlotte Minsart, IBD Study Coordinator
Hôpital Erasme
Charlotte graduated in 2012 as Master Biomedical sciences at Université Libre de Bruxelles. After her master's thesis, she worked as a researcher at the Laboratory of Gastroenterology Experimental (LGE-ULB) and obtained her PhD thesis in February 2021. During her PhD, she had the chance to participate in research on inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and in April 2017 she took the opportunity to join the IBD team of the Erasme Hospital as study coordinator/data manager. In this role, she coordinates all the pharmaceutical and academic clinical trials in which the site participates, takes care of the submissions to the ethics committee and continues to do some translational research. To improve her knowledge and daily work, she joined the BINASTORIA group in 2017 and is happy to join the BINASTORIA board on October 2023.
Dr. Annick Moens, M.D., PhD
Heilig Hart Lier
Dr Annick Moens is a gastroenterologist at the IBD clinic in the general hospital, Heilig Hart, in Lier, Belgium. In addition, she is a part-time consultant at the IBD outpatient clinic at the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. Dr Annick Moens graduated from medical school at KU Leuven in 2015 and completed her PhD in 2021. Her research focuses on longterm safety of biological therapies as well as their use during pregnancy and lactation. She is a member of the Young European Crohn's and Colitis organisation as well as the Belgian IBD research and development group.
Prof. Dr. Wouter Nagengast, M.D., PhD
UMCG, NL
Prof. Dr. Wouter Nagengast is trained as a Gastroenterologist and Pharmacist and currently works in the UMCG as a clinical gastroenterologist with a focus on Molecular Imaging in drug development, advanced endoscopic imaging, endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), and submucosal endoscopic dissection (ESD). He obtained a PhD at the Department of Medical Oncology in 2009. During his PhD, he developed several targeted nuclear tracers for molecular imaging and validated them in preclinical models and clinical trials. With a fascination for the possibilities of optical imaging, he developed an innovative new endoscopic technology, molecular fluorescence endoscopy (MFE), to visualize drug distribution in IBD and oncology patients, detect dysplasia and perform treatment follow-up during endoscopy procedures in oncology and IBD patients.
Since clinical translation and implementation of this technology require a strong cross-disciplinary team of physicians, chemists, pharmacists, biologists, physicists, and engineers he is PI of the research group Optical Molecular Imaging Groningen (www.OMIG.nl). Within OMIG they managed to develop and produce new fluorescent antibodies via GMP regulations and applied them to over 250 patients in clinical trials.
Mr. Dries Reynders, Statistician
Ghent University
Dries Reynders is a statistical consultant at Stat-Gent (Ghent University) with a broad interest in health related topics. His main focus is on the design and analysis of experimental (RCTs, Single Arm Trials, Dose finding studies,…) and observational clinical studies. He is currently involved in IMI-SISAQOL, developing guidelines on the analysis of Quality of Care in Oncology.
Prof. Dr. João Sabino, M.D., PhD
UZ Leuven Gasthuisberg / KU Leuven
Prof. Dr. João Sabino is assistant professor at KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) and staff member of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University Hospitals Leuven since 2019.
João Sabino graduated as MD at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Part of his MD training was done at the University of Salamanca, Spain, under the Erasmus program. In 2010, he moved to Belgium for his gastroenterology fellowship, which included internships at the University Hospitals of Leuven, Hospital of Lier, and Hospital of Genk.
In December 2017, he successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Host-microbiome interactions in health and digestive diseases” at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leuven. After his PhD, he did a short postdoctoral stay at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.
João Sabino holds a basic-clinical research position at the Flemish Foundation for Scientific Research (FWO Vlaanderen). He is member of the Educational Committee and of the board of the Belgian IBD Research and Development (BIRD) group.
His main research interests are the role of dietary approach to treat intestinal inflammation, the role of dietary components in the development and resolution of intestinal inflammation, and the impact of undernutrition in the quality of life of patients with IBD.
Ms. Noortje Straetemans, IBD Nurse
AZ Vesalius
Ms. Nicky Tellier,
Healthy Talent, NL
Nicky Tellier is owner of HealthyTalent. A organization that focuses on all kinds of themes around communication, behavior, personal effectiveness, leadership and team development. She has a diverse background (degrees as a communication advisor, trainer/coach, actor and lawyer) which says something about her own drivers for development and growth with energy. Also a former Olympic athlete and now top hockey coach is something you will see reflected in her intrinsic motivation to stimulate ambitions and related behavioral change. “If I would have known 20 years ago, what I know now about communication and behavior…I wouldn’t have won bronze, but gold! And would have had more fun!” She works for all kind of different (international) organizations; also within the healthcare for over more than 20 years.
Dr. Marie Truyens, M.D.
UZ Gent
Marie Truyens graduated from medical school in 2017 and subsequently began her training in internal medicine. In 2018, she joined the IBD Research Unit at the University Hospital of Ghent to pursue her PhD, focusing on IBD-related fatigue. Her PhD work was funded by a special research fund from Ghent University and the BIRD research grant in 2019. After completing her PhD, Marie continued her training and is currently in the final years of her GI fellowship at VITAZ Hospital in Sint-Niklaas.
She combines her GI fellowship with ongoing clinical research on extra-intestinal manifestations of IBD, particularly fatigue. Additionally, Marie is an active member of the BIRD working group that aims to improve standardized care and follow-up for patients with IBD in Belgium.
Prof. Dr. Gert Van Assche, M.D., PhD
UZ Leuven Gasthuisberg / KU Leuven
Gert Van Assche obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and his medical degree from the University of Leuven, Belgium. He subsequently trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology in Leuven. From 1994 to 1998, Dr. Van Assche combined his GI fellowship with a doctoral program in the GI Hormones Lab in Leuven and the Intestinal Diseases Research Program at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Since 2018 he is chief medical officer and member of the executive board at the University Hospitals Leuven, the largest university hospital in Belgium. Dr. Van Assche is overseeing the medical activities of more than 1,700 physicians and surgeons. The hospital has an alliance with over 25 Belgian hospitals and is an active member of the European University Hospital Alliance. Gert Van Assche serves also as member of the board of two large general hospitals in Belgium. Dr. Van Assche is professor of medicine in the Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Aging at the University of Leuven. His research focuses on novel therapies in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and quality of care in IBD.
Dr. Van Assche is the former head of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University Hospitals Leuven, where he also served as clinical operational officer in the executive board. From 2012 until 2013 he was Director of Clinical and Translational IBD Research at Mt Sinai Hospital, Toronto, and Professor of Medicine at the U of Toronto, ON. He is the former chair of the guidelines and of the educational committee of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation, and has been an invited professor at the U of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Cleveland Clinic, Lerner Institute. For his research, he received grants and awards from the Flemish Foundation for Scientific Research (FWO Vlaanderen), the Désiré Collen Research Foundation, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Inbev-Baillet Latour Foundation. From 2003 to 2018 he held a senior clinical research position at the FWO Vlaanderen.
Prof. Dr. Lukas Van Oudenhove, M.D., PhD
KU Leuven
Lukas graduated as a Medical Doctor at KU Leuven in 2001. During his specialist training in psychiatry, he was granted a PhD-fellowship of the Research Foundation – Flanders, resulting in his doctoral thesis ‘Psychobiological mechanisms in functional dyspepsia. Converging evidence from psychophysiology & functional brain imaging?’ (KU Leuven, 2008). He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders at the Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Diseases (TARGID) of KU Leuven from 2009 until 2012.
In 2012, he was appointed assistant research professor of the KU Leuven Special Research Fund, allowing him to establish his own group, the Laboratory for Brain-Gut Axis Studies (LaBGAS). His research has been internationally authoritative, as reflected by more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, numerous invited and abstract presentations at scientific meetings, and several international research awards. In 2020, Lukas got granted an ERC Consolidator Grant MoodBugs, focusing on microbiota-gut-brain signaling mechanisms mediating the impact of the gut microbiota on stress and fear responses in humans. In 2023, he got promoted to research professor.
Prof. Dr. Bram Verstockt, M.D., PhD
UZ Leuven Gasthuisberg / KU Leuven
Prof. Dr. Bram Verstockt is IBD staff member at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of UZ 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.
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.
Ms. Marjan Willaert, Policy Advisor – Market Access
Pharma.be
Marjan Willaert is an Industrial Pharmacist who studied at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and the University of Lille (France).
She started her professional career in International & European Regulatory Affairs, first at Organon Teknika and later as a consultant.
In the course of her professional career she has developed a deep interest and understanding of European policy. Through personal contacts and involvement in the organisation of events (for national and European trade organisations) with the European Commission and the European Parliament, she has developed an in-depth knowledge of the EU’s decision-making mechanisms.
In 2016 she joined Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies as Senior Market Access Manager which allowed her to expand her Market Access experience. She moved to pharma.be where she is a member of the Commission for Reimbursement of Medicines.
As Policy Advisor she is leading the pharma.be’s Market Access Task Force. She is actively working as EFPIA member on market access pathways for combination therapies, new antibiotics, personalised medicines and their companion diagnostics, and the implementation of the EU HTA Regulation.