Jean-Frederic Colombel, MD | Director of the Helmsley IBD Center at Mount Sinai, NYC, NY

Jean-Frédéric Colombel, M.D. currently serves as a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Leona and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Icahn School of Medicine, New York, positions he has held since 2013. Since 2013, Dr. Colombel has also served as the Co-Director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Icahn School of Medicine, New York. Dr. Colombel has served as a member of the Committee on Appointments, Promotions and Tenure at the Icahn School of Medicine, New York, since 2017, has served as an associate editor of Gastroenterology since 2016, and has been a member of the National Scientific Advisory Committee at the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America since 2015. Dr. Colombel holds an HDR (Habilitation a Diriger les Recherches) from Universite Lille II, France, a DEA (Diplome d’Etudes Approfondies) from Universite Paris VII, France, and an M.D. from Université Lille II, France. During his career he has mentored hundreds of top Gastroenterologists worldwide. As a leading world-renowned Gastroenterologist, Dr. Colombel’s pioneering and highly innovative research in IBD has shaped the field of therapeutic development for over 30 years. He has published nearly 600 articles in top peer-reviewed journals.

Hans Herfarth, MD, PhD | Director of the UNC Multidisciplinary IBD Center, Chapel Hill, NC

Dr. Herfarth’s specializes in the clinical care of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. His research interests comprise the investigation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). His focus is the conceptualization and execution of investigator-initiated clinical studies in IBD, which are funded by the NIH, the CCFA, and private as well as industry-associated foundations. Dr. Herfarth is the author of > 260 journal articles, book chapters, and reviews related to IBD.

George Tsokos, MD | Chief of Division of Rheumatology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA

Dr. Tsokos is a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Chief of Rheumatology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He is widely recognized as one of the foremost leaders of modern lupus research with landmark discoveries that have brought understanding of lupus to new levels, shedding light on how the disease develops and progresses over time. He has published over 400 papers and has received numerous awards and honors recognizing his contributions to the field including the Lupus Insight Prize and the Evelyn V. Hess MD, MACP, MARC award for lupus research.

Fabio Cominelli, MD, PhD | Director of the UH Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH

Fabio Cominelli, M.D., Ph.D., has more than 30 years of experience conducting clinical research for inflammatory bowel disease therapeutics and gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Cominelli is the Hermann Menges M.D. Professor of Internal Medicine, the chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease and the Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Digestive Health Institute at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. Prior to these roles, he was the Director of the Center for Excellence in Digestive Diseases at the University of Virginia. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, Editor in Chief of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, and a perennial figure on key NIH-NIDDK study sections. He has published nearly 200 articles in top peer-reviewed journals and has received over $70M in federal grants throughout his career. Dr. Cominelli received his MD and PhD degrees at the Universita Degli Studi Di Firenze (Florence).

Francisco Sylvester, MD | Chief of Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, UNC Chapel Hill, NC

Francisco Sylvester, M.D., has more than 30 years of expertise as a translational scientist focused on the unique and complex needs of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. His lab focuses on the effects of chronic intestinal inflammation on childhood growth and bone and muscle development. Dr. Sylvester also serves as chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, a collaborative gastrointestinal research center at UNC Chapel Hill, for which he actively recruits, supports, and retains other pediatric gastroenterologists. Additionally, Dr. Sylvester has served as the Director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America PRO-KIIDS organization, a critical network supporting pediatric research studies in IBD. He has published over 100 articles in top peer-reviewed journals.