Cornerstones Health Europe+

Co-founder, ECCO, the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization

Author, more than 600 peer-reviewed research publications

Leader, IBD medication development programs and clinical trials

Professor Geert D’Heans, MD, PhD heads the gastroenterology and hepatology department at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers (University of Amsterdam). He trained in gastroenterology, gastrointestinal endoscopy, and inflammatory bowel disease at the KU University Hospitals in Leuven, Germany (Mentor: Paul Rutgeerts, MD, PhD), and the University of Chicago Medicine, in Chicago, the United States (Mentor: Stephen B. Hanauer, MD). Professor D’Haens’ research explores the mechanism of action of newer IBD medications, the development of endoscopic endpoints for treatment, surrogate markers for IBD, and novel treatment algorithms

Author, more than 600 peer-reviewed publications

President, European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO), 2014-2016 and the Belgian IBD Research & Development (BIRD) Group (2011-2013)

Award Recipient, Advanced H2020-European Research Council (ERC) Grant (2016-2022) 

Professor Séverine Vermeire, MD, PhD is a staff member in the Gastroenterology & Hepatology Department of the University Hospital Leuven, Full Professor of Medicine, and Research Director of Biomedical Sciences at KU Leuven, Germany, where she completed her medical and postdoctoral education. Professor Vermeire also trained at the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Paraguay (1993), the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, UK (1997-1998), and the Montreal General Hospital McGill University, Canada (2000–2001). She is the principal investigator in research clinical trials with new therapeutic compounds. Her main research focus is the role of the microbiome and genetic susceptibility in IBD, identifying prognostic and predictive signatures of treatment response. Professor Vermeire participated in the International iCHOM consortium on development of Patient-Centered Outcomes for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.