Maria T. Abreu, MD, AGAF

Professor of Medicine
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Vice Chair of Research, Department of Medicine
Martin Kalser Chair in Gastroenterology
Director, Crohn's & Colitis Center
Chair, IOIBD
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Miami, Florida

Dr. Maria T. Abreu is a gastroenterologist who specializes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). She completed her medical degree at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Her postdoctoral training included an internship and residency in medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and a clinical and research fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was an Associate Professor of Medicine and head of the IBD Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYC. She is currently the Director of the Crohn's and Colitis Center, Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. In April 2018, Dr. Abreu was honored with the Provost's Award for Scholarly Activity. In June 2018, she was appointed to serve as the Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Medicine.

Dr. Abreu has more than 20 years of leadership experience in basic, translational, and clinical research and mentoring. She was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2010 and to the Association of American Physicians in 2018. She holds key positions with several professional societies. She is past Council Chair of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Council. Her most recent appointment is as Chair of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Furthermore, in 2019, she was elected Councillor-at-Large of the AGA Governing Board for a three-year term.

Dr. Abreu is a recipient of the 2019 Sherman Prize by The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation, which recognizes outstanding achievements in IBD research. In 2020, she received the Mentoring Award from the Immunology, Microbiology & Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Section of the AGA. In the fall of 2020, she received the Healio's Lifetime Disruptor Award. This award goes to a gastroenterologist or hepatologist who has consistently pushed the gastroenterology field forward through innovative treatments, practice management, patient care, or research.

Dr. Abreu is frequently invited as a speaker (in English and Spanish) to symposia on basic science and clinical topics all over the world. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters, and reviews.

Disclosures:

Consulting: Alimentiv, Arena, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead, and Prometheus Bioscience.

Advisory Committee/Review Panel:Janssen, and Microba.

Grant/Research Support: Takeda, and UCB.

Anita Afzali, MD, MPH, AGAF, FACG

The Ohio State University
Wexner Medical Center
Columbus, Ohio

Anita Afzali, MD, MPH, AGAF, FACG is a Professor of Clinical Medicine and a gastroenterologist who specializes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at the Ohio State University (OSU) Wexner Medical Center. Dr Afzali is the Medical Director of the OSU Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Abercrombie & Fitch Endowed Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Program Director of the OSU Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fellowship.

She received her medical degree and completed her internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. During her fellowship, Dr. Afzali worked in outcomes research and epidemiology, and she graduated with a master's degree in public health (MPH). Her subspecialty training includes a one -year advanced IBD fellowship at the University of Washington prior to becoming faculty at the University of Washington – Harborview Medical Center, where she served as the Director of the IBD program and the Associate Medical Director of the gastroenterology clinics. She is currently pursuing another master's degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to obtain a Master's in Healthcare Management (MHCM).

Dr. Afzali's interests include IBD clinical outcomes research, program development and healthcare operations management, and workforce gender equity. She is extensively involved in IBD clinical trial research and has served as an OSU site principal investigator in nearly 30 clinical trials, including global drug design steering committees. Dr. Afzali has numerous peer-reviewed publications. She has invited lecturers of national and international programs, and she serves on several global advisory boards and committees.

She serves as the Associate Editor of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, the Associate Editor of the Current Treatments Options in Gastroenterology Journal, and the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the World Gastroenterology Organization quarterly newsletter e-WGN.

Disclosures:

Consulting: AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead, Janssen, Pfizer, Takeda, and TLL Pharmaceuticals.

Advisory Committee/Review Panel: DiaSorin.

Jessica R. Allegretti, MD, MPH

Brigham and Women's
Faulkner Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts

Dr. Jessica Allegretti is a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, where she serves as the Director of Clinical Research. She is also the Associate Director of the Crohn's and Colitis Center. She developed the hospital's Fecal Microbiota Transplantation program and has grown to become an international expert on the topic. Dr. Allegretti's research focuses on the intestinal microbiome and the consequences of its derangement with the goal of understanding the role dysbiosis plays in microbial-associated diseases, with a particular interest in c. difficile infections (CDI) and its effect on patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In addition, her lab focuses on novel therapeutic agents for IBD, and she leads multiple sponsored and investigator-initiated drug trials.

Disclosures:

Consulting: Artugen, BMS, Ili Lilly, Janssen, and Merck.

Speaker: BMS.

Advisory Committee/Review Panel: Iterative Scopes, Pfizer, Servatus, and Padion.