Daniel Agardh, MD, Professor, Skane University Hospital SUS/Lund University, Sweden

Daniel Agardh is the head of the Celiac Disease and Diabetes Unit at Lund University and he works as a Senior Consultant in Paediatric Gastroenterology at the Department of Pediatrics, Skåne University Hospital in Malmö Sweden.

Daniel Agardh leads several international cohort studies on celiac disease and is the principal investigator of paediatric population-based screenings for celiac disease, autoimmune thyroiditis and Type 1 Diabetes in the DiaUnion project. 
Daniel Agardh´s previous work on environmental and genetic risk factors from observational longitudinal studies in the TEDDY study have resulted in ongoing primary and secondary prevention trials enrolling infants and young children at risk for developing celiac disease.

Robert Anderson, Gastroenterologist, Mackay Base Hospital, QLD Australia

Dr Anderson is a translational immunologist, pharmaceutical developer, and practicing gastroenterologist. He has over 25 years' experience in discovery and commercialization of diagnostics and therapeutics for celiac disease in USA and Australia. He is a scientific leader in understanding the adaptive immune response to gluten causing celiac disease and specializes in designing high sensitivity T cell assays and immunotherapy. He conceived and led the preclinical and clinical development of the first antigen-specific immunotherapy tested for celiac disease, Nexvax2. Dr Anderson has also made several key discoveries in celiac disease, IBD and gastrointestinal bleeding and has executed many academic clinical studies in celiac disease, IBD and gastrointestinal bleeding. He was a post-doctoral scientist at Oxford University, established the celiac disease research programme and Lab Head at Walter & Eliza Hall Inst. Melbourne Australia, and has co-founded and served in executive roles in three biotechnology companies in Australia and USA. Dr Anderson is based in Queensland, Australia where he practises gastroenterology at Mackay Base Hospital; he is also co-founder and director of Novoviah Pharmaceuticals in Brisbane, Principal Science & Innovation Advisor to the Celiac Disease Foundation (USA) and is a frequent advisor to pharmaceutical developers. He is current President of ISSCD.

Renata Auricchio

Bio
TBC

Alice Blast, Chief Executive Officer, Beyond Celiac

Founder and CEO Alice Bast has led Beyond Celiac, a U.S.-based nonprofit with a global reach, for more than 20 years, overseeing the organization’s efforts to improve the health of those living with celiac disease and gluten intolerance. In 2015, Beyond Celiac expanded its awareness and advocacy initiatives to prioritize accelerating treatments leading to a cure and is currently positioned as the leading patient-focused healthcare nonprofit funder of celiac disease research globally. The Beyond Celiac research grant program directs funding for innovative translational and early career research, with grant awards made through a peer-review process overseen by the organization’s Chief Scientific Officer, with guidance from the multidisciplinary Beyond Celiac Scientific Advisory Board. The organization recently launched Beyond Celiac Investments, the first venture philanthropy fund aimed at advancing therapies for celiac disease. Initiatives such as the Go Beyond Celiac patient registry and the funding of a groundbreaking investigation into the neurocognitive impact of celiac disease and gluten intolerance highlight Alice’s commitment to ensure the patient experience informs research. Building on a history of convening key stakeholders, including patients, at three historic research summits, in 2021 Beyond Celiac launched a pre-competitive coalition of patients, pharmaceutical and biotech representatives, academic researchers, and policy makers to address significant roadblocks to the diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease. Beyond Celiac has also established itself as a lead enroller for clinical trials for celiac disease therapies and a pioneer in health equity research to identify disparities in diagnosis, care and clinical trials. Alice’s approach is inspired by her personal journey with celiac disease and is informed by decades of experience in healthcare business development and marketing.

Federico Biagi, Professor of Gastroenterology, University of Pavia/Dept. of Internal Medicine

Professor Federico Biagi graduated in Medicine in December 1990 at the University of Bologna. In 1994 he was awarded a diploma as a Specialist in Geriatrics and in 2004 in Gastroenterology. From January 1997 to December 1998 he worked at KCL (London, UK).

He joined the University of Pavia in 1999 and he is currently Full Professor of Gastroenterology. He has published >140 peer reviewed papers (H index 37). He is interested in small bowel diseases, particularly in coeliac disease and its complications, Whipple’s disease, and other rare enteropathies characterized by subtotal villous atrophy unrelated to gluten ingestion.

Gerd Bouma, Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Amsterdam University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Gerd Bouma got his MD and PhD at the Amsterdam UMC (formerly known as the Vrije Universiteit Medical Center Amsterdam). Following a postdoc in mucosal immunology at Warren Strober’s  lab at the National Institutes of Health in the USA he trained as a Gastroenterologist in Amsterdam. In 2015 he was appointed professor of Gastroenterology. Since then he works as a clinical gastroenterologist and Principal Investigator in basic, translational and clinical research in the field of inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and liver with a special emphasis on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, celiac disease, and other immune mediated small bowel disorders.

Federica Branchi, Gastroenterologist, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin – corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Department of Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases and Rheumatology, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany)

Federica Branchi graduation in medicine from the Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy) in 2009 and she was a specialist training in Gastroenterology from 2010 to 2015, afterwards she did clinical and research activity focusing on the management of celiac disease. In 2018, she gained a PhD in Clinical and Experimental Medicine at the Università degli Studi di Milano on the topic of diagnosis and management of refractory celiac disease. Since 2017, Federica has been working at the Department of Gastroenterology, Infectious disease and Rheumatology at the Charité in Berlin, first as a research fellow, then as a gastroenterologist, with celiac disease and refractory celiac disease as her main research interest.

Alberto Caminero, Assistant Professor, Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. McMaster University (Ontario, Canada)

I am an Assistant Professor at McMaster University (Canada). I trained as microbiologist at the University of Leon during my PhD (Spain) and I specialized on gnotobiotic mouse models of gluten sensitivity as a Postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University (Canada) under the supervision of Dr Elena Verdu. My research mainly focuses on the role of microbial metabolism in celiac disease. In addition of finding an altered intestinal microbiota in celiac patients, we showed that the human gastrointestinal tract of both healthy subjects and celiac patients harbor gluten-degrading bacteria. This was a key finding, as one of the reasons gluten proteins are immunogenic reside on the fact that they are not efficiently metabolized by human digestive enzymes. Indeed, the intestinal microbiota interacts with gluten, and modify its antigenicity differentially (Gastroenterology 2016 & 2019). We also showed that enzymes produced by certain bacteria to metabolize gluten could also activate innate immune pathways of relevance for food sensitivities (Nature Communications 2019). As an independent researcher since 2014, I developed a program to continue investigating diet-microbiota interactions of relevance in food sensitivities and gut inflammation.

Antonio Carroccio, Head of PROMISE Department. Chief of Internal Medicine Division, University of Palermo, Italy

As expert in Pancreatic Diseases, was Secretary of Section for Pancreatic Studies of the Italian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. In this role he coordinated multicenter studies involving centers in the whole italian territory The results of these studies were published in very high impacted Journal, as Gastroenterology, GUT and so on.

In the field of the gluten-related diseases he focused on celiac disease and, in the more recent years, on Non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS). His group has published the trial which includes the largest patients’ population suffering from NCWS to date published (Am J Gastroentrol 2102). Furthermore, his group has demonstrated a strong immunologic involvement of the immune system in the NCWS pathogenesis, showing that the patients with NCWS had a high frequency of associated autoimmune diseases and positive serum anti-nuclear antibodies (Gastroenterology 2015 and Am J Gastroenterol 2020).

He also showed that NCWS is a persistent condition and not a simple transitory trouble (Gastroenterology 2017). A key point of his methodology in the NCWS field is the regular use of the double-blind placebo-controlled wheat challenge as diagnostic gold standard.
IHe has contributed to the diagnostic guidelines for NCWS as a member of an Experts’ table (Nutrients. 2013 S26;5:3839-53. doi: 10.3390/nu5103839; Nutrients. 2015 Jun 18;7(6):4966-77. doi: 10.3390/nu7064966 and Nutrients. 2017 Nov 21;9(11). pii: E1268. doi: 10.3390/nu9111268.

More recently, he contributed to international multicenter studies about the histology aspects of Celiac Disease (Gut 2020) and the risk of SARS-COV2 infection in celiac patients (Clin Gastr Hepatol 2021).

Referee for many prestigious Journal, included Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Clinical Chemistry, American Journal of Gastroenterology.

CoAuthor of 298 full papers on peer-reviewed Journals (“PubMed” database).

He has published full papers, among the other Journals, in: New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Gastroenterology, Gut, Nature Review Gastroenterol, Clinical Chemistry, American Journal.

Gemma Castillejo

Bio
TBC

Carlo Catassi, Full Professor of Pediatrics, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy, and Adjunct Faculty, Celiac Center and Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research, Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA 


Carlo Catassi is professor of Pediatrics, formerly Head of the Department of Pediatrics and Director of the Residency Program in Pediatrics at the Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy. He is currently Adjunct Faculty member at the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (USA).  He graduated in Medicine and then specialized in (1) Pediatrics, (2) Human Nutrition and (3) Biostatistics. From 2001 onward he spent periods of time in the USA collaborating with the Center for Celiac Research firstly in Baltimore and then in Boston. He has been the President of the Italian Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition from 2013 to 2016. Prof Catassi’s main research interest is the epidemiology and clinical spectrum of celiac disease and other gluten-related disorders. As in April 2024 he is author/coauthor of several books on pediatric Gastroenterology, particularly on gluten-related disorders, and of 232 publications indexed on the PubMed, including original articles and reviews published on the major international journal including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, and Gastroenterology, and has a H-Index of 62 (Scopus). 

Christophe Cellier, Professor of Gastroenterology, European Hospital Georges Pompidou (HEGP), Faculty of Medicine PARIS CITE, Paris
 
Head of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Digestive Endoscopy at European Georges Pompidou Hospital since 2012.
Main Themes: refractory coeliac disease and autoimmune enteropathy (Celiac Disease, IBD), diagnostic and interventional endoscopy (diagnosis and treatment of cancer, small bowel exploration)
 Chairman of the Celiac Disease Center in European Hospital in Paris and Founder of the French National Network for complications of Celiac Disease (CELAC) granted by the French Cancer Insitute (INCA)
-President Elect of the National French Gastroenterological Society (SNFGE) 2024
 
First description and characterization of abnormal IEL phenotype in type 2 Refractory Celiac Disease as a prelymphoma and serious disorder (Gastroenterology 1998 and Lancet 2000).
Building a unique Cohort of patients with refractory Celiac Disease through the CELAC French Network demonstrating the high risk of malignant progression to overt lymphoma, as well the major role of a cytokine (IL15).
Promoting and PI of the first international randomized trial using a monoclonal anti-Il 15 (AMG 714) in patients with Refractory Celiac Disease type2 (Lancet Gastro 2019)
Organizer and Chairman of 2 International Celiac symposia (ISSCD) in Paris (2002 and 2019)
Member of the boards of the International (ISSCD) and European Celiac societies (ESSCD)
Publications: more than 100 publications in the field of Celiac Disease and refractory Celiac Disease

Carolina Ciacci, Professor of Gastroenterology at University of Salerno, Italy​

President of the Ethical Committee Campania Sud 2022-2023 and Vice-President of Ethical Committee Campania 2 since 2023 - today.
Chair of Gender & Diversity task force of the United European Gastroenterology association
Chief of Gastrointestinal Unit, Endoscopy and Bleeding Center.

Research Field - Basic and Clinical research in Gastroenterology and Immunology
Investigation in clinical trials Principal investigator, local PI or co-investigator in a number of clinical trials of celiac disease, therapy of irritable bowel disease and nflammatory bowel diseases.

Author of more than 280 publications in the field of gastrointestinal diseases, particularly focused on celiac disease.

Cristian Costas, Clinical Specialist Gastroenterology Dietitian, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Cristian is a gastroenterology dietitian that specialises in coeliac disease. He runs a dietitian-led coeliac service at Bradford Teaching Hospitals in the UK with the support of his fellow gastroenterologists. He is also involved in coeliac disease research and is very passionate about sharing evidence-based information about coeliac disease and the gluten free diet on social media. He has won multiple awards for his work in the field of coeliac disease and one of his main areas of interest is measuring the effectiveness of dietitian-led coeliac services.

Iain Croall, Research Fellow, University of Sheffield

Iain obtained his cognitive neuroscience PhD at Newcastle University in 2015. During these studies, and in his first postdoctoral position at Cambridge University, he utilised MRI scanning to investigate how different types of neurodegenerative conditions affect the brain and cognitive function.

He joined Sheffield University in 2017 and has since worked within the Sheffield Institute of Gluten-Related Disorders (SIGReD). Iain continues to use brain MRI scanning and cognitive methods to better understand and characterise the forms of neuro-dysfunction that can occur across the spectrum of gluten-related disorders. He has authored a number of publications which focus on validating brain involvement in coeliac disease and serologically-defined non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, and in proving treatment effects of the gluten-free diet with respect to neurological progression. Iain has recently finished developing a large database of mixed clinical and research data concerning over 1000 patients with diagnosed neurological problems relating to underlying gluten sensitivity.

Hilary Croft, Chief Executive, Coeliac UK

Hilary understands the difficulty of living with coeliac disease - her son was diagnosed with the condition when he was 9 (13 years ago). This motivates her to achieve significant and lasting change for the coeliac community. Hilary joined Coeliac UK as their Chief Executive in 2019.

Hilary’s professional background lies in delivering growth and improvement within complex, multifaceted, commercial organisations. Her senior management career started in marketing at Coca-Cola, and progressed in retail, wholesale, music, travel and customer insight sectors. She spent 9 years at Capgemini, a global leader in technology consulting, where she worked with many major international organisations leading customer experience and digital transformation programmes. During her career, she gained considerable knowledge and interest in the food and drink sector and in 2016, moved to the not for profit sector as CEO of London’s largest food redistribution charity, The Felix Project, before joining Coeliac UK.

Luca Elli, Gastroenterologist MD, PhD. Head of the "Center for Prevention and Diagnosis of Celiac Disease"-Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico-Milano

Dr. Luca Elli is chief of the “Center for Prevention and Diagnosis of Celiac Disease” of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico. Luca Elli is actively involved in various clinical and basic science studies in the field of gastroenterology. His primary areas of focus include celiac disease, small bowel and intestinal inflammatory mechanisms. He has extensively delved into these topics, mastering key laboratory techniques. The findings from several of these studies have been published in international journals. Moreover, Luca Elli routinely performs diagnostic and interventional digestive endoscopy. He is specialized in small bowel endoscopy, capsule endoscopy, and double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) for diagnostic and interventional purposes. His outpatient and inpatient activities in gastroenterology focus particularly on small intestine pathologies, celiac disease.

Maria Esteve Comas, Head of Gastroenterology Department of Mútua Terrassa University Hospital, Aggregate Professor at the University of Barcelona and Director and professor of the Master's in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Open University of Catalonia.​

The group that Dr Esteve is leading, belongs to CIBEREHD, the most important research network in Spain. The group of MutuaTerrassa is especially recognized for its research into the field of celiac disease, being the only one specialized in celiac disease within CIBEREHD. The contributions to the knowledge of clinical, epidemiological and physiopathological aspects of inflammatory bowel disease and microscopic colitis are also very remarkable.

The research group has more than 20 active research projects in collaboration with Spanish and international groups. The most remarkable contributions in the field of coeliac disease has been: a) the use of the genetic markers for the diagnosis in risk populations; b) diagnostic methods for seronegative celiac disease, low-grade celiac disease ('lite' celiac disease) and non-celiac gluten sensitivity; c) epidemiology and natural history studies and d) methods of assessing adherence to gluten-free diet and factors related to persistence of duodenal damage (non-responsive celiac disease) despite strict gluten-free diet.

Dr Esteve have published more than 200 articles indexed in Pubmed, as main author, corresponding author or collaborator with an index h: 49. She received the Professional Excellence Award from the College of Medicine of Barcelona in 2014, the accreditation of Advanced Research by the Catalan Agency for the management of university grants and research (AQU) on 2021 and the recognition as a Merit Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands in May 2023 for her professional career.

Michael Fitzpatrick, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Immunology Researcher, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Oxford

Michael FitzPatrick is a gastroenterologist and immunology researcher at the University of Oxford. He has a specialist clinical interest in coeliac disease, small bowel conditions, complex nutrition and intestinal failure. His research group works closely with Professor Paul Klenerman in the University of Oxford, focusing on applying transcriptomic methods to the human gut, and the role of CD8+ T cells and innate-like T cells in human GI diseases.

Mara Floare, Research Associate, The University of Sheffield

Mara is a Neuroscience Researcher with an interest in neuroimmunity and the gut-brain axis. Mara has recently obtained her PhD in Neuroscience at The University of Sheffield, during which she studied TG6 autoimmunity and the neuropathological characteristics of Gluten ataxia. She is now working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Neuropathology group at The Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience where she uses cell reprogramming techniques to study TG6 expression and astrocyte-neuron interactions in the context of Spinocerebellar Ataxia 35. Insight from her work could help better understand the pathogenesis of Gluten ataxia and facilitate the characterisation of pre-diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic strategies. 

Marilyn Geller, Celiac Disease Foundation

With a career dedicated to revolutionizing healthcare practices and a profound personal connection to celiac disease, Marilyn Geller has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Celiac Disease Foundation (CDF) since 2012. Leveraging her passion to drive advancements in the pursuit of treatments and her past experience as a graduate of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Marilyn has applied her healthcare technology background to amplify the patient voice in celiac disease research and public policy. Under her leadership, CDF has achieved significant milestones, including the establishment of the worldwide celiac disease patient registry, iCureCeliac®️, and the pioneering clinical trial screening platform, iQualifyCeliac. Marilyn continues to spearhead the development of extensive patient recruitment and retention services through iRecruitCeliac.org, facilitating the identification and enrollment of qualified patients into critical research studies through global patient society partnerships. Aiming to catalyze and inspire researchers to focus on celiac disease, CDF hosts the annual international Prize for Excellence in Celiac Disease Research and the Young Investigator Awards in Basic and Clinical Science, and funds research awards in partnership with the world’s leading medical societies and biopharmaceutical companies for gastroenterology and celiac disease. A long-time goal of the celiac disease research community and CDF, the recent securing of federal recognition of celiac disease and groundbreaking research funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense reflect Marilyn’s emphasis on collaboration between patients, researchers, clinicians, industry and policymakers to assure a future where celiac disease no longer limits lives.

Peter Gillett

Bio
TBC

Peter Green

Bio
TBC

Tristan Humphreys, Head of Advocacy, Coeliac UK

As Head of Advocacy at Coeliac UK, Tristan leads the charity’s public affairs work across the UK, engaging policy makers and partners to promote the patient interest and drive positive change for the community. This involves working with parliamentarians in Westminster and across the national parliaments in Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland as well as leading on advocacy campaigns such as Coeliac UK’s cost access and availability of gluten free food campaign.

A proud Welshman, Tristan originally joined the charity as its Lead in Wales back in 2015 and lives in Cardiff with his wife and two children. He studied Politics and International Relations at the University of Manchester and has a background in campaigns and public affairs, having previously covered political campaigns for Oxfam across the London and South East region and subsequently headed Wales’ Fair Trade Nation campaign for Fair Trade Wales.

Maria Innes Pinto-Sanchez, Associate Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, McMaster University.

Dr Pinto-Sanchez is Associate Professor at McMaster University, she is a Gastroenterologist and Certified Nutrition Support Clinician. She is the co-lead of Nutrition for Hamilton-Health Sciences, and director of the Adult Celiac Clinic under the umbrella of the Gastroenterology Division at McMaster University. Dr Pinto Sanchez is an Investigator of the Farncombe Nutrition Initiative and her research interest include Nutrition In different gastrointestinal conditions with a focus on celiac disease and gluten-related disorders. 

Bana Jabri

Bio
TBC

Yvonne Jeanes, Associate Professor Clinical Nutrition, University of Roehampton

Dr Jeanes is a registered dietitian with clinical, teaching and research experience. She has taught undergraduates and postgraduate healthcare professionals for over 15 years and currently leads the ‘Living gluten free’ research at the University of Roehampton. Her research encompasses the nutritional adequacy and the practicalities of living gluten free, as well as patients access to, and the evolving nature of, healthcare provision for people living with coeliac disease.

Dr Jeanes is the Research and Policy Lead for the British Dietetic Association (BDA) Gastroenterology Specialist Group, a BDA clinical lead for coeliac disease, a member of the Coeliac UK’s Health Advisory Network and sits on the European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians (EFAD) Research and Evidence Based Practice Committee.

Iris Jonkers, Adjunct Professor of Immunogenetics

Iris Jonkers specializes in the immunogenetic underpinnings of celiac disease, mapping genetic, epigenetic and transcriptional responses in immune and epithelial tissues of patients. Moreover, she has developed several intricate human model systems to directly test involvement of genetic and environmental factors on the onset and exacerbation of celiac disease. As treasurer of the ISSCD, member of the Prolamin Working Group, and advisor on the Scientific advisory board of the Dutch celiac disease patient society, she is a strong advocate of the celiac disease research community.

Deanna Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine

Deanna L. Kelly, Pharm.D., BCPP is Professor of Psychiatry at University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine where she recently was awarded the 3 year title of MPower Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State. She also serves as an Affiliate Professor in the School of Pharmacy. She is currently Director and Chief of the Treatment Research Program at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC) and is serving as the Acting Director since January of 2022 of this prestigious institution. Dr. Kelly received her Bachelor of Science and Doctorate in Pharmacy at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. She completed residency training in psychiatric pharmacy practice at the University of Maryland in 1997 and became board certified in psychiatric pharmacy practice in 1998. Dr. Kelly has led and been involved in numerous clinical trials in schizophrenia and severe mental illness and has been active in psychopharmacology research for the past 25years. Dr. Kelly has coauthored and authored 19 books and book chapters, published over 235 peer-reviewed articles, presented over 250 scientific posters and has given over 175 invited lectures. She has coauthored four editions of the book entitled “Pharmacologic Treatment of Schizophrenia.” She also authors the Schizophrenia chapter for “Pharmacotherapy, Principles and Practice.” She is Past President for the College of Psychiatric & Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP), a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), currently serves as a clozapine content expert for the American Psychiatric Association SMI Adviser, and is a champion of clozapine use, women's health issues, inflammation and immune dysfunction in schizophrenia and for finding new treatments. In 2017 she was awarded the prestigious Maltz Prize for Innovative and Promising Schizophrenia Research by the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation for her work on gluten and the brain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-9lOpPUdg0. In 2024 she was named the G. Van Greene Distinguished Lecturer at Mercer University. She is an international expert in gluten sensitivity and gluten free diets related to mental health and a leader in the field in completing landmark clinical trials.  Additionally, her work and scientific expertise has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, NPR, Women’s Day Magazine, Gluten-Free Living,  MedPage Today, Vice Media, Clinical Psychiatry News, Psychiatric News and Medscape Medical News. She was named top 100 women in Maryland in 2023. She can be found on twitter at @ProfDeannaK.  More information can be found on her faculty page: http://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/profiles/Kelly-Deanna/

Laura Kivelä, Associate Professor (docent) and senior researcher in Celiac Disease Research Center (CeliRes), Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital, and Pediatric Resident in New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital

Laura Kivelä, MD, PhD is an associate professor (docent) and senior researcher in the Celiac Disease Research Center (CeliRes), Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital, and a pediatric resident in the New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital. She has worked as a postdoc researcher in the Department of Pediatric Research, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital. Her research focuses especially on clinical aspects of celiac disease screening, diagnostics and follow-up, and she has >40 scientific publications. She is a member of Young Academy Finland and Finnish Celiac Society’s advisory board, and she has served as a Young ESGPHAN representative in ESPGHAN Nutrition committee.

Calvin Kuo, MD PhD, D’Ambrogio Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

Dr. Calvin Kuo MD, PhD is the Maureen Lyles D’Ambrogio Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.   His research interests include modeling of cancer, immunity and pathogens in 3D organoid cultures, biology of intestinal and lung stem cell populations, and molecular regulation of angiogenesis and the blood-brain barrier. He is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians, American Society for Clinical Investigation and AAAS.

Kalle Kurppa, Professor of Promotion of Pediatric and Adolescent Health in Tampere University and Seinäjoki University Consortium.

​Dr. Kalle Kurppa is a Professor of Promotion of Pediatric and Adolescent Health in Tampere University and Seinäjoki University Consortium. After his basic training as a pediatrician, he has worked as a clinician, researcher and as a Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Kurppa has more than 150 peer-reviewed international publications in the fields of clinical and translational pediatrics, particularly celiac disease.

Benjamin Lebwohl, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and serves as the Associate Clinical Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and as the Director of Clinical Research at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University.​

Dr. Lebwohl is the Past President of the Society for the Study of Celiac Disease, and collaborates with investigators in the United States and abroad in epidemiology, patterns of care, natural history, and therapeutics. He has co-authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications. His research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, and past research funding includes the American Gastroenterological Association, the Celiac Disease Foundation, and the American Scandinavian Foundation.
 
Dr. Lebwohl is the Chair of the Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee of the United States Food and Drug Administration. He maintains a clinical practice and is heavily involved in medical education, teaching regularly on topics including celiac disease, evidence-based medicine, clinical decision making, pseudoscience, diarrhea, the Beethoven string quartets, and colorectal cancer screening.

Anne Lee, Assistant Professor of Nutritional Medicine, Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center NY USA

Anne Lee is an Assistant Professor of Nutritional Medicine in the Department of Medicine and the Institute for Human Nutrition at Columbia University and the dietitian for the Celiac Disease Center. Anne is involved in patient care, and research.  Her research and many publications focus on the quality-of-life issues, dietary adherence, concerns of the nutritional quality of the gluten free diet and eating patterns and behaviors.  The research on eating behaviors has provided insight into the impact of the rigidity of the gluten free diet on eating patterns and behaviors and has created a paradigm shift in the education and counseling of individuals with celiac disease.  She has authored chapters on celiac disease in nutrition textbooks as well as co-authored a chapter in a gastroenterology text.  Anne has developed numerous educational materials on the gluten free diet for patients and both clinical and food service professionals.  Anne has been an Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics member for many years and is a member of the Academy’s Gluten Intolerance Work Group who developed the Gluten Intolerance tool kit and the Certificate of Training for Gluten Related Disorders. 

Daniel Leffler, Gastroenterologist, Celiac Disease Clinical Development Lead, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Beth Israel Deaconess medical Center, Harvard Medical School

Daniel Leffler, MD, MS, AGAF is a gastroenterologist caring for patients with celiac disease and other gastrointestinal disorders and is a founding member of the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has received multiple National Institute of Health, foundation and industry sponsored grants and has published over 200 articles in peer reviewed literature.  Dr. Leffler joined Takeda Pharmaceuticals in 2016 and is the Global Clinical Lead for Celiac Disease in the Gastrointestinal Therapeutic Area.

Francisco Leon, Immunologist and Entrepreneur, Tolerance Bio

Francisco Leon, MD, PhD, AGAF, is an immunologist and entrepreneur with a long history of dedication to the field of celiac disease therapeutics, prevention and diagnostics.

Francisco is currently the Founder and CEO of Tolerance Bio, a biotech start-up focused on increasing healthspan by restoring and preserving the function of the thymus, a key regulator of immune tolerance. If successful, a bioengineered thymus could help prevent and treat celiac disease. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Paulex Bio, a company developing the coxsackievirus B vaccine PRV-101 which, if successful, is expected to prevent a subset of the cases of celiac disease.

Throughout his career, Francisco has co-founded and/or led as CEO, Chief Medical Officer or Chief Scientific Officer seven companies in the celiac space:

• Therapeutics: Provention Bio (now part of Sanofi) and Celimmune (now part of Amgen), developing an anti-IL-15 monoclonal antibody for non-responsive and refractory celiac disease; and Alba Therapeutics, which developed larazotide acetate.

• Prevention: Provention Bio and now Paulex, developing the coxsackievirus B vaccine PRV-101 to prevent a subset of the cases of celiac disease; and Tolerance Bio seeking to restore immune tolerance to gluten via the thymus.

• Diagnostics: Glutenostics and Biomedal, which developed and commercialize the gluten immunogenic peptide assays to help patients and companies monitor the gluten-free diet.

​
Francisco is a clinical and basic immunologist trained at Autonoma University (Madrid, Spain) and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). His career in ‘Big Pharma’ prior to becoming an entrepreneur comprises roles at Bristol Myers-Squibb, MedImmune/Astra Zeneca, Centocor/Janssen/Johnson & Johnson.

He has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters, and over 20 patents, as well as having led or participated in the development of 6 drugs which have reached FDA approval - more recently teplizumab (TZIELD®) to slow or prevent the progression of type 1 diabetes.

Maureen Leonard, MD MMSc, Clinical Director, Center for Celiac Research and Treatment, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Associate Investigator, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, Harvard Medical School

Maureen Leonard, MD, MMSc, serves as the clinical director of the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at MassGeneral for Children (MGfC). She is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (HMS). In her clinical work, she treats adult and pediatric patients with celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and other gluten-related disorders.
 
As a physician scientist, Dr. Leonard’s research is focused on predicting and preventing celiac disease through the Celiac Disease; Genomic, Environment, Microbiome and Metabolomic (CDGEMM) Study, which aims to identify microbial signatures that may predict the onset of autoimmune disease in an international prospective cohort of infants at risk for celiac disease. She also works to identify environmental factors that influence celiac disease onset; biomarkers that can predict intestinal healing; and working with industry collaborators to create and perform clinical trials aimed at treating celiac disease. Dr. Leonard currently holds funding from the NIH (K23DK122127). She has previously been funded by the NIH (F32DK109620), Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard, and the Thrasher Research Foundation. 

Elena Lionetti

Bio
TBC

Edwin Liu, Professor of Paediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine

As director of the Colorado Center for Celiac Disease (CCCD), we evaluate and treat individuals with celiac disease and gluten-related disorders.  My special area of interest relates to high-risk and general population screening, and the potential risks and benefits of screening.  Collaborators in the Center include The Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes and also the Sie Center and Linda Crnic Center for Down Syndrome. We are involved in the DAISY (Diabetes Autoimmunity Study of the Young) and the TEDDY (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young) studies, which are long-term prospective birth cohorts being followed for the development of type 1 diabetes and celiac disease due to genetic risk.  TEDDY is currently following a birth cohort of over 8,000 children from 6 centers across the US and in Europe for the development of autoimmunity and the goal is to identify the environmental factors that lead to disease.  Our study group has publications in high impact journals such as NEJM, JAMA, Pediatrics, Gut and Am J Gastroenterol as a result of our collaboration.  The screening has taken another step forward with the Autoimmunity Screening for Kids (ASK) study, which performs free screening for Colorado children ages 1-17 years for celiac disease and type 1 diabetes, and has now gone national with over 30,000 children screened to date.  These ongoing studies have been accessible to all trainees for direct research activity, team meetings and celiac disease consortiums to enhance training experience.

Knut Lundin, Professor of Medicine, Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital

Knut Lundin, MD, PhD, a senior consultant gastroenterologist and scientist working in Oslo, Norway. He has for decades been involved in studies on the pathogenesis of coeliac disease in close collaboration with professor Ludvig m. Sollid. He was the first to describe gluten-specific T cells from the small intestinal mucosa of coeliac disease patients and found that they recognized gluten in the context of the disease associated HLA-DQ2 and -DQ8 molecules. The focus of his research has in recent years shifted to clinical trials in coeliac disease. He serves as full time professor of Medicine at the University of Oslo.

Govind Makharia, Professor in the Department of Gastroenterology and Human Nutrition, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Dr Makharia has trained 102 fellows and 9 PhD students in gastroenterology. He has published 349 articles in the indexed journals, 43 chapters for different books and edited a handbook on celiac disease. The h-index of his publications is 59 and his publications has been cited by 14,400 times. He has been listed amongst top 2% research scientist globally (2021, 2022, 2023). The main area of his research is Celiac disease.
 
Dr. Makharia has been involved in various leadership roles in both global and regional professional organizations such as Governing Council Member and Chairman of Clinical Research Committee of World Gastroenterology Organization and chairman of Asian Pacific Working Group on Celiac Disease. He is presently the President of Indian Society of Gastroenterology. He is also the Governing Council Member of Indian Council of Medical Research. He is initiator and participants in development of many global, Asian and Indian practice guidelines on various diseases. He is the member of the many National Academic Committees and institutions. He has received many awards.

Georgia Malamut, Professor, Paris Center Cochin Hospital-University Paris Cité

Georgia Malamut has been trained both in Gastroenterology and Immunology and is gastroenterologist, clinician at Paris Center Cochin Hospital and researcher at Imagine Institute in Paris. She received the Rising Star Award from the United European Gastroenterology in 2013 for her translational studies on refractory coeliac disease. She became Full Professor in 2015 at the Paris Cité University. She is an expert in the clinical and pathogenic aspects of refractory coeliac disease, autoimmune enteropathy, inflammatory bowel diseases associated or not with common variable immunodeficiency and intestinal T cell lymphomas. She has published around one hundred peer reviewed papers and review articles on these topics.

Karl Marild, Pediatric Gastroenterologist and Associate Professor, Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gotehnburg, Sweden

Karl Mårild is a pediatric gastroenterologist and associate professor of pediatrics in Gothenburg, Sweden. He completed his PhD in 2012, where he used Swedish national health registers to investigate associated diseases of celiac disease. Since postdoctoral fellowships at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the University of Colorado, USA, he has also used Nordic and US birth cohorts to examine risk factors for celiac disease. More recently, he has conducted studies on the clinical management and follow-up practice of celiac disease. He is involved in the histopathology and register-based Swedish ESPRESSO cohort.

Luisa Mearin Manrique, Paediatric Gastroenterologist, Professor of Paediatrics, Leiden University Medical CEnter, Leiden, The Netherlands

The ambition of Luisa Mearin is to improve the health and quality of life of sick children, especially those with gastrointestinal diseases, particularly celiac disease (CD). She has a long experience in the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric gastrointestinal diseases. Luisa Mearin is well recognized for her contribution to the field of childhood CD, including its epidemiology, immunology, genetics, treatment, prevention, complications and patient quality of life. She has coordinated many national and international scientific projects, including the ongoing European PreventCD project for the prevention of celiac disease and the new GLUTENSCREEN project for early detection the disease at the Dutch Preventive Health Care Centers for Children.

Joseph Murray, Professor of Medicine and a Consultant with a joint appointment in Immunology and Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN

Dr. Murray’s training in gastroenterology, population health, as well as his broad experience in clinical, translational, population and basic research provides him with a wide-ranging perspective of the discipline of gastroenterology and most specifically in celiac disease.
Dr. Murray has been engaged in patient care and research in celiac disease for more than 30 years.

Nicoletta Nandi, Research PhD Candidate, Universita' degli Studi di Milano (Milano, Italy)

Dr Nicoletta Nandi is a PhD candidate in Clinical Research at the University of Milan. She graduated from University of Milan in 2017, and specialized in Gastroenterology in 2022. In 2023, as part of her PhD and in the ISSCD mentee-in-mentorship programme, she undertook a year as a clinical research fellow at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield (UK) working with Prof. Sanders and his team. Nicoletta's main clinical and research interests are coeliac disease, refractory coeliac disease and endoscopy, in particular enteroscopy and capsule endoscopy. Clinical

Carolina Olano, Professor and Director, Department of Gastroenterology, Universidad de la Republica

Dr Carolina Olano is Professor of Gastroenterology at the Universidad dela República (UDELAR), Montevideo, Uruguay. She graduated with a medicine (MD)degree and achieved a postgraduate degree in Gastroenterology at the same university in 1993 and 1996, respectively.
She has demonstrated a deep interest in GI Education, achieving a master's degree (M Sc (Ed)) at a private university in Montevideo (Universidad ORT) in 2010.

Dr Olano is the current President-elect of the World Gastroenterology Organization. She is also a faculty member of the WGO “Train the Trainers” program and Chair of the Academy Task Force. She has held various positions in the organization, including Secretary-General, Chair of the Scientific Program Committee, and member of the IBS and Celiac Disease guidelines task forces. She received the "fellow" status from the American Gastroenterological Association in 2016 and the Rome Foundation in 2022. She is a member of the Rome V Overlap Working Team from the Rome Foundation.

Her areas of interest are medical education, Small Bowel diseases and GBID (especially IBS).

John Pate, Retired Patient of Professor David Sanders

 

Hugo Penny, Clinical Lecturer and Registrar, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals

Dr Hugo Penny is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer and Specialist Registrar in Gastroenterology. He completed a PhD in mucosal immunology at the University of Manchester and currently works in Sheffield among the National Centre for Non-Responsive and Refractory Coeliac Disease.

Hugo Penny

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Suneil Raju, Clinical Research Fellow, NHS England National Centre for Refractory Coeliac Disease, Sheffield, UK
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Dr Sunny Raju is a Clinical Research Fellow working at the NHS England National Centre for Refractory Coeliac Disease, Sheffield, UK. He graduated in 2015 from the University of Sheffield and is involved in clinical research in coeliac disease with a particular interest in diagnostic tests and treating the complications and associations of coeliac disease.
He is the former Chair of the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) Trainees Section, winner of the BSG Trainees Leadership and Management Prize and a member of the Changing Face of Medicine Faculty, focusing on the training and development of future doctors.

Marian Rewers, Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, Richard S. Abrams Endowed Chair, Executive Director, Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Dr. Rewers is a pediatric endocrinologist who dedicated his research to finding the cause and prevention of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and its complications. Since 2000, Dr. Rewers has led the Barbara Davis Center (BDC) clinical team, serving now 7500 children and adults with T1D; in 2012, he became BDC executive director. His research includes NIH-funded cohorts: Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY), Celiac Disease Autoimmunity Research (CEDAR), and The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) following from birth high-risk children to learn how genes and the environment interact in causation of T1D and celiac disease. His Autoimmunity Screening for Kids (ASK) program, funded by JDRF and Helmsley Charitable Fund, is translating findings from DAISY/TEDDY into public health screening and prevention. In the Coronary Artery Calcification in Type 1 (CACTI) study, he has discovered novel genetic, metabolic, and inflammatory risk factors for diabetic complications. He has helped to train the next generation of physicians and scientists. Together, they have published more than 600 peer-reviewed articles in the area of diabetes and celiac disease.

Marie Robert, Professor of Pathology, Medicine (Digestive Diseases) and Human and Translational Immunology, Yale University School of Medicine
 
Dr. Robert is an internationally recognized gastrointestinal (GI), liver and pancreatic surgical pathologist with more than 30 years of experience in clinical diagnosis, teaching, and collaborative scientific endeavors across a wide spectrum of diseases, including inflammatory and neoplastic conditions of the GI tract.  Dr. Robert served for 12 years as the Director of the Program in Gastrointestinal Pathology and Director of the Fellowship in Gastrointestinal Pathology at Yale University.  Early in her career, she founded the National Gastrointestinal Pathology Study Group, a collaborative research group of GI pathologists at prominent US academic institutions, who authored new standards for the diagnosis of dysplasia in Barrett esophagus.  She is a past President of the Rodger C. Haggitt Gastrointestinal Pathology Society and has served on numerous national committees for the United States and Canadian Society of Pathologists and the College of American Pathologists.  Over the past 10 years Dr. Robert has focused her research endeavors on celiac disease and is the lead or co-author on several recent practice guidelines and multicenter original studies in the diagnosis and follow up of celiac disease and refractory sprue.  She recently served as the Chief Scientific Officer for the non-profit advocacy group Beyond Celiac, and is actively involved in the histology work associated with celiac disease clinical trials, and.  At Yale, she initiated and co-leads the effort to bring an adult celiac disease center to the greater Yale system and is the founder and co-leader of the Yale Celiac Disease Translational Research Group. 

Gerry Robins, Consultant Gastroenterologist, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
 
I graduated at Newcastle University in 1995 and undertook my Specialist Gastro Training in Yorkshire from 1998.  My MD Thesis was in the electrogenic causes of diarrhoea and I was a Lecturer at the University of Leeds Medical School from 2002 to 2008. I have been a Consultant Gastroenterologist at York Hospital since 2008.  I have had a Clinical interest in Coeliac Disease since 1998 and have been a member of the Coeliac UK Health Advisory Committee since 2005 and the HAC Representative on the Board of Coeliac UK since 2021. I have previously been a member of a Systemic Literature Review Panel on the nutritional adequacy of a gluten free diet on behalf of the Food Standards Agency and a member of the NICE Guidelines Development Group in 2015.  Currently I am working with Professor Whting’s Research Group in Bristol with regards to non-invasive methods of diagnosing Coeliac Disease and I am a member of the current BSG Guidelines group for Coeliac Disease.

Outside of work I (mostly) enjoy running, trying to play golf badly and if the Yorkshire winter doesn’t kill them off, keeping bees.

Alfonso Rodriquez Herrera, Consultant Paediatrician, St Luke's General Hospital, University College Dublin

Alfonso Rodriguez-Herrera is consultant in paediatrics with special interest in paediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. He is based in the Republic of Ireland, where he has a position as Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Medicine of UCD ( University College Dublin)
He gained his PhD from the University of Seville (Spain) with a thesis on coeliac disease. He is member of ESPGHAN (European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition) Coeliac Disease Special Interest Group.
His main research topics are biomarkers of dietary compliance (allergy, coeliac disease and obesity). He is author or co-author of different book chapters and papers connected to his area of expertise. He is co-author of the patent for detection of gluten immunogenic peptides (GIP) in human fluids.

Leda Roncoroni

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Kamran Rostami, Gastroenterology, Physician

Dr Kamran Rostami is well known for his research on coeliac disease and non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. He received his MD degree from Carol Davila University Bucharest. He completed his PhD at the University of Amsterdam by which he defined the seronegative subgroup of coeliac disease and published the initial report on the correlation between serological tests and histological abnormalities in coeliac disease. This later became the inspiration and platform for avoiding biopsy approach in paediatric guidelines and recently young adults. He undertook his specialist training at Internal Medicine at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He continued and accomplished specialist training through the West Midlands Deanery in the UK and has been an attending Physician in the Gastroenterology Division, Department of Internal Medicine in both the UK and later at Palmerston North, New Zealand. His ongoing research interests are on gluten-related disorders and Nutrition therapy in Inflammatory bowel disease as highlighted in his publications.

Alberto Rubio-Tapia, Director of the Celiac Disease Program, Section Director of Research for Gastroenterology, and Staff Gastroenterologist, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, Unite States of America

Alberto Rubio-Tapia MD is Director of the Celiac Disease Program, Section Director of Research for Gastroenterology, and Staff Gastroenterologist at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, US. Alberto received his MD from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico. He did his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship program at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, where he also received his Certificate in Clinical and Translational Science and completed the Clinician-Investigator Program at the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education.   His research interests cover epidemiology, quality of care, diagnosis, management, care delivery, and outcomes of celiac disease, refractory celiac disease and other small bowel disorders. He is an inducted member of the Mexican Academy of Medicine.

Ravi Sargur

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Rose Satherley, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Surrey

​Dr. Satherley is a Lecturer at the University of Surrey, where she trains Clinical Psychologists. Her research focusses the psychological impact of coeliac disease, with a particular emphasis on understanding and managing the interplay between wellbeing and adherence to a gluten-free diet. Dr. Satherley was awarded a PhD from the University of Birmingham which examined the development of disordered eating and gluten-free diet management in coeliac disease. Now, she is developing and evaluating psychological interventions to prevent the development of psychological distress in individuals with coeliac disease. Her research is supported by grants from Coeliac UK and the National Institute of Health Research.

Katharina Scherf, Professor Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich, Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences, Professorship of Food Biopolymer Systems

Prof. Dr. Katharina Scherf leads the research group Food Biopolymer Chemistry at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (Leibniz-LSB@TUM) and also holds the Professorship of Food Biopolymer Systems at the TUM. Together with her team, she studies the complex interplay between structure, functionality and bioactivity of food proteins and uses these fundamental insights to improve food security, food quality and food safety. One of her main research interests are wheat-related disorders. Having studied food chemistry at the TUM, Katharina Scherf obtained her PhD degree from the TUM. Then she worked at the Leibniz-LSB@TUM and led the research group Functional Biopolymer Chemistry, before accepting the offer to lead the Department of Bioactive and Functional Food Chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany.
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Her research was awarded with several prestigious scientific prizes, including the ERC Starting Grant 2022, the Research Award of the German Coeliac Society (2019 and 2014), the Young Scientist Research Award of the Cereals & Grains Association (2018) and the Gerhard-Billek-Prize of the German Chemical Society (2015). 
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Annalisa Schiepatti, Gastroenterology Consultant and Lecturer

Dr Annalisa Schiepatti is a researcher and lecturer in Gastroenterology at the University of Pavia, Italy and consultant at Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Pavia, Italy. She graduated summa cum laude in 2011 and then specialised in Internal Medicine in 2017 at the University of Pavia, Italy. She was appointed as PhD in Molecular Medicine in March 2020, at the University of Pavia. During her PhD course, she spent 18 months in Sheffield, UK (February 2018-August 2019), where as a clinical research fellow, she was involved in clinical research on seronegative coeliac disease and seronegative villous atrophy. Dr Schiepatti's main clinical and research interest is represented by coeliac disease and other non-coeliac enteropathies with villous atrophy causing severe malabsorption.

Michael Schumann, Department of Medicine (Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, Rheumatology), Campus Benjamin Franklin

2022 - Board Certification Gastroenterology (Berliner Ärztekammer)
2011 - Board Certification Internal Medicine (Berliner Ärztekammer)
2000 - MD, medical thesis, Julius Maximillians University, Würzburg
1993-2000 - Medical school, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz and Julius Maximillians University, Würzburg

11/2022 - President, European Society for the Study of Celiac Disease
10/2022 - BIH Clinical Fellow
10/2020 - Habilitation (Internal Medicine, Professor Britta Siegmund, title: „Mukosale Barriere bei Zöliakie“)
Since 2015 - Attending physician, Department of Medicine (Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, Rheumatology), Campus Benjamin Franklin (Professor B. Siegmund)

Detlef Schuppan

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Mohamed Shiha, Clinical Research Fellow and Speciality Registrar in Gastroenterology

Mohamed Shiha is a clinical research fellow and speciality registrar in gastroenterology. He is currently undertaking a research MD focused on optimising the diagnosis of coeliac disease.

Reena Sidhu, Consultant Gastroenterologist and a Honorary Professor with the University of Sheffield
 
Prof Reena Sidhu is a Consultant Gastroenterologist and a Honorary Professor with the University of Sheffield. Her main area of interest is the small bowel.

She carries out clinical research related to the small bowel and continues to publish actively in this field with >150 publications. She has research fellows under her banner.

She was awarded the Hopkins Endoscopy Prize by the BSG in 2012, the first female gastroenterologist to have ever won this in the UK
She is the first author of the British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on capsule endoscopy and enteroscopy, published in 2008 and is also a co-author on the 2022 ESGE guidelines on small bowel endoscopy. She led and is the first author of the BSG Guideline on Sedation in gastrointestinal endoscopy Gut 2024.

She is a co-author on the BSG Iron Deficiency Anaemia Guidelines Gut 2021.

She was  the BSG Education Chair 2021-June 2023 having been the BSG Web Editor previously and curated an entire new Educational Platform for the BSG. She is a member of the UEG NSC & UEG Research Committee and ESGE Qic SB WG Leader.

She has 2 young children and enjoys swimming, playing racquetball, walking in the Peak District and having ice cream with her kids!

Debra Silberg, Chief Scientific Officer, Beyond Celiac

Debra Silberg is the Chief Scientific Officer for Beyond Celiac and a consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to her current roles, Debra was the Global Vice President, Head of Clinical Science/Development for GI at Takeda/Shire (Shire was acquired by Takeda). From 2008 to 2011, she served as the industry representative to the FDA GI Division Advisory Committee. Prior to joining industry, Debra was a faculty member in the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she treated patients and was the principal investigator of an NIH funded molecular biology laboratory. Debra has a Ph.D. in immunology from Wayne State University School of Medicine, and an M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. She has published over 40 peer reviewed articles primarily in the field of gastroenterology in both the areas of clinical and basic science research.

Jocelyn Silvester, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Bio
Jocelyn A. Silvester, MD PhD, is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, co-Director of the Celiac Disease Program at Children’s Hospital (BCH) and Associate Staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Her research interests include the diagnosis and management of celiac disease with a focus on assessment of disease activity and end organ-damage. 

Liz Soilleux, Professor of Diagnostics and Biomarkers and an Honorary Consultant in Pathology at the University of Cambridge/ Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Liz Soilleux is a professor of diagnostics and biomarkers and an honorary consultant in pathology at the University of Cambridge/ Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Aside from her clinical practice and university teaching roles, her research interests lie in identifying novel methods for the diagnosis of both coeliac disease and T-cell lymphoma, with a particular focus on molecular immunology and the application of novel mathematical algorithms to digital images and bioinformatic data. Her research team’s aim is to improve the objectivity of diagnosis and efficiency of workflow, perhaps with future automation of aspects of diagnostic histopathology.

Ludvig Sollid, Professor of Medicine and Senior Consultant, Department of Immunology, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital Oslo, Norway

Ludvig M. Sollid (MD, PhD) is a Professor at the University of Oslo and a Senior Consultant at the Oslo University Hospital - Rikshospitalet. He is also the Director of UiO FOCIS Center of Excellence. His research interests are focused on genetics and immunology of autoimmune diseases.
 
His group has made important contributions to the understanding of the molecular basis of coeliac disease, in particular the identification of coeliac disease predisposing HLA genes, the existence and characterisation of gluten reactive (HLA-DQ restricted) T cells, the identification of immunotoxic gluten peptide sequences and the involvement of the transglutaminase 2 in the pathogenesis of the disease. His group is currently working on the characterisation of the antigen receptors of T cells and B cells that recognise the coeliac disease relevant antigens gluten and transglutaminase 2. Sollid has been recognised for his scientific contributions by several awards, most notably the Research Council of Norway's Møbius Prize for Outstanding Research, the Warren Prize for Excellence in Celiac Disease Research, the Rank Prize in Nutrition and the United European Gastroenterology Research Prize.

Marisa Stahl, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Director of Research for the Colorado Center for Celiac Disease. Children's Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado School of Medicine​

Marisa Stahl is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado and University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is the Director of Research for Colorado Center for Celiac Disease. Her research focuses on celiac disease screening in the general population and high risk populations and personalization of screening strategies. Her research in celiac disease began during her postdoctoral gastroenterology fellowship focusing on epidemiological risk factors in the TEDDY and DAISY study. She has continued and expanded this research in Colorado leading the follow up of children with celiac disease identified through mass screening in the ASK study and leading collaboration with the Crnic Institute to evaluate celiac disease risk factors and screening in Down syndrome in the Human Trisome Project. She is also a member of the NASPGHAN Celiac SIG and currently serves as secretary on the SSCD executive council.

Jorunn Stamnæs, Researcher, Norwegian Coeliac Disease Research Centre (University of Oslo) and Proteomics Core Facility (University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital), Norway

Jorunn Stamnæs is a Researcher at the University of Oslo, Norway. Originally trained as a Pharmacist, Jorunn has a long research track record in Coeliac Disease from her PhD and postdoctoral work in the group of Prof. Ludvig M. Sollid. Her research interest has in the recent years steered towards the use of mass spectrometry-based proteomics approaches, in particular analysis of clinical biopsy material, to understand disease mechanisms. She is currently a full-time researcher at the Proteomics Core Facility, University of Oslo and affiliated with the Norwegian Coeliac Disease Research Centre. She is also the Administrative Manager for National network of Advanced Proteomics Infrastructure (NAPI), a national research infrastructure funded by the Research Council of Norway.

Ketil Størdal, Professor, Consultant Paediatrician, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Norway

Ketil Størdal (b. 1966) is a full professor in pediatrics at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is also working as a consultant pediatrician at Oslo University Hospital, after specialist training in general pediatrics and pediatric gastroenterology.

His main research area is the epidemiology of autoimmune diseases in children, with special interest in celiac disease. Global child health is another field of interest after working with neonatal health and gastroenterology in low/middle-income countries. For several years he has been teaching at the University of Oslo, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and University of Botswana. 

Prof Størdal is a member of ESPGHAN since 2004 and of the specialist interest group in celiac disease since 2017, currently in the executive committee. He is also a member of the executive committee of the European Academy of Pediatrics, serving as President of the Secondary and Tertiary Care Council.

Riccardo Troncone, Full Professor of Pediatrics, University Federico II, Naples, Italy

Professor Riccardo Troncone is a Full Professor of Pediatrics at the Department of  Medical Translational Sciences of the University Federico II, Naples. He is presently Director of the “European Laboratory for the Investigation of Food-Induced Diseases” at the University Federico II, Naples. He holds a research position at the  Institute of Protein Biochemistry of the Italian Research Council (IBP-CNR). He is Past President of the International Society for the Study of Coeliac Disease and of the  European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN). Professor Troncone is Associate Editor of Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (JPGN). His research interests are focused mostly on clinical and immunological aspects of celiac disease. Other areas of interest include food allergies and  inflammatory bowel diseases. 

Jason Tye-Din, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology​

Jason heads the Coeliac Research Laboratory in the Immunology Division of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and as a gastroenterologist is involved in patient care. His program focuses on gluten immunity after oral challenges with the goal of improving the understanding, diagnosis and management of coeliac disease. His team collaborate widely with academic and industry partners and run a dedicated coeliac drug trials site at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Jason will be hosting the next ICDS meeting in Melbourne in 2026.

Floris van Overveld, Vice Chair of Association of European Coeliac Societies / Dutch Coeliac Society

Floris van Overveld is an experienced executive in the realm of civil society organisations such as the Dutch Cancer Society, Dutch Labour Party, Dutch Artists Union and an umbrella organisation for people with a disability. Since 2019 he is managing director of the Dutch Coeliac Society, and since 2020 board member of the Association of European Coeliac Societies. Floris has a background in medicinal chemistry. 

Elena Verdu, Professor in Medicine, Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute

Dr. Elena Verdu is Professor in Medicine and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Microbial Therapeutics and Nutrition in Gastroenterology. Her research aims at deciphering the microbial metabolism of dietary antigens and how that process prevents or promotes development of food sensitivities and chronic inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, such as celiac disease and IBD. Dr. Verdu graduated from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina where she trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology. She earned a doctoral degree at the University of Lausanne, and later pursued a Ph.D. degree in immunology and gnotobiology at the Czech Academy of Science, Prague. She is Senior Associate Editor (basic Science) for the journal Gastroenterology, Board Member and Secretary of the International Society for the Study of Celiac Disease. She has been honored by the Master Award in Gastroenterology in Basic Science (American Gastroenterology Association), the Dr. J. A. Campbell Research Award by Celiac Canada, the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG) Research Excellence Award, the Crohn’s and Colitis of Canada (CCC)-Pfeizer Women in IBD: Outstanding Research Achievement Award and the American Gastroenterology Association Institute Council Basic & Clinical Intestinal Disorders Section, Research Mentor Award.

Joe West, Professor of Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant Gastroenterologist at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

​I am a Professor of Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant Gastroenterologist at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. My main research interest is in using linked electronic health datasets to carry out clinically relevant epidemiological studies – which have included many on coeliac disease.

Penny Whiting

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Jeremy Woodward

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Fabiana Zingone, Associate Professor, University of Padua

She is an associate professor at the Gastroenterology Unit of the Azienda Ospedale Università Padova, Italy. She conducts her research and clinical activity on immune mediated gastrointestinal disorders with a particular focus on celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease. She is the author of more than 120 peer reviewed publications, mostly on the topic of gluten related disorders. She teaches gastroenterology to medical students, residents in gastroenterology, and PhD students with a particular focus on celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and malabsorption.