5th Annual IBDHorizons Midwest Symposium

Speakers

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  Anita Afzali, MD, MPH, MHCM Professor of Medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases, Executive Vice Chair of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Associate Chief Medical Officer of the UC Health System
  

  Anita Afzali, MD, MPH, MHCM

  Professor of Medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases, Executive Vice Chair of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Associate Chief Medical Officer of the UC Health System

  Dr. Anita Afzali is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Executive Vice Chair of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She is also the Associate Chief Medical Officer of the UC Health System. She received her medical degree and then completed Internal Medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. While in fellowship, Dr. Afzali worked in outcomes research and epidemiology, and graduated with a Masters in Public Health from The University of Washington. She then later obtained another Masters In Healthcare Management (MHCM) from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her sub-specialty training includes a one-year advanced IBD fellowship at the University of Washington, prior to becoming faculty.

  While practicing at the University of Washington – Harborview Medical Center, Dr. Afzali served as the Director of the IBD Program and Associate Medical Director of Gastroenterology Clinics. After Seattle, Dr. Afzali moved to Columbus, OH to be the Medical Director of The OSU IBD Center and the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations of Gastroenterology at The Ohio State University.

  Recently, she has transitioned to the University of Cincinnati where she serves as the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. Her research interests include drug study design, investigational drug trials, and clinical outcomes. She has extensive peer-reviewed publications, an invited lecturer on national and international programs, and serves on several international advisory boards and committees including Chair of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Educational Affairs Committee and Vice Chair of Publications Committee for the World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO).

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  Brian Feagan, MD, MSc Professor of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry in London, Ontario, Senior Scientific Director of Alimentiv Inc
  

  Brian Feagan, MD, MSc

  Professor of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry in London, Ontario, Senior Scientific Director of Alimentiv Inc

  Dr. Brian Feagan is a gastroenterologist, with training in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. His research focus is the design, conduct, and execution of large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), and over the past 30 years, has been Principal Investigator in over 140 multi-center RCTs. His research has been devoted to the development, validation, and optimization of outcome measures to assess the efficacy of novel therapeutics in IBD. Dr. Feagan is Professor of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, a gastroenterologist at London Health Sciences Centre and Senior Scientific Director of Alimentiv Inc (formerly Robarts Clinical Trials Inc).

  Brian G. Feagan completed a medical degree at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. His postdoctoral training included a residency in the Department of Medicine and a fellowship in Gastroenterology at the University of Western Ontario. A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Dr. Feagan holds membership in the Canadian and American Association of Gastroenterology, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada (CCC), and the European Crohn’s & Colitis Organization (ECCO). He is the recipient of the 2013 Senior Achievement Award from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation (CCF) and the Dean’s Award of Excellence in 2013 from the University of Western Ontario. He has authored numerous articles, book chapters and has also given over 900 invited presentations, at national and international scientific meetings. In 1997, Dr. Feagan became Director of Robarts Clinical Trials (now Alimentiv, Inc.).

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  Edward Loftus Jr., MD Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester
  

  Edward Loftus Jr., MD

  Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester

  Dr. Edward V. Loftus is a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He received his medical degree from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
  Dr. Loftus specializes in gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors over his years in practice, including but not limited to America’s Top Doctors and Teacher of the Year in 2010.

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  Feza Remzi, MD Vice President and Colorectal Surgeon at Northwell Health Center for Advanced IBD Care, New York
  

  Feza Remzi, MD

  Vice President and Colorectal Surgeon at Northwell Health Center for Advanced IBD Care, New York

  Dr. Feza Remzi is the Vice President and a colorectal surgeon at the Center for Advanced IBD Care at Northwell Health in New York.

  He is a national and international expert in colorectal surgery, specializing in the surgical management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He performs pelvic pouch surgery, complex abdominopelvic re-operative surgery, and sphincter-saving surgery for rectal cancer, utilizing minimally invasive techniques to manage colorectal conditions.

  Dr. Remzi resides in New York with his wife and son. They enjoy traveling and spending time together as a family.

  Dr. Remzi is an Honorary IBDHorizons Board member.

  @FezaRemziMD

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  Ghassan Wahbeh, MD Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Professor of Pediatrics and Gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Director of Clinical Gastroenterology Operations.​
  

  Ghassan Wahbeh, MD

  Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Professor of Pediatrics and Gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Director of Clinical Gastroenterology Operations.​

  Ghassan Wahbeh, MD, is the Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. He is a Professor of Pediatrics and Gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Director of Clinical Gastroenterology Operations. Dr. Wahbeh’s clinical focus is in advanced care for children, adolescents, and young adults with IBD, including advanced therapeutics and perioperative IBD management. He leads the Intestinal Ultrasound (IUS) Program at Seattle Children’s.

  Dr. Wahbeh’s research interests include novel therapeutics for pediatric IBD, advanced disease monitoring towards mucosal healing, clinical standard work in managing severe ulcerative colitis and complicated Crohn’s disease including fistulizing and stricturing phenotypes, and navigating IBD surgical options. He is actively involved in translational IBD research at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

  Dr. Wahbeh is actively involved as teaching faculty in medical student education, resident training and fellow physician specialty, and advanced IBD specialty training.

  He is the honored recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Faculty Award, as well as the Family Choice Award, and the Northwest Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation service award. Dr. Wahbeh enjoys playing soccer, skiing, and paddle-boarding with his wife and kids.

  Dr. Ghassan Wahbeh is a co-founder of IBDHorizons

  @PedsIBD_Wahbeh

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  Jessica Allegretti, MD MD, MPH, Associate Director, Crohn's and Colitis Center Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
  

  Jessica Allegretti, MD

  MD, MPH, Associate Director, Crohn's and Colitis Center Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

  Dr. Jessica Allegretti is an attending gastroenterologist at the BWH Crohn’s and Colitis Center, where she also serves as the center’s Director of Clinical Trials. Dr. Allegretti is extremely dedicated to providing high quality patient care while also conducting important clinical research that will advance the field and provide important opportunities for her patients.

  In addition to her clinical responsibilities and caring for patients with IBD, Dr. Allegretti is the director of the fecal transplant program for recurrent clostridium difficile at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She has also participated in multiple clinical trials investigating the use of fecal transplants in other diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. She is also leading several research projects assessing the treatment of inpatients with ulcerative colitis, and rational de-escalation of infliximab doses in patient with Crohn’s disease.

  Dr. Allegretti received a grant from the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) to further investigate the mechanisms of recurrent clostridium difficile infections and is the lead author of multiple research articles, review papers, and book chapters that have been published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals.

  She is also an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As an instructor at the medical school, Dr. Allegretti teaches and trains medical students, residents, and research fellows.

  Dr. Allegretti graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca New York, and The Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami in Miami. She was trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts’s General Hospital and completed her gastroenterology fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She later went on to receive a Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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  Marla Dubinsky, MD Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine; Co-Director of the IBD Preconception and Pregnancy Planning Clinic at Mount Sinai, New York
  

  Marla Dubinsky, MD

  Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine; Co-Director of the IBD Preconception and Pregnancy Planning Clinic at Mount Sinai, New York

  Marla C. Dubinsky, MD, is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. She received her medical degree from Queen’s University, Canada. Dr. Dubinsky completed her pediatric residency at Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Canada, and her clinical fellowship in gastroenterology and nutrition at Sainte-Justine Hospital at the University of Montreal, Canada. She completed her research fellowship in IBD at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, where she served as the Director of the Pediatric IBD Center before going to Mount Sinai as the Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital and Co-Director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein IBD Clinical Center. Dr. Dubinsky is also the Co-Director of the IBD Preconception and Pregnancy Planning Clinic at Mount Sinai. She is the Co-Founder of Mi-Test Health, and Cornerstones Health which is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing and transforming communication between health care providers, patients, and industry partners through creative, comprehensive, and expert-based educational program. She is also the Co-Founder of Trellus Health, a resilience driven connected health solution for chronic conditions.  

  Dr. Dubinsky has been engaged in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) clinical and translational research for over two decades. Her primary research focuses on developing predictive models and web-based decision support tools that integrate clinical and biomarkers to predict the natural history of IBD and response to therapy. She has a keen interest in personalized medicine in IBD and her research uncovers predictors of rapid disease progression with the goal of preventing complications by altering treatment plans. Dr. Dubinsky is the principal investigator of multiple large longitudinal cohorts including the Road to Prevention Multiplex Family Program at Mount Sinai with over 700 enrolled participants with a goal of using multi-omic data to predict the development of IBD in unaffected family members and co-investigator of the Risk Stratification and Identification of Immunogenetic and Microbial Markers of Rapid Disease Progression in Children with Crohn’s Disease (RISK) study and senior author on the manuscript presenting a model to predict the natural history of pediatric Crohn’s disease. Dr. Dubinsky is very committed to women’s reproductive health in IBD and in addition to her research in this field she is the Co-founder of WECARE in IBD, an organization dedicated to the health of women with IBD. She has lectured widely, both nationally and internationally, and has published in more than 260 peer-reviewed journals, including Gastroenterology, Lancet, JAMA, The Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, The Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis (JCC360), Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, and the American Journal of Gastroenterology (AJG).

  Dr. Dubinsky was the recipient of the 2022 Sherman Prize recognizing her outstanding achievements in IBD.