Who we are
The European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO), founded in 2001 to improve the care of patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in Europe, is now the largest forum for specialists in IBD in the world. It is a non-profit organisation, which successfully expanded from comprising of 14 Country Members to an association assembling 35 member states of the Council of National Representatives and facilitating collaborations beyond Europe’s borders.
In 2009, we introduced individual membership allowing anyone around the globe interested in IBD to both benefit from our initiatives and to join us in our mission. Since then over 4300 paying members as per June 2023 have joined, with numbers continuing to increase.
ECCO is interested in establishing regular collaboration with the industry and will welcome your support as a regular Corporate Member.
Our structure
Our mission
ECCO’s mission is to improve the care of patients with IBD in all its aspects through international guidelines for practice, education, research and collaboration in the area of IBD.
Our objectives
- We facilitate and promote the education of health care professionals in the field of IBD (including physicians, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, endoscopists, nurse specialists and allied professions).
- We organise (inter)national scientific and educational exchange programmes in the field of IBD. We enhance the quality of research in the field of IBD, both in basic science (i.e. organising pathogenesis workshops) and clinical science (i.e. review of IBD study protocols).
- We promote and support national and international IBD research efforts.
- We take a political voice in Europe and collaborate with organisations sharing an interest in IBD including medical societies, patient organisations and industries.
- We participate in the activities of the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) and in the organisation of the annual United European Gastroenterology Week (UEG Week).
ECCO Governing Board
| President Britta Siegmund (Germany) |
Scientific Officer Marietta Iacucci (Ireland) |
| President-Elect Fernando Magro (Portugal) |
Education Officer Gionata Fiorino (Italy) |
| Past-President Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet (France) |
Treasurer Shaji Sebastian (United Kingdom) |
| Secretary Edouard Louis (Belgium) |
From left to right: Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet, Shaji Sebastian, Fernando Magro, Marietta Iacucci, Britta Siegmund, Gionata Fiorino, Edouard Louis