Nuha Yassin  © Nuha Yassin

Ignacio Catalán-Serra © Ignacio Catalán-Serra

Dear IBD colleagues and friends,

Warm greetings from the ECCO News Team as we head towards the end of this challenging year.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in one way or another, we at ECCO have been adapting to the new circumstances.  The ECCO Team has been working hard to continue to provide not only the best standards of care for IBD patients but also high-quality research, education and training opportunities.

ECCO has taken up the challenge of organising yet another top quality meeting, which on this occasion will be held a little later than our usual conference dates. We would like to invite you to the 16^th Congress of ECCO in Copenhagen in July of 2021, during the beautiful Danish summer!

Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet © ECCO

Dear Friends,

I was hoping that the COVID pandemic would be over by the time I came to write this editorial. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The second wave has started, but there is some good news: we have the first vaccines. This means that we should all be able to meet in Copenhagen in July! I am predicting a big celebration there.

Paul Rutgeerts

Dear Friends and Colleagues!

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of em. Prof. Dr. Paul Rutgeerts on September 12, 2020.

Paul Rutgeerts (°1948, Brussels) obtained his medical degree in 1973 at the KU Leuven and specialised in internal medicine at UZ Leuven. He became a member of the medical staff in gastroenterology in 1978. In 1981 he graduated in higher education with a dissertation on ‘Bile acid disorders in Crohn’s disease’. He started lecturing at the KU Leuven in 1981 and became a full professor in 1990.

Virginie Cluzeau © Virginie Cluzeau

France

N-ECCO National Representative:
Virginie Cluzeau
Job Title: 
Clinical research and patient education IBD Nurse

What influenced your decision to apply for the role of N-ECCO National Representative for your country?

The nurse that I replaced as French representative 4 years ago explained what the position involved. I was really interested to know how it works for nurses in other countries, and I thought that taking up this role could be useful in improving the position of IBD Nurses in France.

Ignacio Catalán-Serra © ECCO

Fernando Magro is Consultant in Gastroenterology and Director of Pharmacology at the University Hospital São João Porto, Portugal. In addition Fernando is also Associate Editor of the UEG Journal and founder of the Portuguese IBD Group. As he started his term as new Education Officer at ECCO'20 we wanted to provide the ECCO News readers with an exclusive interview with him.

Once more, the interview was recorded and can be listened to by clicking on the button below. We hope you will enjoy the introduction to ECCO's Education Officer.

Ignacio Catalán-Serra, ECCO News Associate Editor

Lithuania

Name of group: IBD Group of Lithuanian Society of Gastroenterology

Number of active members: 28

Number of meetings per year: 4–5

President and Secretary:

Gediminas Kiudelis: President

Juozas Kupčinskas: Secretary General

National Representatives: 

Limas Kupčinskas

Gediminas Kiudelis

Joined ECCO in:

The IBD Group of Lithuanian Society of Gastroenterology joined ECCO in 2002.

Incidence of IBD in the country: 11.6/100,000

Czech Republic

Name of group: The Czech IBD Working Group

Number of active members: The Czech IBD Working Group has no official membership, but there are approximately 30 active participants who attend the meetings and participate in group activities.

Number of meetings per year: The group organises three or four meetings per year.

President and Secretary: There is no official president and secretary, but the coordinator of the group is Martin Bortlik.

National Representatives:  Pavel Drastich and Dana Duricova

Joined ECCO in:

The Czech IBD Working Group became a member of ECCO in 2002.

Incidence of IBD in the country: According to an international epidemiological study – the ECCO-EpiCom study – the incidence of IBD in 2010 was 12.7/100,000 inhabitants (5.6 for CD and 5.8 for UC).

Switzerland

Emanuel Burri  © Emanuel Burri

Michel Maillard © Michel Maillard

Name of group: IBDnet (www.ibdnet.ch)

The IBDnet is a Swiss interest group of medical doctors and scientists specialising in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. The aim is the promotion of research and communication on aetiology, diagnosis and therapy in order to improve patient outcomes.

Number of active members: 137

Switzerland has roughly 475 gastroenterologists and hepatologists, 350 of whom are located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland and 125 in the French- and Italian-speaking part.

The IBDnet has 122 members, with a steering committee of 15 IBD specialists.

Number of meetings per year: 

• Steering committee meetings: four per year; one General Assembly per year.
• Education:
  • Educational meetings with credits for HCPs: One or two major (2- or 3-day meetings, postgraduate course) and 10–12 minor (half-day meetings or webinars)
  • Educational meetings for IBD Nurses: Two 1-day meetings
• Expert meetings: The IBDnet holds one or two expert meetings per year to develop Swiss expert opinions for peer-reviewed publication.
• Patient Relations: The IBDnet broadly supports and organises four to six patient events or webinars per year in collaboration with the patient association CCS (Crohn Colitis Switzerland). Most speakers at these patient information events are IBDnet steering committee members. Furthermore, in collaboration with the patient association, IBDnet develops and releases patient information guidebooks.

Meetings in 2020: 17 accredited educational activities (11 webinars for HCPs, three webinars for patients, two 1-day nurse workshops, one 3-day postgraduate course)

President and Secretary: President: Stephan Vavricka, Zurich, Secretary: Nadine Zahnd-Straumann, Zurich

National Representatives: Emanuel Burri, Liestal and Michel H. Maillard, Lausanne

Joined ECCO in: Switzerland was among the founding members of ECCO.

Incidence of IBD in the country: No exact number available. IBD incidence is estimated to be 2 per 1000 persons per year.

At the 15th Congress of ECCO in Vienna, the Young ECCO Committee (Y-ECCO) and the Clinical Research Committee of ECCO (ClinCom) jointly conducted a survey of attendees entitled “Decision-making in IBD dysplasia management”. The results are currently being prepared for publication. This project followed on from other successful surveys which led to submission of abstracts at the ECCO Congress and publication of full manuscripts in scientific journals.

Charlotte Hedin © ECCO

Britta Siegmund is Medical Director of the Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and holds many other important national and international roles within the scientific and medical communities. She has an extensive publication record in the mucosal immunology of IBD. She is also President-Elect of ECCO.