I. Catalán-Serra © I. Catalán-Serra

Dear ECCO friends and family,

It is our pleasure to introduce our conversation with the National Representative of Belgium at ECCO, Triana Lobatón.

Triana is originally from Spain, but is currently based in Gent. In this wide-range conversation, we cover different areas including an introduction to IBD care in Belgium and BIRD, the experience of living and working in a different country, research opportunities, the future of ECCO and IBD care in Europe and much more!

We hope you enjoy it!

Nuha Yassin © Nuha Yassin

Dear ECCO friends and family,

It is my pleasure to introduce the National Representatives of France at ECCO, Maeva Charkaoui & Anthony Buisson. We hope you enjoy getting to know them through this interview.

Best Wishes,

Nuha Yassin

Consultant Colorectal Surgeon

ECCO News Associate Editor

Brigida Barberio © Brigida Barberio

Dear ECCO Friends and Community,

It is our pleasure to introduce our conversation with the National Representatives of Italy at ECCO, Sara Onali and  Marco Daperno. Sara Onali is an Associate Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Cagliari, and Marco Daperno is a Gastroenterology Consultant at Mauriziano Hospital of Torino. In this conversation, Sara and Marco tell us about their background and expertise and they talk about our National IBD society, IG-IBD. Particularly, they tell us what IG-IBD offers to its members and which are the opportunities for research and publication with it. 

In addition, they summarize the differences in IBD care among the different centers in Italy.

We hope you enjoy it!

Brigida Barberio

Ignacio Catalán-Serra © I. Catalán-Serra

Dear ECCO friends,

Welcome to this wide-range conversation with the National Representatives of Israel at ECCO Bella Ungar and Ayal Hirsch, where we got to know more about IBD care in Israel and we discussed some hot areas of interest like: diet in IBD, new technologies and the need for multidisciplinary care and much more!

Hope you enjoy it!

Ignacio Catalán-Serra
ECCO News Associate Editor

Spyros Siakavellas © Spyros Siakavellas

Dear ECCO friends,

Welcome to this interesting discussion with the ECCO National Representatives of Turkey Nalan Gülsen Ünal and Asli Ormeci. We had a great talk mainly about the challenges of treating IBD in Turkey a country with significant diversity in the circumstances of healthcare but also for telemedicine, holistic care implementation of new developments in our field such as biomarkers and intestinal ultrasound and even more topics!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Spyros Siakavellas
ECCO News Associate Editor

Spyros Siakavellas © Spyros Siakavellas

Dear ECCO friends and family,

It is my pleasure to introduce the ECCO National Representatives of Portugal Helena Tavares de Sousa and Samuel Fernandes. We had an intriguing discussion on a wide range of topics such as the challenges of treating IBD in Portugal, how GEDII their national IBD group helps with clinical management but also research projects, what Portugal is doing right in producing a lot of inspiring figures in Gastroenterology that lead the European Gastroenterology Organisations like ECCO president-elect Fernando Magro, but also for their respective areas of research interest namely intestinal fibrosis for Helena and transmural inflammation for Samuel and much more!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Spyros Siakavellas
ECCO News Associate Editor

Spyros Siakavellas © ECCO

Dear ECCO friends and family,

It is my pleasure to introduce the ECCO National Representatives of Malta Martina Sciberras and Pierre Ellul. We had a great discussion on a variety of topics such as the challenges of treating IBD in Malta, how working with a small but excellently followed cohort of patients can be a strength, how the Maltese Group of IBD is not only importing all newest developments such as intestinal ultrasound but also paving the way for younger colleagues to train and hone their skills abroad and much more!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Spyros Siakavellas
ECCO News Associate Editor

Spyros Siakavellas © ECCO

Dear ECCO friends and family,

It is with great pleasure that I am sharing with you our discussion with the ECCO National Representatives of Latvia Jelena Derova (former National Representative) and Aleksejs Derovs. During our stimulating talk we touched upon the challenges regarding the diagnosis and access to advanced treatment of IBD in Latvia and the efforts of the small but tightly knit gastroenterological community there to promote knowledge about IBD in primary care and society in general. Furthermore, we conversed about the differences in training and managing complex cases between countries in Eastern and Western Europe and how ECCO could help countries such as Latvia in that aspect!

Enjoy!

Spyros Siakavellas
ECCO News Associate Editor

Ignacio Catalán-Serra © ECCO

Dear ECCO Friends,

Welcome to a new interview with the National Representatives!

This time, Germany´s turn, one of the leaders in IBD in Europe. We had the pleasure to talk with Raja Atreya and Dominik Bettenworth in a wide-rage conversations covering aspects on the current status of IBD care in Germany, current Research Projects of the German IBD Society, collaboration with ECCO and potential areas of improvement.

Lastly, we exchanged impressions on the advancements in the pathophysiology of IBD, a look into the future of IBD and to the ECCO 2025 Congress in Berlin.

We hope you enjoy it!

Ignacio Catalán-Serra
ECCO News Associate Editor

Brigida Barberio © ECCO

Dear ECCO Friends and Community,

It is our pleasure to present our conversation with Armenia’s ECCO National Representatives, Manik Gemilyan and Edmond Baghdasaryan. In this video, we aim to provide an insightful overview of the evolving landscape of IBD care in Armenia, highlighting current challenges, progress, and the aspirations of the local medical community.

Manik and Edmond share how awareness and diagnosis of IBD are steadily increasing in the region. They describe how Armenian gastroenterologists are actively working to enhance education, improve access to treatment, and strengthen collaboration with international organizations like ECCO. The interview also offers personal reflections on the value of networking, scientific exchange, and the pride of representing Armenia within the global IBD community.

Warm regards,

Brigida Barberio