Edouard Louis © ECCO

We are pleased to introduce you UR-CARE Steering Committe Chair, Gerhard Rogler. Gerhard Rogler is Professor at University Hospital Zurich, being the Director of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Gerhard has been a very active member at ECCO for many years and now he overtook the task to be the Chair for UR-CARE Steering Committee.

You  assumed the position of UR-CARE Steering Committee Chair at the beginning of the year after having accompanied the project for many years. Could you please share your thoughts and views regarding UR-CARE?

From the beginning I was sure that UR-CARE is a great idea. We had to face many legal issues as we had to deal with different legislations in many countries. In addition, the European legislation with respect to data protection has changed during recent years. Therefore, the early days of UR-CARE were not easy, but I always believed in this endeavour. I remember the discussions when I was still Scientific Officer on the Governing Board: there were some concerns that UR-CARE would not “fly”. But such big projects need time to develop. Now we are at a point where UR-CARE can already provide a huge data set, many papers are being published based on this data set and a number of prospective studies are using UR-CARE as a trial platform. 

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

Goedele Dewitte © Goedele Dewitte

Is there any specific training for IBD Nursing in your country?

Until this year, there was no specific training. Every IBD Nurse learned ‘on the job’, with some having the opportunity to do an observership with another IBD Nurse.

In collaboration with the Belgium IBD Nursing Association (BINAstoria), and together with rheumatology and dermatology nurses, we’ve now established a formal IMID (immune-mediated inflammatory disease) postgraduate training programme to support our profession. This postgraduate training will start in October 2024.

Is there any IBD Nurse Network in your country?

Yes, we have BINAstoria, which was set up by all the IBD study coordinators, who came together to share experiences. All IBD Nurses can be members, but so can IBD study coordinators and study nurses, IBD dietitians and IBD psychologists. The last two professions are very new and not well represented in Belgium yet.