Report on the 23rd ECCO IBD Intensive Course for Trainees
Glen Doherty, EduCom Member
 Glen Doherty © ECCO |
The 23rd ECCO IBD Intensive Course for Trainees took place on February 19, 2025, setting the scene for the 20th ECCO Congress in Berlin. It may have been cold outside, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants or the engagement of the expert ECCO Faculty. A total of 100 participants from 36 countries were in attendance and this year we again welcomed participants not only from European ECCO Country Members but also from Latin America, Asia and Australia. As always, the programme was intensive, allowing participants to immerse themselves in a comprehensive update on IBD management.
The morning programme was kicked off by a state of the art lecture by Gilaad Kaplan from Calgary, Canada, who introduced IBD epidemiology and outlined its relevance to therapy. This was followed by a series of case-based presentations of treatment strategies and therapeutic positioning, including discussion of the important role of surgery in IBD care.
Following a welcome lunchbreak, which gave participants the opportunity to interact with the expect faculty, the afternoon session opened with a talk on comprehensive approaches beyond medical therapies, emphasising the importance of the holistic perspective. This was followed by the busy afternoon round table sessions, which allowed interactive discussions in small groups on practical IBD cases and enhanced participants' understanding of day-to-day care challenges. Faculty engagement was, as ever, exemplary, fostering a relaxed and highly rewarding learning environment.
Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, with high satisfaction ratings. The round table case-based discussions, in particular, received praise for their relevance to practice and the quality of the direct interaction with faculty members.
Special thanks go, as ever, to the ECCO Office, contributing speakers, faculty and the EduCom team for their dedication and effort in making this course a resounding success. This course offers a uniquely lively and stimulating learning experience, filled with enthusiastic discussions and valuable expert insights. It is a memorable highlight of the ECCO experience which people recall positively for years into the future.
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