Letter from the ECCO President
Britta Siegmund, ECCO President
 Britta Siegmund © ECCO |
Dear ECCO Friends,
As winter has turned first into spring and then into summer, a lot of activities have been taking place within ECCO and it is therefore good to have a new issue of ECCO News to keep ECCO Members up to date with the latest developments.
We have all been waiting for the update of the Guideline on Extraintestinal Manifestations in IBD. In this issue of ECCO News, Torsten Kucharzik, as GuiCom Chair, provides an executive summary that will potentially stimulate all readers to go immediately to the recently published guideline. Another highlight relating to ECCO Publications is the summary of the Topical Review on Multidisciplinary Perinatal Care in IBD, presented by Lihi Godny, who coordinated this together with Catherine Wall as a D-ECCO Initiative. Thanks to all the authors for filling this important gap!
In most European countries, IBD Nurses have become indispensable and there is no doubt that they contribute significantly to the high-quality care of our patients. The N-ECCO Network developed by the N-ECCO Committee plays an essential role, and in this issue of ECCO News, Ana Ibarra and Simona Radice advertise for new members of their committee!
For the entire IBD Community it will be a joy to read the summary of the most recent developments in respect of the e-CCO Learning Platform. I will not reveal anything at this point and rather urge everyone to read the article by Pascal Juillerat.
While in recent months, ChatGPT has been dominating the artificial intelligence (AI) discussion around the world, AI, as reflected by the programme of this year’s ECCO Congress in Copenhagen, has clearly entered endoscopy. Aart Mookhoek, a pathologist, reflects in this issue on the current role of AI in pathology, underlining that we can certainly expect more to come over the next few years.
Mark Samaan, as Y-ECCO Chair, points towards a number of opportunities and deadlines within the IBD world and also announces the second Y-ECCO Mentorship Forum, which will take place in late June in Vienna. I am really looking forward to the exchange, and the sporting activity on the preceding evening will be different this year (the right shoes will be provided on site 😊).
A number of studies are highlighted in this issue. The first, on “Withdrawal of anti-tumour necrosis factor in inflammatory bowel disease patients in remission: a randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial”, by Maria Chaparro and Javier P. Gisbert, received the Best Investigator-Initiated Study Award at ECCO’2023. Then we have three Y-ECCO Literature Reviews summarising recent trials: First, Joseph Sleiman, a Gastroenterology Fellow at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center and incoming Fellow at the Cleveland Clinic, highlights the results of the STARDUST trial. Stephany Barreda, a Clinical Fellow in Gastroenterology at Cambridge University Hospitals, then summarises the SELECTION trial, and finally, Mohmmed Tauseef Sharip, who is currently undertaking an IBD clinical research fellowship at Cambridge University Hospitals, presents the EARNEST trial.
Lastly, if you are interested in why Iris Dotan wanted to become a neurosurgeon but ended up becoming a gastroenterologist and if you wish to learn more about the beautiful painting that can be seen behind Iris during virtual meetings, visit the Interview Corner in this issue! Furthermore, do not miss the interview with Gionata Fiorino, our Education Officer: the interview truly reflects his passion for ECCO.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Valerie Pittet and Behrooz Z. Alizadeh for their commitment to EpiCom, while welcoming Kristine Allin and Iago Rodrígues as new members of the committee.
This sums up the activities over recent months, which have been rather busy. I wish all ECCO Members a wonderful summer and I look forward to meeting everybody at UEG. Stay tuned!
Britta