Volume 19, Issue 1

At the last ECCO Congress, we had three members stepping down from the ECCO Scientific Committee: Marc Ferrante (Leuven, Belgium; Member since 2019, Chair since 2023), Yves Panis (Clichy, France; Member since 2020) and Konstantinos Papamichail (Boston, US; Member since 2020). Although all three of them served on SciCom in a period greatly impacted by the pandemic, together with the other SciCom Members they ensured a seamless continuation of SciCom activities and the initiation of new ones.

Dear IBD colleagues and friends, Are you enjoying the first sunshine of spring, with its blooming trees, with longer days and milder temperatures? Now, just for a moment, I want to bring all of you back to last winter and, particularly, to our 19th Congress of ECCO, held in Stockholm February 21-24, 2024, which I think was really exciting!

The 19th Congress of ECCO, Stockholm, Sweden – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 2024, held on February 21-24, 2024, attracted a total number of 7,223 delegates from 99 different countries. Since the inaugural ECCO Congress in 2006 in Amsterdam, at which there were 350 delegates, participant numbers have steadily increased, as shown in the graph below. Despite the COVID-19 outbreak in the beginning of 2020, we are happy that this high number of delegates had the chance to participate in the ECCO’24 Congress in Stockholm.

Dear ECCO Friends, Spring is here and I am reflecting on the wonderful congress we had in Stockholm! The new ECCO strategy – “E” element of REACH strategy – was not only fully launched but also already addressed in all our committee meetings. The focus of this year’s congress was the letter “E” – Equitable access to IBD to care”, – expanding the outreach and inclusivity of ECCO initiatives across the globe. With 99 different countries represented at the congress and many multi-national exchanges throughout the programme, such as the Global Forum, it shows the growing network, with more plan