The International Digestive Disease Forum (IDDF) 2022 - Institute of Digestive Disease, CUHK

#IDDF2022

Speaker

Raja AFFENDI

National University of Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Consultant Gastroenterologist
Professor of Medicine

Raja Affendi graduated with distinction in primary medical degree and obtained a higher diploma in clinical teaching and Master of Medical Science. He was then conferred with the Doctorate of Medicine for his research on IBD and colorectal cancer from the National University of Ireland. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, UK and American Gastroenterological Association. He was awarded multiple research grants from the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia to research on the IBD, gut microbiome and colorectal cancer. He serves as an Immediate Past President to the Malaysia Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a Treasurer for the Asia Pacific Association of Gastroenterology. Currently, he is a consultant gastroenterologist and Professor of Medicine at the National University of Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Shannon CHAN

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Assistant Professor, Division of Upper Gastrointestinal & Metabolic Surgery

Shannon Chan is currently an Assistant Professor in the Division of Upper Gastrointestinal & Metabolic Surgery of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007. She completed general surgical training and received fellowships of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong and Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2014. Dr. Chan’s interest is in gastric and esophageal cancers, mainly focusing in the laparoscopic and robotic approach. She did her overseas training in National Cancer Centre in Tokyo, Yonsei University in Seoul and also Amsterdam Medical Centre in Amsterdam. Her research interests include upper gastrointestinal surgical oncology and advanced diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy especially in interventional endoscopic ultrasound. She also has special interests in peritoneal surface malignancy and has started a multidisciplinary team for these rare, yet important group of patients. She is a member of the stomach and duodenal diseases subcommittee of the World Endoscopy Organisation (WEO) and is a reviewer for Digestive Endoscopy and Surgical Endoscopy. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed journals.

Apart from her research interest, Dr. Chan has also devoted herself to humanitarian aid work. In 2014, she joined the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, also named Doctors without borders). MSF is an international humanitarian non-governmental organization working in war-torn and under-developed regions. Dr. Chan joined their surgical missions to South Sudan from Oct 2016 - Dec 2016 and to Yemen from Dec 2019 to Feb 2020. After her return, she has further affirmed her commitment to providing humanitarian aid to the less developed parts of the world.

Stephen CHAN

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Clinical Professor, Department of Clinical Oncology

Stephen Chan is the Clinical Professor at the Department of Clinical Oncology of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His main interest of research is clinical and translational studies on hepatobiliary-pancreatic and neuroendocrine cancers. Prof. Chan has published over 160 papers in peer reviewer journals and delivered over 100 international lectures.

Internationally, Professor Chan is serving as the chairman of Education Committee of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA). He has also served in Scientific Steering Committee of the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress as a track chair in 2021 and committee member from 2022 - 2023. Besides, He has been invited to be Associate Editors in several journals including Journal of Hepatology, Liver Cancer, and Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology.

Locally, Professor Chan is the Panel Member of Biology and Medicine Panel for the General Research Fund in Hong Kong. He has also established a charity hand in hand cancer foundation to serve patients in need.

Wah Kheong CHAN

University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor of Medicine

University of Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia

Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist

University of Malaya Specialist Centre, Malaysia

Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist

Wah Kheong Chan is Professor of Medicine at the University of Malaya and Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and the University of Malaya Specialist Centre. He is a member of the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. He was the Scientific Co-Chair for the Asia Pacific Digestive Week 2021. He is a member of the Asia-Pacific Working Party on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, the Gut and Obesity in Asia (GO ASIA) Workgroup, the CAP Prognosis Study Group, and the Global NASH Council. He is Associate Editor for the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, a member of the Editorial Board for Clinical and Molecular Hepatology and is a reviewer for several international journals. He has published numerous full papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented in both local and international conferences. His main area of research interest is metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease.

Huarong CHEN

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

Huarong Chen is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on investigating functional, mechanistic and clinical significance of RNA modifications in the pathogenesis of Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and infectious diseases. As of 2022, he has published 43 articles in peer-reviewed journals with average impact factors of 11.5, 13 of which he is the first or corresponding author, including Gastroenterology (2020, 2022), Theranostics, EbioMedicine and Oncogene (2017, 2018, 2022). He has obtained three external competitive grants as PI including General Research Fund (2021), Health and Medical Research Fund (2020), and National Nature and Science Foundation of China (2021). In recognition of his contribution to medical sciences, he has been awarded Poster of distinction (DDW 2021), Young investigator award (Hong Kong Society for Immunology 2020) and Basic Science Travel Grants (UEGW 2016).

William CHEY

Michigan Medicine, USA

Timothy T. Nostrant Collegiate Professor of Gastroenterology
Professor of Nutrition Sciences
Chief, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

William Chey received his BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania and medical degree & training in internal medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in gastroenterology and has remained on the faculty at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he is currently the Timothy T. Nostrant Collegiate Professor of Gastroenterology and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Nutrition Sciences.

Philip CHIU

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Professor, Chief of Division of Upper GI & Metabolic Surgery, Department of Surgery
Professor, Institute of Digestive Disease, State Key Laboratory for Digestive Disease
Director, Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center
Director, Chow Yuk Ho Technology Center for Innovative Medicine
Associate Dean (External Affairs), Faculty of Medicine

Hospital Authority, Hong Kong

Director of Endoscopy Center, Prince of Wales Hospital
Cluster Director of Endoscopy, New Territories East Cluster
Cluster Service Team Head of Upper GI & Metabolic Surgery, New Territories East Cluster

The Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia (ELSA)

President

Philip Chiu graduated from Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1994 with two scholarships. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in 2001 and received his Doctor of Medicine from CUHK in 2009.

Professor Chiu was first to perform endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for treatment of early GI cancers in Hong Kong in 2004. In 2010, he performed the first Per-oral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) in Hong Kong and subsequently pioneered the world’s first robotic gastric ESD in 2011, followed by world first robotic colorectal ESD in 2020.

His research interests include esophageal cancer management, minimally invasive and robotic esophagectomy, novel endoscopic technologies for diagnosis of early GI cancers, endoscopic surgery as well as robotics for endoluminal surgery. He currently serves as co-editor of Endoscopy and subject editor of Surgical Endoscopy. Professor Chiu has earned numerous prestigious awards including State Scientific Technology and Progress Award from People’s Republic of China in 2007, 2nd class award in Technological Advancement, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2011. His research on POEM was awarded best of DDW 2011 and first prize of ASGE World Cup of Endoscopy 2012. He was selected as Asia Pacific Digestive Week JGHF Emerging Leader Lectureship in 2016 and Global Outstanding Chinese Youth 2016. He received the Gold Medal with Congratulations from Jury, 47th International Exhibitions of Inventions of Geneva in 2019 and Spirit of Hong Kong Award on Innovation in 2020.

Roberto de FRANCHIS

University of Milan, Italy

Emeritus Professor of Medicine

Roberto de Franchis is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Milan. He graduated in Medicine at the University of Milan and trained in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Milan and at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Professor de Franchis directed the 3rd Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy Unit at the Policlinico Hospital, Milan, and then the Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit at the Luigi Sacco University Hospital, Milan.

The research interests of Professor de Franchis include Portal Hypertension, IBD and Capsule Endoscopy. He has published more than 300 papers.

Professor de Franchis was co-Editor of the Journal of Hepatology and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Digestive and Liver Disease.

Since 1990, Professor de Franchis has organized and chaired seven Baveno International Consensus Workshops in Portal Hypertension.

In 2015 Professor de Franchis has received the EASL Recognition Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Hepatology.

Emad EL-OMAR

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Professor of Medicine
Director, UNSW Microbiome Research Centre

GUT, Australia

Editor in Chief

Emad El-Omar graduated in Medicine from Glasgow University, Scotland, and trained as a gastroenterologist. He worked as a Visiting Scholar/Scientist at Vanderbilt University, TN, and National Cancer Institute, MD, USA, and was Professor of Gastroenterology at Aberdeen University, Scotland, for 16 years before taking up the Chair of Medicine at St George & Sutherland Clinical Campus, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He is the Editor in Chief of the journal Gut. His research interests include all aspects of the microbiome, inflammation driven GI cancer and IBD. He is the Director of the UNSW Microbiome Research Centre at St George Hospital, Sydney.

Wael EL-RIFAI

University of Miami, USA

Associate Director for Basic Science, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Co-Leader, Tumor Biology Program, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
John and Judy Schulte Chair in Cancer Research
Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Surgery, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

Wael El-Rifai received his MD in 1986 in Cairo followed by a Ph.D. in cancer genetics in 1996 from University of Helsinki, Finland. He joined the Division of Gastroenterology at University of Virginia in 2000, where he became Associate Professor and Director of GI Oncology. In 2005, he moved to Vanderbilt University as a Professor of Surgery, Director of Surgical Oncology Research, and the H. William Scott Jr. Endowed Chair in Surgery. In 2017, he moved to the University of Miami where he is the Associate Director for Basic Science and Director of the Tumor Biology Program at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also holds the John and Judy Senior Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. Dr. El-Rifai is an elected fellow of the American Association for Advances in Science.

Professor El-Rifai’s leads a competitively NCI-funded research program in gastro-esophageal cancers. He has made significant contributions in the area of gastric cancer, Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Professor El-Rifai has a long-standing interest in functional genomics and epigenomics for understanding the molecular pathways in tumorigenesis. Dr. El-Rifai's research investigates the roles of infection, inflammation, and oxidative stress in gastric and esophageal cancers for the development of therapeutic approaches that target molecular vulnerabilities in cancer cells. He has published more than 200 research articles in highly cited peer-reviewed journals. His laboratory provides unique training experiences in diverse areas of cancer research that include molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis and drug resistance.

Manoel GALVAO NETO

ABC Medical School, Santo Andre, Brazil

Affiliate Professor of Surgery

Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, USA

Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery

Manoel Galvao Neto graduated with a degree in Medicine at Bahiana School of Medicine, Bahia, Brazil, in 1989. Dr. Galvao is a board-certified specialist in Digestive Surgery by the Brazilian College of Digestive Surgery (CBCD), in Gastroenterology by the Brazilian Federation of Gastroenterology (FBG) and in Digestive Endoscopy by the Brazilian Society of Digestive Endoscopy (SOBED). He is one of only a few clinicians that have all three of these board certifications. Since 2013, Dr. Galvao has been assigned as voluntary Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University—FIU (Miami, USA) under the chairmanship of his friend, mentor, and partner, Dr. Natan Zundel and also he has serving as Affiliated Professor of Surgery at the ABC Medicine School (Santo Andre, Sao Paulo, Brazil).

Edward GANE

University of Auckland, New Zealand

Professor of Medicine

Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand

Deputy Director, New Zealand Liver Unit

Edward Gane is Professor of Medicine at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, Hepatologist and Deputy Director of the New Zealand Liver Unit at Auckland City Hospital.

Dr. Gane trained in hepatology at the Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College School of Medicine, London, where he completed his MD on the pathogenesis of hepatitis C-related liver injury. Dr Gane chairs the Ministry of Health committee responsible for HCV elimination and co-wrote the first New Zealand National HepC Action Plan.

Dr. Gane is an investigator for many international clinical trials with particular interest in early phase development of new direct acting antiviral therapies against chronic hepatitis C, hepatitis B, NASH and HCC. He has published over 600 papers in peer-reviewed journals including The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr Gane is a member of APASL, EASL, ILTS, ILCA and AASLD and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hepatology.

In 2011, Dr Gane received the New Zealand Health Research Council (NZHRC) annual Beaven Medal and in 2014, the NZHRC annual Liley Medal.
In 2011, Dr. Gane was awarded Member of the Order of New Zealand for Services to Medicine.

In 2017, Dr Gane was named as New Zealand Innovator of the Year for his work towards HCV elimination in New Zealand.

In 2018, he was elected to the Royal Society of Medicine.

Robert GISH

University of Nevada School of Medicine, Las Vegas, USA

Adjunct Professor of Medicine

University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, USA

Adjunct Professor of Medicine

University of California San Diego, USA

Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Loma Linda University, USA

Clinical Professor of Medicine

Asia Pacific Health Foundation, USA

Medical Director

Hepatitis B Foundation, USA

Medical Director

Robert Gish was first in Pharmacy School at the University of Kansas and then obtained his medical degree from the University of Kansas Medical School in Kansas City, Kansas. He completed a 3-year internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Diego, and a 4-year gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles which included transplant medicine.

Dr. Gish is a fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, the American Society of Transplantation and American College of Physicians.

He has served on the editorial boards of American Journal of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, Digestive Diseases and Sciences, and Gastroenterology, among many others. He co-authored a public health policy for liver health in Vietnam focusing on HBV and is also assisting with the development of viral hepatitis health care policies in Georgia, Armenia, and the Philippines. He was a major early contributor to decipher methods for the detection of hepatitis B and C virus and characterizing their epidemiology and clinical presentation in humans. He was involved in studies that led to the genotypic classification strategies and methods now in use worldwide. He has published more than 700 original articles, abstracts, and book chapters.

Dr. Gish is currently an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Nevada Schools of Medicine in Las Vegas and in Reno. He serves as an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UCSD, a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Loma Linda University. In addition, he is the Medical Director of the Asia Pacific Health Foundation in San Diego, CA and of the Hepatitis B Foundation in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Gish is currently seeing patients, both in-person and via telemedicine, at various clinics in San Diego, Folsom, Fresno, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Las Vegas/Reno. He is a staff physician at La Maestra, a federally qualified health center in San Diego. Dr. Gish also serves as a Board Member of the Viet Nam Viral Hepatitis Alliance (VVHA).

Howard HANG

The Scripps Research Institute, USA

Professor, Department of Immunology and Microbiology

Howard Hang is a Professor in Department of Immunology & Microbiology and Chemistry at Scripps Research. He obtained his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1998 with Professor Joseph P. Konopelski. In 2003, he completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley, with Professor Carolyn Bertozzi. During his graduate studies, he was awarded an American Chemical Society, Organic Division, Graduate Fellowship. He then worked with Professor Hidde Ploegh at Harvard Medical School and the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2004 through 2006 as Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. He joined the faculty at The Rockefeller University in 2007 and moved to Scripps Research in 2020. He has received the Irma T. Hirschl Early Career Scientist Award in 2007, Ellison Foundation New Scholar in Aging Award in 2008 and Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry from American Chemical Society Division in 2017.

Hansen HE

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Canada

Senior Scientist
Chair, Genetics and Epigenetics Program

University of Toronto, Canada

Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics

Hansen He is an experimental and computational biologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. His research focuses on cancer epigenetics and noncoding RNA in prostate cancer.

Dr. He obtained his PhD in molecular biology and bioinformatics at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008. He then received postdoctoral training under the joint supervision of computational biologist Dr. Shirley Liu and cancer biologist Dr. Myles Brown at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University. Dr. He was recruited as a scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and assistant professor at the Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto in 2013. He was promoted to senior scientist in 2018 and professor in 2022.

The He laboratory applies a variety of genomic, epigenomic experimental and computational approaches to decipher epigenetic regulation in Cancer, focusing on three major directions: 1. Understand epigenetic regulation in cancer development, progression, drug response and resistance. 2. Identify epigenetic biomarkers in tumor and liquid biopsies. 3. Target cancer specific epigenetic regulation for cancer therapy.

Dr. He has authored over 100 publications at high profile journals including Nature (2016), Cell (2018, 2019), Nature Genetics (2016, 2020) and Nature Cell Biology (2021). The translational research in Dr. He’s laboratory has resulted in one phase II clinical trial and four patents. Dr. He has received many distinctions and recognitions, including a few new investigator awards from national funding agencies, as well as being named a rising star in prostate cancer research. He holds the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Brazilian Ball Chair in Prostate Cancer Research and the Chair of Genetics and Epigenetics program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

Ida HILMI

University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor, Department of Medicine

Ida Hilmi is a Professor and Senior Consultant in Gastroenterology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Professor Hilmi graduated with first class honours from the University of Glasgow in 1997. She went on to do her training in internal medicine in Oxford and obtained her Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (MRCP) in 2000. She then joined the North East London Gastroenterology and Hepatology specialist program before returning to Malaysia in 2003. She is currently the Head of the Department of Medicine in the University of Malaya; her past positions include Head of Division in Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Director of Endoscopy. She co-founded and was the first Chairman of the Malaysian Inflammatory Bowel Disease Special Interest Group (IBD-SIG) and is part of the National Training Board in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Professor Hilmi’s areas of interest include IBD and colorectal cancer screening.

Christian JOBIN

University of Florida, USA

Gatorade Trust Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition

Christian Jobin is the Gatorade Trust Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida Gainesville. He received his PhD in Immunology/Microbiology from Université Laval (Quebec, Canada) in 1994. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill working on NF-B signalling in inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Jobin’s research focuses on establishing the functional impact of bacteria in inflammation and carcinogenesis and deciphering mechanism of action. His laboratory showed the key role of inflammation on promoting microbial-derived genotoxic activity and cancer development. He has published over 200 scientific manuscripts, many appearing in high impact journals (Science, Nature, Nat. Comm., Nat. Micro., Nat. Cancer, Immunity, J. Clin. Invest., Gastroenterology and Gut) and presented his work at various national and international scientific meetings (>240 conferences). His research is supported by the National Institute of Health (NCI, NIAID and NIDDK) and by the Department of Defense.

Gilaad KAPLAN

University of Calgary, Canada

Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Cumming School of Medicine

Gilaad Kaplan is a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. Dr. Kaplan is a gastroenterologist who is internationally renowned for studying the global epidemiology of IBD. He is the past chair of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Counsel of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, as well as the co-chair of the National COVID-19 and IBD Task Force. He is an Associate Editor of Gastroenterology (Impact Factor 23, 2020). In 2019, Dr. Kaplan was elected to the International Organization of the study of IBD (IOIBD). In 2020 and 2021, Clarivate, Web of Science named Dr. Kaplan a Highly Cited Researcher in recognition of being in the top one percent of cited researchers. In 2021, Dr. Kaplan received Crohn’s and Colitis Canada’s Research Leader Award and was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is a Killam Laureate, receiving the Killam Annual Professor Award in 2022.

Takashi KAWAI

Tokyo Medical University, Japan

Professor and Director, Department of Gastroenterological Endoscopy C

Takashi Kawai is the Professor and Director of Department of Gastroenterological Endoscopy C at Tokyo Medical University. He received his medical degree at Tokyo Medical University in 1984, and obtained a Ph.D. (Dr. of Medical Science) at Tokyo Medical University in 1988. His major research interests include Gastrointestinal physiology, Clinical Microbiology (Helicobacter pylori infection), Endoscopic diagnosis and therapy, and Clinical trial of upper GI diseases.

Professor Kawai is Fellow of American Gastroenterological Association, American college Gastroenterology, and Japanese gastroenterological Endoscopy Society.

Professor Kawai is the Director of Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society, Japanese Society of Geriatric Gastroenterology, Japanese Gastroenterological Association, Japanese Society for Helicobacter Research, Japanese Society of Ulcer Research, and Japanese Association for Cancer Detection and Diagnosis. He is also the Councilor of Japanese Society of Gastroenterology and Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Cancer Screening.

Louis LAU

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Assistant Professor (Clinical), Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine

Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong

Honorary Resident Specialist

Louis Lau graduated from Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2012. He joined the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics in Prince of Wales Hospital after graduation. He obtained his specialist registration in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2019. He is currently serving as Assistant Professor in The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Prof. Lau has special research interests in gastrointestinal bleeding and artificial intelligence with high impact publications. He was nominated as a Distinguished Young Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. He received the Gold Medal of Best Thesis Award and the Distinguished Research Paper Award from the Hong Kong College of Physicians.

Prof. Lau is recognized as an advanced endoscopist internationally. He is a faculty member of the ANBIIG (Asian Novel Bio-Imaging and Intervention Group) and nominated as an Emerging Star of the World Endoscopy Organization in 2022. He received the Early Career Investigator Award from the Digestive Disease Week 2019 and the National Scholar Award from the United European Gastroenterology Week 2022.

Charlie LEES

University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Professor of Gastroenterology

The Edinburgh IBD Unit, United Kingdom

UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow
Consultant Gastroenterologist

Charlie Lees is Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Edinburgh, a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow and Consultant Gastroenterologist in the Edinburgh IBD Unit.

In 2019 Charlie was awarded a personal fellowship from UKRI worth £1.7m.

Charlie’s core mission is to improve outcomes for people living with IBD. His team are working on predicting outcomes in IBD, using routinely collected NHS data and dedicated multi-modal prospective cohorts to build predictive models.

He is Chief Investigator of the PREdiCCt study, which has recruited 2650 patients in clinical remission
with detailed baseline phenotyping (clinical, psycho-social, lifestyle, environmental, dietary,
microbiome and genomics) and longitudinal follow-up.

Charlie is a passionate educator lecturing widely to healthcare providers globally and direct to patients about the current and future management and causes and consequences of IBD.

Prof Lees has published widely (125 papers on IBD on PubMed) with a current H-index of 53.

Anna LOK

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Dame Sheila Sherlock Distinguished University Professor
Alice Lohrman Andrews Research Professor of Hepatology
Professor of Internal Medicine
Director of Clinical Hepatology
Assistant Dean for Clinical Research

Anna Lok graduated from the University of Hong Kong. She completed her hepatology training in London under Dame Sheila Sherlock. She was formerly a faculty at the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Lok is currently Director of the Hepatology Program and Assistant Dean for Clinical Research at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Lok’s research focuses on hepatitis B and C and liver cancer. She has published more than 550 papers.

Dr. Lok served as AASLD president in 2017 and was Associate Editor of Hepatology and Gastroenterology. She has received many mentoring awards including the 2022 AGA Distinguished Mentor Award, and awards for research and service including the 2011 AASLD Distinguished Service Award, 2016 AGA William Beaumont Prize, Hon DSc from the University of Hong Kong in 2017, 2018 EASL International Recognition Award, and a Distinguished University Professorship from the University of Michigan in 2019.

Rashid LUI

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Honorary Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine

Rashid Lui is a triple board accredited physician (Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Medical Oncology, Advanced Internal Medicine) with clinical interests in early-onset digestive cancers, advanced endoscopy and gut microbiota modulation. He hopes to leverage his unique skill set to spearhead the development of gastrointestinal (GI) oncology as a formal specialty in the Asia-Pacific region.

He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2010 with Distinctions in Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Microbiology, with various awards including the Dean's List and being selected as an Honorary Member of the Dr. and Mrs. Tzu Leung Ho Honour Society of the Faculty. He has received further accolades including the Award for Obtaining the Highest Score in Advanced Internal Medicine Exit Assessment and the Young Investigator Research Grant from the Hong Kong College of Physicians, the Best Original Paper Award from the Hong Kong Medical Journal (HKMJ), the Young Investigator’s Award (2nd Prize) at Asian Pacific Digestive Week 2018, and the Best Oral Presentation Award at the Hospital Authority Convention 2018. In addition, he was conferred as the inaugural Dr. Stanley Ho Medical Development Foundation Scholar at St Anne’s College in partnership with the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford; nominated as a Distinguished Young Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in 2019; and was recently selected to represent Hong Kong, China in the inaugural class of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021-2022 Leadership Development Program Asia-Pacific.

Dr. Lui has published in peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, Gut, and Nature Communications. He currently serves as the Founding Co-Chair of the Emerging Leaders Committee, Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology, Honorary Secretary of the Hong Kong Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Member of the Scientific Committee for Gastrointestinal Tumours of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Asia Congress 2021/2022, and Member of the Asia Pacific Working Group on Colorectal Cancer Screening. He was also a past Member of the ASCO Trainee and Early Career Advisory Group in 2021 - 2022. In addition, he is currently the Social Media Editor of the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, an Editor and Member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Social Media of the HKMJ, and an Editorial Board Member of the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Journal of Korean Medical Science, Hepatoma Research, and Cancer Screening and Prevention.