Amanda Ricciuto

Dr. Amanda Ricciuto completed her medical degree and General Paediatrics training in Montreal at McGill University. She then moved to Toronto to complete fellowship training in Paediatric Gastroenterology at SickKids, including advanced training in the management of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). During that time, she obtained a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Her PhD focused on IBD-associated liver disease, with an emphasis on primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

Areas of Specialty
Dr. Ricciuto’s areas of specialty include paediatric inflammatory bowel disease and IBD-associated liver disease, particularly primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Research Interests
Dr. Ricciuto’s research interests include paediatric IBD generally, as well as the complex inter-relationship between IBD and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Her work has served to better delineate the phenotype of PSC-associated IBD in children and to guide monitoring strategies in this population. From a methodologic standpoint, she has expertise in longitudinal data analysis.

Trusha Patel, MD, is an attending pediatric gastroenterologist in the Very Early Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease (VEO-IBD) Program and the Center for Pediatric IBD at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Patel completed her undergraduate education at The Pennsylvania State University and her medical education at Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her general pediatrics residency and pediatric gastroenterology fellowship at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Her clinical practice and academic work focus on VEO-IBD and pediatric IBD. She is a physician leader in the quality improvement group in the IBD Center at CHOP and is an active member of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) and ImproveCareNow (ICN). She has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed research publications and book chapters about IBD and VEO-IBD. Dr. Patel is dedicated to providing personalized, comprehensive and compassionate care for children and young adults living with VEO-IBD and IBD.

Eric Benchimol is the co-Chair of the Pediatric Track of Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (AIBD). He holds the Northbridge Chair of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at the SickKids Inflammatory Bowel Disease Centre. He is a Professor of Paediatrics and Clinical Epidemiology at University of Toronto. He is a pediatric gastroenterologist and Associate Program Director of the GI Fellowship program at SickKids Hospital in Toronto. Dr. Benchimol is also an epidemiologist, and chairs the Canadian Gastro-Intestinal Epidemiology Consortium (CanGIEC), which conducts epidemiology, pharmaco-epidemiology, outcomes, and health services research using the health administrative data from multiple provinces. He also has an interest in improving the research methodology and transparency of research using routinely collected health data. In that capacity, he co-Chairs the RECORD (REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected data) Steering Committee which has produced multiple reporting guidelines. Dr. Benchimol is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology.

Dr. Amanda Ricciuto completed her medical degree and General Paediatrics training in Montreal at McGill University. She then moved to Toronto to complete fellowship training in Paediatric Gastroenterology at SickKids, including advanced training in the management of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). During that time, she obtained a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Her PhD focused on IBD-associated liver disease, with an emphasis on primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

Areas of Specialty
Dr. Ricciuto’s areas of specialty include paediatric inflammatory bowel disease and IBD-associated liver disease, particularly primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Research Interests
Dr. Ricciuto’s research interests include paediatric IBD generally, as well as the complex inter-relationship between IBD and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Her work has served to better delineate the phenotype of PSC-associated IBD in children and to guide monitoring strategies in this population. From a methodologic standpoint, she has expertise in longitudinal data analysis.

Elizabeth A. Spencer, MD, MS is a pediatric gastroenterologist and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She specializes in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in children and adolescents, with a focus on early detection, precision care, and noninvasive disease monitoring.

Dr. Spencer is the Director of the Pediatric Translational Medicine, Interim Director of Intestinal Ultrasound, and Co-Director of the Mount Sinai IBD-Dermatology Clinic, an innovative multidisciplinary program for children with overlapping gastrointestinal and dermatologic immune-mediated diseases. She also founded and directs the first-ever IBD Prevention Program, which provides proactive care for children and adults at high risk of developing IBD.

Her research leverages large-scale biorepositories and real-world data to evaluate treatment effectiveness and safety in pediatric IBD. She serves as an investigator on PCORI- and NIH-funded studies, including COMPARE, and leads national efforts to standardize intestinal ultrasound training and care pathways. She contributes to international pediatric IBD guideline development.

Dr. Spencer received her MD with honors (AOA, GHHS) from Eastern Virginia Medical School and completed her pediatric residency at UCLA, followed by pediatric gastroenterology and advanced IBD fellowships and a master’s degree in clinical research at Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine. In 2025 alone, she has received awards for her collaborative research, her communication with patients, and her academic rigor. A pediatric IBD patient herself, she is deeply committed to advancing child-centered innovation in IBD prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Maria T. Abreu, MD, is a physician-scientist and gastroenterologist who specializes in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). She received her medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed a residency in medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She served as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (and head of their IBD Center), a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Miami School of Medicine (and Director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Center), and currently is the Executive Director of the F. Widjaja IBD Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; in past years, she has served as the President of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and the Chair of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IOIBD). Dr. Abreu has 30 years of leadership experience in basic, translational, and clinical research, and has authored almost 300 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and reviews. Her work has received multiple awards, including the 2019 Sherman Prize from the Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation for outstanding achievements in IBD and Healio’s Lifetime Disruptor Award for addressing critical unmet needs in IBD. Her research focuses on interactions between the gut microbiome and the innate immune system in the development of IBD and IBD-associated colon cancer. Currently, Dr. Abreu’s team is investigating how diet may shape the gut microbiome and alleviate IBD symptoms. Understand the underlying mechanisms can help us develop targeted treatment strategies to help patients live their best lives.

Dr. Cheifetz is Director of the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Medical Director of Infusion Services at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also Director of the Harvard Medical School Gastroenterology Clerkship Elective and Associate Director of the Advanced Fellowship in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Dr. Cheifetz specializes in the treatment of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and other inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition to his clinical work, he is involved in multiple research projects relating to IBD and has published over 250 articles and chapters on the subject. His research currently focuses on optimizing the use of biologics through the proactive use of drug concentrations and antibodies, and he has published extensively in this area. Dr. Cheifetz was the first to demonstrate that proactive monitoring of infliximab and adalimumab concentrations and dosing to a therapeutic window improves outcomes when compared to standard of care. Dr. Cheifetz lectures nationally and internationally on IBD. Dr. Cheifetz is also actively involved in teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows, and is proud to have trained numerous physicians who now specialize in IBD and direct their own centers.

Dr. Fichera earned his M.D. from the Catholic University of Rome, completed General Surgery Residency at the University of Chicago and two year fellowship in laparoscopic and colorectal surgery at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He returned to the University of Chicago where he started and became the first Program Director of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Training Program. He moved to the University of Washington in July 2012 as chief of colorectal surgery and was appointed chief of the section of Gastrointestinal Surgery in 2014 and in 2016 the clinical director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. In November 2017 he moved to University of North Carolina as the Division Chief of Gastrointestinal Surgery. In September 2019 he became the Division Chief of Colorectal Surgery at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas and the Surgery Safety and Quality Officer since July 2020. His clinical and research interest include colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease

Kelly Issokson, MS, RD, CSDH, LDN, CNSC is the Senior Registered Dietitian of Outpatient Nutrition at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a nationally recognized expert in gastrointestinal nutrition. With over 17 years of clinical experience, she specializes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and surgical nutrition. Ms. Issokson graduated magna cum laude from Johnson & Wales University and earned her MS in Nutrition from California State University, Northridge. She serves on the National Board of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and is a leading voice in advancing nutrition as part of multidisciplinary IBD care. She co-developed the Cedars-Sinai IBD Prehabilitation Program and nutrition education training programs for physicians, APPs, and RDs.

Dr. Amanda Ricciuto completed her medical degree and General Paediatrics training in Montreal at McGill University. She then moved to Toronto to complete fellowship training in Paediatric Gastroenterology at SickKids, including advanced training in the management of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). During that time, she obtained a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Her PhD focused on IBD-associated liver disease, with an emphasis on primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

Areas of Specialty
Dr. Ricciuto’s areas of specialty include paediatric inflammatory bowel disease and IBD-associated liver disease, particularly primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Research Interests
Dr. Ricciuto’s research interests include paediatric IBD generally, as well as the complex inter-relationship between IBD and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Her work has served to better delineate the phenotype of PSC-associated IBD in children and to guide monitoring strategies in this population. From a methodologic standpoint, she has expertise in longitudinal data analysis.

Corey A. Siegel, MD, MS, is the Director of the Walter and Carole Young Center for Digestive Health at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He is the Constantine and Joyce Hampers Professor of Medicine and a Professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

Dr. Siegel received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center where he also served as chief medical resident. He then completed a fellowship in Gastroenterology at Dartmouth Hitchcock followed by a fellowship in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Siegel’s research interests include understanding risk/benefit tradeoffs in IBD, developing models to predict outcomes in Crohn’s disease, creating tools to facilitate shared decision making, expanding telemedicine services to patients with IBD living in rural locations, and improving the quality of care delivered to patients with IBD. He has been funded by the NIH, AHRQ, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for this work. Dr. Siegel is the founder of the BRIDGe group, an international research collaborative of IBD investigators. Dr. Siegel was inducted into the International Organization for the Study of IBD (IOIBD) in 2013 and he received the Sherman Prize in 2023. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire with his wife and three boys.