Mantaj Brar

Dr. Jean Ashburn is an Associate Professor of Surgery and a Faculty Colorectal surgeon at Atrium Health Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, NC. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and finished her residency in General Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then completed a fellowship in Colorectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was a staff surgeon prior to joining the Department of Surgery at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. She has particular clinical and research interests in complex inflammatory bowel disease and J pouch surgery, reoperative pelvic surgery, and corrective/restorative surgery of the lower gastrointestinal tract.

Dr. Anthony de Buck, MD, MSc, is a colorectal surgeon and internationally recognized expert in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He currently practices at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where he serves as colorectal surgeon and Lead of the IBD Section within the Department of Colorectal Surgery. He also holds an academic appointment as Visiting Associate Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. de Buck recently transitioned from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, where he was a colorectal surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto.
He earned his medical degree at the University of Leuven, where he also completed his surgical and colorectal training. In 2013, he completed a colorectal fellowship at the University of Toronto, refining his expertise under the mentorship of leading experts in the field. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Toronto, equipping him with advanced research methodology skills.
Dr. de Buck’s research focuses on clinical outcomes in IBD, particularly functional results and quality of life. He has led and contributed to several multi-institutional studies and randomized controlled trials, supported by peer-reviewed funding. His work continues to shape surgical care for patients with IBD.
An engaged educator and academic leader, Dr. de Buck remains actively involved in teaching and mentorship. He is widely recognized for his contributions to patient-centered innovation in colorectal surgery.

Dr. Mantaj Brar is an Assistant Professor and Surgeon-Investigator in the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto.
He received his MD from the Universisty of Toronto, and completed his General Surgery Residency and Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the University of Calgary. He holds a MSc in Medical Statistics from the London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine.
His clinical practice is focused on inflammatory bowel disease, and his academic focus is in surgical outcomes research in inflammatory bowel disease.

Dr. Rieder is Vice Chair and Co-Director of the IBD section at the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. His clinical focus is patients with IBD with a special emphasis on the field of pathogenesis, prediction and therapy of intestinal fibrosis. Dr. Rieder has published more than 200 articles and book chapters and has been recognized for his expertise as indicated through invitations to clinical guideline steering committees of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO). He is lead author of the ECCO guidelines on Ulcerative colitis and lead author of the first ECCO clinical consensus on ‘Diagnosis and Management of Intestinal Fibrosis’. He received multiple international invitations as a speaker, session chair or conference faculty. Dr. Rieder serves as an abstract reviewer for all major GI conferences, he is past associate editor (Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology) and on several editorial boards of medical journals. He is proud of his significant ties to the ECCO, which he served as the chair of Y-ECCO, member of the ECCO operational board, prior Y-ECCO committee member and member of the scientific committee. He is past chair of REACH-IBD and Co-Chair of the Professional Education Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Dr. Rieder is the leading PI on the international Stenosis Therapy and Research (STAR) Consortium with the goal to build a pathway to test anti-fibrotic medications in stricturing Crohn’s disease. He received the Sherman Emerging Leader Prize in 2019.

Dr. Mantaj Brar is an Assistant Professor and Surgeon-Investigator in the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto.
He received his MD from the Universisty of Toronto, and completed his General Surgery Residency and Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the University of Calgary. He holds a MSc in Medical Statistics from the London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine.
His clinical practice is focused on inflammatory bowel disease, and his academic focus is in surgical outcomes research in inflammatory bowel disease.

Dr. Fichera earned his M.D. from the Catholic University of Rome, completed a General Surgery Residency at the University of Chicago, and a 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, clinical director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. In November 2017, he moved to the University of North Carolina as 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, in July 2020, the Surgery Safety and Quality Officer. In October 2024, he joined the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine as the Division Chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery. His clinical and research interests include colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease