Nicholas McKenna

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. Maia Kayal is an Associate Professor in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and The Susan and Leonard Feinstein IBD Center. She graduated from New York University School of Medicine Alpha Omega Alpha. She then completed her internal medicine residency at Columbia University Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital and fellowship training in gastroenterology at the Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Kayal's research in inflammatory conditions of the ileal pouch is funded by the NIH, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, and Rainin Foundation. She is a former ACG Young Physicians Leadership Scholar and AGA Future Leader.

Paulo Gustavo Kotze is Adjunct Senior Professor of Surgery at the Catholic University in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. He rcompleted his General Surgery training at the Evangelical University Hospital in Curitiba (2000). He also completed his senior Fellowship in Colorectal Surgery at the Clinics Hospital from the Federal University of Parana (2002). Dr. Kotze achieved his Masters' Degree on Surgery at the Catholic University in 2008 and joined the faculty of medicine at the same university in 2011. He achieved his PhD degree studying the influence of biological therapy on surgical outcomes in Crohn´s disease, in the University of Campinas, in São Paulo, Brazil (UNICAMP) in 2015. Dr. Kotze was also an IBD advanced visiting fellow in the IBD unit at the University of Calgary (Cumming school of medicine), Canada, for the period of 2017-2018. Dr. Kotze is an experienced IBD surgeon and author of 3 books, 250+ pubmed peer-reviewed articles and multiple book chapters focused on Crohn´s disease and ulcerative colitis. He has special interest in the fields of biological therapy, epidemiology and surgery in IBD. Dr. Kotze was formely a committee member of S-ECCO (surgeons of ECCO) from 2015-2018 and a member of the ECCO EduCOM (educational committee), 2018-2021. He is an active member from the International Organization of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IOIBD). Currently, he is Professor of the Health Sciences Postgraduate Program at the Catholic University of Paraná, in Curitiba, Brazil. Dr Kotze is also a senior researcher for the National Brazilian Council of Research (CNPq).

Nicholas P. McKenna, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and a colorectal surgeon in the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He completed his general surgery residency and colon and rectal surgery fellowship at Mayo Clinic. Dr. McKenna’s clinical and research interests focus on inflammatory bowel disease and quality improvement in colorectal surgery. He is also actively involved in education as an Associate Program Director of the Mayo Clinic Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship Program.

Phillip R. Fleshner, MD is the Director of Colorectal Surgery Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the Shierley, Jesslyne, and Emmeline Widjaja Chair in Colorectal Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner's main clinical and research interests are directed towards optimizing outcomes and techniques in the surgical management of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Fleshner has written numerous articles for peer-reviewed publications, including the Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Gut and the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner received his bachelor's degree from McGill University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

He received the Sherman Prize in 2021.

Nicholas P. McKenna, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and a colorectal surgeon in the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He completed his general surgery residency and colon and rectal surgery fellowship at Mayo Clinic. Dr. McKenna’s clinical and research interests focus on inflammatory bowel disease and quality improvement in colorectal surgery. He is also actively involved in education as an Associate Program Director of the Mayo Clinic Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship Program.

David Schwartzberg, MD is a double-board certified colorectal surgeon who specializes in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, including redo/corrective pelvic pouch surgery in the Center for Advanced IBD at Northwell Health. He completed his general surgery training at NYU & Bellevue Hospital, a colorectal fellowship at Cleveland Clinic and an complex IBD & J-pouch surgery fellowship at NYU's IBD Center.
He is currently at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and serves as the director of reoperative surgery & the intestinal fistula center.