Cornerstones Health Europe+
Our Mission
With a commitment to diverse, inclusive, and independent learning, Cornerstones Health Europe+ provides advanced education, effective mentorship, and clinical skills in inflammatory bowel disease for European gastroenterology professionals.
Our Vision
Cornerstones Health Europe+ will build upon the wisdom of the leaders in IBD research and clinical care to foster the next generation of IBD specialists. We will facilitate a lifelong commitment to paradigm-shifting scientific research, clinical innovation, and ongoing professional development to reshape the field of IBD.
Our Programs
Continuing Education For Health Care Professionals
- Best approaches to IBD care, monitoring, and management.
- Latest research findings and evidence-based clinical guidelines for patients with IBD.
- Programs developed and facilitated by expert faculty educators who are leaders in IBD clinical care and research.
Deep DiveTM Programs
- Best approaches to IBD care, monitoring, and management.
- Latest research findings and evidence-based clinical guidelines in IBD.
- Insight from expert faculty educators who are leaders in IBD clinical care and research.
IBD XceleratorTM Programs
- Interactive, case-based education from world-renown IBD faculty educators
- Innovative mentorship for young IBD specialists, including guidance on best practices in academic research, applied statistics, clinical trial management, publications, and presentation skills.
Our Leadership
Geert D’Haens
Co-Founder, ECCO, the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization
Author, more than 600 peer-reviewed research publications
Leader, IBD medication development programs and clinical trials
Professor Geert D’Heans, MD, PhD, heads the gastroenterology and hepatology department at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers (University of Amsterdam). He trained in gastroenterology, gastrointestinal endoscopy, and inflammatory bowel disease at the KU University Hospitals in Leuven, Germany (Mentor: Paul Rutgeerts, MD, PhD), and the University of Chicago Medicine, in Chicago, the United States (Mentor: Stephen B. Hanauer, MD). Professor D’Haens’ research explores the mechanism of action of newer IBD medications, the development of endoscopic endpoints for treatment, surrogate markers for IBD, and novel treatment algorithms.
Séverine Vermeire
Author, more than 600 peer-reviewed publications
President, European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO), 2014-2016 and the Belgian IBD Research & Development (BIRD) Group (2011-2013)
Award Recipient, Advanced H2020-European Research Council (ERC) Grant (2016-2022)
Professor Séverine Vermeire, MD, PhD, is a staff member in the Gastroenterology & Hepatology Department of the University Hospital Leuven, Full Professor of Medicine, and Research Director of Biomedical Sciences at KU Leuven, Germany, where she completed her medical and postdoctoral education. Professor Vermeire also trained at the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Paraguay (1993), the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, UK (1997-1998), and the Montreal General Hospital McGill University, Canada (2000–2001). She is the principal investigator in research clinical trials with new therapeutic compounds. Her main research focus is the role of the microbiome and genetic susceptibility in IBD, identifying prognostic and predictive signatures of treatment response. Professor Vermeire participated in the International iCHOM consortium on development of Patient-Centered Outcomes for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
