Vipul Jairath

Chief Medical Officer

Vipul Jairath, MBChB, DPhil, MRCP, FRCPC, oversees the global Medical R&D initiatives and services. In conjunction with the executive team and senior medical advisors, he assumes overall responsibility for research strategy, as well as performance of the organization’s Medical R&D services including medical operations, medical imaging, precision medicine, medical writing, medical monitoring, medical/biostatics advisory collaborations and IBD fellowships. He also provides medical oversight for the design of clinical trials, protocol development and imaging R&D endpoints. Vipul was previously VP Medical Research & Development (2019-2021) and Director of Academic Research and Development (2016-19).

Background

Dr. Jairath obtained his BSc (Pharmacology) and Medical Degree from the University of Leeds (UK), DPhil (PhD) in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford and post-graduate diploma in Clinical Trials from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is Professor of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, and holder of the John and Susan McDonald Endowed Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at Western University.

His specialist clinical training in Gastroenterology was completed in London and Oxford, and he holds specialist certification in both Ontario and the UK. Prior to moving to Western in 2016, he was a National Institute for Health Research Clinical Trials Fellow at the Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit and Consultant Gastroenterologist at Oxford University hospitals.

He is a practising gastroenterologist and specialist in inflammatory bowel disease, and his research interests in clinical therapeutics for IBD include design of clinical trials, development and validation of outcome measures for use in clinical trials, patient reported outcome measures and prediction modelling for response to therapy.

Achievements

Vipul has driven the development and validation of several novel indices for use in IBD clinical trials, like the UC-100 and the novel patient reported outcome measures, SIQ-UC and SIQ-CD. In addition, he was instrumental to the delivery of the REACT2 trial and to the design of the VERDICT trial, both of which are important clinical practice questions for patients with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, respectively.

Ethos

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle

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Geert D’Haens

MD, PhD, AGAF
Scientific Advisor

Geert D’Haens graduated from medical school at the Katholieke Universiteirt Leuven, Belgium in 1987.

Professor D’Haens specialized in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago Hospitals, USA and University Hospitals Leuven in 1990-1992. He was board certified in internal medicine in 1992. He defended his Doctoral Thesis in 1996. Currently Professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology at the Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Professor D’Haens is a specialist gastroenterologist with a clinical interest in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and gastrointestinal oncology. He has particular expertise in mucosal immunology, gastrointestinal endoscopy and immunosuppression related to IBD.

Professor D’Haens was elected to the International Organization for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD) in 2003 and is currently Chairman of the organization. In 1999, D’Haens was co-founder of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO).

He is a member of other societies including a Fellowship of the American Gastroenterological Association (2006) and the European Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Research Committee.

Professor D’Haens is the recipient of several awards including the “Silver Medal for Inflammatory Bowel Disease” from the World Congress on Gastroenterology, Vienna, 1998.

With over 250 peer reviewed scientific articles and 37 chapters in medical textbooks, Professor D’Haens has an impressive publication record and is widely recognized as an expert in the area of digestive diseases.

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