USA
 Dr. Hecht is Professor of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology and Chief, Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Loyola University Chicago. She earned her MD from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, completed Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and her Fellowship in Gastroenterology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Her initial faculty appointment was at the University of Illinois Chicago where she rose through the ranks to Professor and was appointed Chief of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition. She relocated to Loyola in her current position in January 2013. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of a new journal Gut Microbes published by Landes Bioscience. Dr. Hecht has been very active in the American Gastroenterological Association functioning as Chair of the Intestinal Disorders Section of the AGA Council, as Basic Research Councilor to the Governing Board and ultimately serving as President from 2009-2010, only the second woman to serve in that capacity. |
Dr. Karen Madsen is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Alberta and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Gastrointestinal Inflammation and Immunity Research (CEGIIR). She specializes in studying the gut microbiome's role in health and disease, focusing on therapies for inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic disorders. Dr. Madsen has published over 150 research papers and received multiple awards for her contributions to medical research and education. You can follow her on X at @madsen_ca.
Professor Everard is a researcher from the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS-WEL Research Institute). She is leading a team at the Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI) from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Brussels, Belgium. The main topic of interest of her team in research is to study how gut microbes are able to impact eating behaviours. More specifically, she is investigating the interactions between the gut microbiota, the intestine and the brain in the context of obesity and eating disorders.