Dr. Colombel is is an internationally-renowned clinician and researcher in inflammatory bowel disease and gastroenterology. He began his career at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Lille, France in 1980, where he was Professor of Hepatogastroenterology since 1991 and Head of the Department of Gastroenterology from 2010 to 2012. Since 1984 his research has focused on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). Thanks to the development of multiple local, national and international collaborations, he was able to contribute to important advances in the pathophysiology of IBD. The most remarkable are the initiation in 1994 of collection and sampling of IBD families that eventually led to the identification of NOD2 as a susceptibility gene for Crohn’s disease (CD), the development in the 90’s of the ASCA test (anti-S.cerevisiae antibodies), which is still the most sensitive and specific serologic marker for CD and elucidation of the potential role of Candida albicans in CD and the identification of a new pathovar of Escherichia coli (AIEC for adhesive invasive E.coli) associated with ileal CD.

From a clinical perspective, he has been involved in most of clinical trials of the last 20 years that have helped to develop new drugs, especially biologics, and to improve therapeutic strategies in IBD. In 2013, he was appointed as the Director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center at Mount Sinai.  He has co-authored more than 800 peer-reviewed papers, most of them in the domain of IBD, which makes him one of the most published gastroenterologists in the world. Dr.Colombel has been an associate editor of major gastroenterology journals including Gut, Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Gastroenterology (current). He has been elected me as the President of European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO) (2008-2010) and Chair of the International Organization of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD) (2010-2012). Furthermore, he was awarded the United European Gastroenterology Federation Research Prize in 2009 and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) Clinical Research Award in 2014. In 2018, Dr. Colombel received the Sherman Prize for Excellence in Crohn’s and Colitis for exceptional and pioneering achievements.