Digestive Diseases Week 2019

In May Dr James Ashton presented work on monogenic causes of inflammatory bowel disease at the Digestive Diseases Week international conference in San Diego.

Digestive diseases week (DDW) is the largest gastroenterology conference in the world, with over 14,000 attendees. Whilst the conference is not only for childhood-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) there were multiple sessions on both basic scientific and clinical aspects of paediatric IBD, presenting some ground-breaking research to impact on future care.

In addition to our oral presentation, which was well received, there was lots to learn and engage with at DDW. This year we heard about big international collaborative studies, advances in genetic research in young children with IBD, personalised medicine, optimising current treatments and new medicines (including new biological therapies) that are currently in development. Attending a conference such as DDW focuses our clinical and research teams to understand what causes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and move towards personalised, precision therapy for children and young people with these conditions, based on the genetic research we do in Southampton. The presence of over 14,000 delegates is a fantastic catalyst to provide the basis for improving care in children and young people with Crohn’s and colitis. 

We will be publishing these results and feeding back to clinical colleagues at the soonest opportunity.