The Gastrointestinal Tract XX Conference: Making and Breaking the Gut

Michele Battle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy at the Medical College of Wisconsin where she leads a research program in the field of gastrointestinal epithelial cell and developmental biology. Battle uses cutting-edge biochemical, cellular, and animal model approaches to understand fundamental mechanisms involved in gastrointestinal development, homeostasis, and disease. 
Battle is a member of the Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology editorial board and an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. She has served on numerous grant review panels including those for the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense. 

Battle was a 2009 American Gastroenterological Association Foundation Research Scholar, a 2015 Kavli Fellow, and the inaugural recipient of the MCW Women in Science Rising Pioneer Award (2018). She serves as Vice Chair of the Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology section of the American Gastroenterological Association Institute Council.

Nicholas Zachos is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Post-doctoral GI/Hepatology Research Fellowship and the Director of Integrated Physiology Core of the Hopkins Conte Digestive Disease Basic and Translational Research Core Center. 

Zachos studies the innate epithelial and innate immune cell responses to enteric pathogens and how these responses influence the proliferation and differentiation of intestinal stem cells. The Zachos laboratory utilizes human intestinal stem cell-derived enteroid co-culture models to interrogate pathophysiologic conditions including acute diarrheal disease, obesity, Diabetes, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  

Zachos has served on numerous study sections and serves in advisory roles for the American Physiological Society and the American Gastroenterological Association.

Maria Abreu is a gastroenterologist specializing in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and is the Director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Center, a Professor of Medicine, and a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.  

She completed her medical degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Her postdoctoral training included an internship and residency in medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a clinical and research fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was an Associate Professor of Medicine with Mount Sinai School of Medicine and head of the IBD Center.  

Dr. Abreu has more than 20 years of leadership experience in basic, translational, and clinical research and mentoring and is an internationally renowned physician-scientist in IBD.  She was honored in April 2018 with the Provost’s Award for Scholarly Activity. She was appointed in June 2018 as the Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Medicine.  

Abreu was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2010) and the Association of American Physicians (2018), both honor societies for physician-scientists. She is past Council Chair of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Council. Her most recent appointment is as the Deputy Chair of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. She was recognized in 2019 as a new Councilor-at-Large member of the AGA Governing Board for a term of three years. Dr. Abreu is proud to have received the 2016 Minority Digestive Health Care Award for her commitment to helping minority trainees and researching GI health issues in minority populations. She received a 2019 Sherman Prize by The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation recognizing outstanding achievements in IBD.