Held in the fantastic location of the Renaissance Hotel in the centre of Chicago there was an excellent scientific programme with many new and interesting speakers, enjoyed by all the delegates. Congratulations to all of the scientific award winners, it was great to hear new science with the convivial atmosphere and networking attesting to the supportive team that is the IIRTA. On behalf of the association, I would like to thank Alan, Enrico and all of the organizing committee for their hard work in creating this successful congress.

At the congress, we presented the first Nicolas Duchateau Young Investigator award to Carolyn Smullin from UCLA. Nicolas’ family were present and all were moved as we remembered Nicolas and celebrated future scientific work. You can donate to support future awards via our website at the following link:

Visit the Nicolas Duchateau Young Investigator Award Page

One highlight, which we will be taking forward to the next congress, was the Women in Transplantation event, with yet more excellent speakers, networking and even cocktails – thank you to Helen Evans for your work on this event.

Another highlight to take forward was the Living Legends session. It was fascinating and humbling to hear about remarkable figures from across transplantation, intestinal rehabilitation and basic science as we honoured David Grant, Olivier Goulet and Noriko Murase.

Last year our association added “International” to our name, fitting with our mission to improve the lives of patients with intestinal failure worldwide and maintain global leadership in the field. As we try to improve equity of access to resources for such patients, new Chapters of our association were inaugurated around the world. Something we hope will continue with vibrant Chapter activities. We also improved our web presence with our new domain www.iirta.org.

Looking forward to this year, I am delighted to announce that we have just created our own journal for which I would like to thank the IIRTA council and journal subgroup for their work, and Alan Buchman for pushing us forward to this achievement. We have appointed Douglas Farmer as Editor in Chief, Helen Evans as Deputy Editor, Simon Lal and Josh Weiner as Associate Editors. The board will develop and be appointed as we receive submissions.

Intestinal Failure (INTF): the Journal of the International Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association aims to be the premier peer-reviewed, open access publication in our field, providing a platform for the exchange of current research findings and dialogue of ideas in intestinal transplantation, rehabilitation and failure, as well as parenteral and enteral nutrition management and advances. It will publish original research, reviews, clinical guidelines, abstracts of the IIRTA biennial congress, videos, letters to the editor, and commentaries. It aims to serve all involved in the global nutrition and transplant community, including physicians, dietitians, nurses, pharmacists, and other allied health professionals, as well as clinical and basic scientists.

I encourage you all to submit your articles for consideration of publication and I wish Doug, Helen and the journal every success in 2024 and beyond.

Jonathan Hind
IIRTA President