Dr. Avitzur is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto, the Medical Director of the joint program in Intestine Transplantation (adults and children) and the Director of the Group for Improvement of Intestinal Function and Treatment (GIFT) at SickKids hospital, Toronto, Canada. He is also the provincial lead of liver and intestine transplantation in Ontario’s organ procurement organization.

Dr. Avitzur has been an active contributor to the IIRTA over the last decade, initially as a committee member (Education and Scientific committees), then as a council member since 2017 and as the IIRTA Secretary-Treasurer since 2021. In 2017, Dr. Avitzur established and currently leads the IIRTA International Intestinal Failure Registry (IIFR), a world-wide effort to improve the knowledge and life of children with IF. Under Dr. Avitzur’s leadership and with the strong support of the IIRTA council and IIFR Committee, more than 1 million dollars were raised to support the IIFR operations. In 2020, and 2022 Dr. Avitzur was the co-chair of PIFRS, the prime pediatric meeting for intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation that was hosted in Toronto.

As a President-Elect, Dr. Avitzur intends to continue his contributions to the advocacy and promotion of intestine transplantation and rehabilitation around the world.

Helen Evans FRACP has worked in the field of intestinal failure in the United Kingdom and New Zealand for over 25 years. She initiated the New Zealand National Intestinal Failure and Rehabilitation Service in 2015 and led this for a number of years. Dr Evans is also the Service Clinical Director for Paediatric Medical Specialties at Starship Child Health which involves complex multi-million dollar budget management. She is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, runs a number of clinical trials and collaborates in research in the field internationally. Dr Evans has been a Councilor of the IIRTA for four years and previously served on the International Pediatric Transplant Association, the New Zealand Society of Gastroenterology and as Secretary for the Australasian Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. She is Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Intestinal Failure and Associate Editor for Pediatric Transplantation. She co-convened the Congress of the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association in 2021 which was successful and profitable despite the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a hybrid, mainly online, format. Dr Evans has a strong commitment to equity and diversity in medicine and initiated a collaboration with Women in Transplantation for the CIRTA 2023 meeting.

Dr. Mihai Oltean is Professor of Surgery at University of Gothenburg (Sweden). His research interests focus on experimental and clinical ischemia-reperfusion injury (kidney, liver, intestine), rejection monitoring after clinical intestinal transplantation and donor-related issues in transplantation. Dr. Oltean obtained a doctorate in medicine (PhD) with a thesis on intestinal transplantation and trained in General Surgery at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, the largest hospital in Northern Europe. He published his results in, and reviews for all the major transplantation journals and earlier received several Young Investigator Awards from the Transplantation Society. Dr. Oltean is a founding member of Intestinal Transplant Association (September 2003) and served in the IIRTA Scientific Council (2014-2018, 2023-) and the IIRTA Council (2017-2021). He currently works at the Transplant Institute of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, the only intestinal transplant unit in Scandinavia. Dr. Oltean held the position of Secretary General of the International Society for Experimental Microsurgery (2016-2018) and ISEM President (2020-2023). Besides his commitment as a surgeon-scientist Dr. Oltean is an enthusiastic educator and one of the founders and directors of the Scandinavian Microsurgery Academy, the first permanent microsurgical training facility in Northern Europe.

Arun Abraham FRCS is an integral member of the team in managing Acute and Chronic Intestinal Failure (IF) at a National Reference Unit for IF over the last 18 years and plays a key role in rehabilitation for IF patients nationally and collaborates with other centers in UK and Europe. He is an integral member of the team that performed the first AuGIR surgery (STEPS) in UK. Dr. Abraham was essential in establishing teleconsultation program in 2018 which helped seamless transformation of clinical practice during COVID. His skills are essential in management of long-term vascular access and plays a key role in non-transplant surgery in IF patients.

He co-chairs National Adult Small Bowel Transplant (NASIT) forum with other centers held every month which discusses patients for transplantation nationally as well as from some centers in Europe. His contribution at NASIT discussions is integral in considering transplant as well as non-transplant options such as GLP2 therapy or non-transplant options.

He has an active role in research related to Intestinal Failure Associated Liver Disease (IFALD) and GLP2 nationally and involved in international trials (STEPS 3, EASE SBS, STARS,THRIVE). He is essential in implementing GLP2 in to routine practice since its approval in UK

Dr. Hamed Nikoupour is a pancreato-hepatobiliary and transplant surgeon. He is the head of the Intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation department at the Abu Ali Sina Center, which is the largest transplantation Center in the world. He has trained under Professor Gabriel Gondolesi in Argentina and started the first intestinal rehabilitation unit in the region in the Shiraz Transplant Center in 2017. The center offers services from parenteral nutrition up to intestinal transplantation. Since then, more than 113 intestinal transplantations and more than 300 intestinal reconstructions have been performed. Dr. Nikoupour has published his work in world-renown journals in recent years. He has had the honors of being an active member of the IIRTA since 2017 and has spoken at multiple events at the IIRTA and TTS. More recently he was awarded a chapter in the IIRTA. On a global scale, the Shiraz Transplant Center has had an international fellowship program and has trained many surgeons in transplantation, mainly from countries in the Middle East and Africa, and continues its efforts in providing the highest level of medical education.

Vikram Raghu, MD, MS, is an assistant professor of pediatrics and a pediatric gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in the care of children with intestinal failure and intestinal transplantation. An active member of the International Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association (IIRTA) since his residency, Dr. Raghu has served on the International Intestinal Failure Registry Committee since 2018, where he is a co-investigator on the FDA-funded R01 awarded to the registry, and on the Communications Committee since 2022. He has co-authored two NASPGHAN position papers and one IIRTA guideline in intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation. Dr. Raghu's research focuses on improving data-driven decision-making in pediatric intestinal failure, with an emphasis on health economics. He has received funding from the NASPGHAN Foundation, ASPEN Rhoads Research Foundation, and NCATS to support his work. He is deeply committed to fostering collaborations among clinicians, researchers, and community organizations, with a particular focus on equity and addressing the unique challenges faced by geographically disadvantaged populations. Dr. Raghu’s dedication to advancing intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation positions him as a leader in the field, with a vision to strengthen IIRTA’s global partnerships and improve the lives of children worldwide.