Prof. Zamir Halpern M.D.
Prof. Zamir Halpern completed his doctorate in medicine at the Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1977. He has been an Instructor in Medicine, a Senior Lecturer and an Associate Professor in the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a Clinical Fellow in Liver Disease at the Academic Department of Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital in London. In 1996, Prof. Halpern was appointed Chief of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Tel Aviv University’s Sourasky Medical Centre and became Deputy Director of the Centre in 2002.
He has been a recipient of the Rothschild Foundation Research Fellowship, the American Fellow of Physicians Inc Research Fellowship and the William E. Lower Fellowship, and was President of the Israeli Association for the Study of the Liver. He is a Member of the Israeli Medical Association, the Israel Gastrointestinal Society, the Israel Association for the Study of the Liver, the American Association for the Study of the Liver, the European Association for the Study of the Liver and the American Gastroenterological Association.
Prof. Halpern supervises major research programs as well as being involved as Director of a large Gastroenterological Clinic. He has been co-author of 106 publications and has presented over 85 papers at Scientific Meetings.

Prof. Richard Hunt M.D.
Prof. Richard Hunt completed his doctorate in medicine at Edinburgh University in 1966. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Edinburgh, and Canada, and of the American College of Gastroenterology. He has been recognized with many prizes and medals for his work in Gastroenterology where his special interests focus on the acid related disorders, anti-inflammatory drugs and the clinical pharmacology of treatment of gastrointestinal disease. He is widely recognised for an extensive interest in colorectal disease, colonoscopy, and therapeutic endoscopy. Prof. Hunt is a past President of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology and the Canadian Helicobacter Study Group, the latter of which he also co-founded. He is currently Vice President of the Canadian Digestive Disease Foundation. He received the Canadian Association Distinguished Service Award in 2002.
Prof. Hunt has been Associate Editor of the Esophagus, Duodenum, and Stomach sections of Gastroenterology, and a member of the Editorial Boards of 19 scientific journals. He has been Visiting Professor at Universities in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, South East Asia and South Africa, and has been an invited lecturer to Universities and hospitals throughout the world.
Prof. Hunt has published over 600 papers and abstracts including authoritative papers on clinical pharmacology, peptic ulcer disease, gastro esophageal reflux disease, Helicobacter pylori infection, colonic disease, and colonoscopy. He is the author or editor of 14 books including Evidence-Based Gastroenterology and Atlas of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and Related Pathology, and 58 chapters, and has produced 20 TV video films on peptic ulcer disease, reflux esophagitis, and colonoscopy.
Since 1982, Prof. Hunt has been Professor of Medicine at McMaster University. He was the first Director of the Intestinal Disease Research Unit, and of the Division of Gastroenterology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, establishing its international reputation.

Prof. Francis Mégraud M.D.
Prof. Francis Mégraud completed his doctorate in medicine at the University of Bordeaux II in 1980. He is currently a Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Bordeaux II and Head of the Pediatric Bacteriological Unit at Hôpital Pellegrin in Bordeaux.
Prof. Mégraud has been Head of the French National Reference Centre for Campylobacter and Helicobacter since 1993, a Project Leader of the European Community Commission Biomed Project on Gastritis and Helicobacter pylori and Secretary of the International Working Party to produce Guidelines for Clinical Trials aiming at the eradication of Helicobacter pylori. He has lectured on Helicobacter pylori in most European countries and internationally, published extensively, and moderated Helicobacter pylori sessions organized in the European Congresses of Microbiology and Gastroenterology.
Prof. Mégraud is a member of a number of European and international organizations including the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, the American Society for Microbiology and the American Gastroenterological Association, as well as a Corresponding Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He has sat on a number of editorial boards including the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Lancet Infectious Diseases, and Clinical Microbiology and Infection, as well as being actively involved in the International Committee for the Stereotyping of Campylobacter, the Subcommittee for the Taxonomy of Campylobacter and related bacteria, and the European Helicobacter Study Group of which he is the founding member and secretary.
Prof. Mégraud is currently head of an INSERM research team for chronic bacterial infections and cancer, and a member of the scientific committee of the United European Gastroenterology Federation.

Prof. Sidney Phillips M.D.
Prof. Sidney Phillips completed his medical training and doctorate in medicine at the University of Melbourne in 1960. He has been an Instructor in Medicine and Assistant Professor in Medicine at the Mayo Graduate School in Rochester, Minnesota. He has been Director of the Mayo Clinical Research Centre, the Mayo Digestive Diseases Core Centre and the Gastroenterology Unit at the Mayo Clinic. In 1976, Prof. Phillips was appointed Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Medical School, and in 1994, he was appointed the Karl F. and Marjory Hasselmann Professor of Research at the Mayo Foundation. He has been a recipient of the Joseph B. Kirsner/Fiterman Award, the Outstanding Investigator Award (Mayo Medical School) and the Royal College of Physicians of London Fellow.
Prof. Phillips is also a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and the American College of Physicians. He is a Member of the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Federation for Clinical Research, and an Honorary Member of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia and the British Society of Gastroenterology.
Prof. Phillips supervises major research programs as well as being involved as a Consultant in Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. He has sat on a number of editorial boards including the American Journal of Digestive Diseases, Gastrointestinal Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Gastroenterology, as well as being actively involved in numerous committees including the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Motility Society, and the World Organization of Gastroenterology.