Aldo Torsoli Award for research, education and patient care in the area of gut-brain interactions

Aldo Torsoli , MD
We are pleased to announce a joint award from Rome Foundation with the Aldo Torsoli Foundation in the area of Functional GI Disorders. Candidates must hold an MD or PhD and have an academic record of research, education, and patient care in the area of Disorders of the Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBI, formerly FGID).

All candidate investigators are required to apply directly on our website and be recommended by one of their peers. Please keep in mind that nominations and self-nominations both require a letter of recommendation and completion of the required online forms, including a CV, no more than two pages.

To be considered for this award, the candidate should be mid-level or senior level and have an academic record of research, education, and patient care in the area of gut-brain interactions (DGBIs). Candidates must have completed an MD or PhD and be currently active in DGBI research.

Distinguished University Chair in Gastroenterology Professor of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA.

Dr. Satish Rao graduated from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India, followed by a PhD from the University of Sheffield, UK., and the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in London, U.K. He is the founding director of the Digestive Health Center and has an international reputation as an innovative researcher, distinguished educator, Master Clinician, and outstanding mentor. A recipient of numerous NIH grants and national and international awards for excellence in clinical research, education, mentorship, and patient care, he is also Past President of the American Neurogastroenterology & Motility Society. A dedicated member of Rome Foundation since 1995, he helped develop the highly cited Rome II, III, and IV criteria for anorectal disorders and currently serves as Chair, Rome V Anorectal Committee and Founding Chair of the Rome Anorectal Biofeedback Section.

Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Olafur Palsson is a Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a clinical psychologist and GI researcher with 25 years of experience in research on Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction. He has expertise in the psychosocial and epidemiological aspects of DGBIs, questionnaire development for health research, hypnosis treatment for GI disorders, and Internet computer programming for large-scale electronic collection of health information. He was co-chair of the Rome IV Questionnaire Development Committee, and is the principal developer and manager of the Internet-mediated Investigator Platform (RFRI-IP) that the RFRI uses to collect data across research sites.

Senior Consultant & Chief Gastroenterology
Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain

Dr. Santos graduated in Medicine at the University of Navarra, Spain. He then trained in clinical gastroenterology and obtained the Degree of Gastrointestinal Specialist at Hospital General Universitario Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona, Spain. In parallel, he completed predoctoral studies in basic and clinical research in neurogastroenterology, at the Digestive Diseases Research Unit, Department of Gastroenterology Hospital Vall d’Hebron, and obtained his Ph.D. from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. and later, he moved for a 3-year postdoctoral stage in immunology and gastrointestinal physiology to the Intestinal Disease Research Program at McMaster University, Canada.
His research in the field of neuro-immune-gastroenterology remains inherently translational, with a special focus on mechanisms linking genetic, molecular, cellular, and environmental determinants to clinical manifestations of irritable bowel syndrome and other functional GI disorders. His research also pursues the identification of sensitive and specific biological markers potentially useful for implementing diagnostic and therapeutic management of those disorders.

Dr Santo’s scientific contribution includes dozens of original manuscripts, reviews and editorials in top peer-reviewed journals, and numerous communications/abstracts/lectures in relevant meetings in the field. Dr. Santos has been awarded by the Association of National European and Mediterranean Societies of Gastroenterology as a 2003 European Rising Star of Gastroenterology, and the 2009 International Foundation of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders Research Award in Clinical Science, for his contributions to the field of functional GI disorders.

Maura received her residency (2000) and PhD (2004) from the University of Milan in Italy. She worked for eight years at San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan. She then moved to Belgium, where she also spent part of her PhD, to work in Prof. Jan Tack’s laboratory as Senior Research Supervisor (2012-2016).

In 2016, she was appointed Associate Professor of Gastroenterology. Maura directs the Neurogastroenterology Unit and the GI Motility lab and is a referring consultant for functional disorders of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract at the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Biomedical Research Centre.

She is a member of the Rome Foundation Board of Directors, Co-Chair of the Rome V Committee on Functional Bowel Disorders, and Editor-in-Chief of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (official journal of the European and American Association of Neurogastroenterology and Motility). She is ESNM representative to the Scientific Committee and Chair of the Postgraduate Teaching Course at United European Gastroenterology (UEG).

Dr. Fass is the Medical Director of the Digestive Health Center, Chairman of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and head of the Esophageal and Swallowing Program at the MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio. He is also a tenured professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Fass did his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, where he later became a Chief Resident. He then completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he focused on GI motility and disorders of brain-gut interaction.

Dr. Fass has served in leadership positions in many societies. He is the former treasurer of the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society and the education committee chair. The former member of the Nominating Committees of the Upper GI Section and Neurogastroenterology and Motility of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). He has served as the chair of the Functional Esophageal Disorders committee for Rome IV, the Membership committee of the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society, the Practice Parameter Committee and Audio Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), and the Publication Committee of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).

Dr. Fass is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility.

Dr. Fass has published more than 400 articles, editorials, and commentaries in journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, Gut, American Family Physician, American Journal of Gastroenterology, Archives of Internal Medicine, Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Nature reviews Primer. He has published three books and has written 62 book chapters, including 2 chapters in UpToDate.

Hans Törnblom is a Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, a tertiary referral center for complex intestinal problems, particularly within the field of neurogastroenterology. His current research interest includes a wide area of studies involving pathogenetic and pathophysiologic mechanisms in functional gastrointestinal disorders and their possible linkage to symptoms, particularly in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In studies of severe IBS, enteral dysmotility and intestinal pseudo-obstruction, a thorough knowledge of both diagnostic and treatment aspects of autonomic visceral neuropathy has resulted. In his current clinical practice, severe nausea and vomiting refractory to standard treatment options is a special interest, particularly within the area of neurostimulation, both with temporary and permanent gastric electrical stimulation devices.

Carlo Di Lorenzo, MD, is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital where he holds the Robert F. and Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation Endowed Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Named multiple times among the “Best Doctors in America,” Dr. Di Lorenzo has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. He has functioned as a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and abstract reviewer for the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA).

Dr. Ford is a proponent of evidence-based medicine, with an interest in disorders of brain-gut interaction (DGBI). His work has informed management guidelines in both the UK and USA, and has informed treatment paradigms for several DGBI. He is the principal investigator of the ATLANTIS study in the UK, a large randomised controlled trial of amitriptyline for irritable bowel syndrome.

Dr. de Giorgio has made significant contributions to the understanding of the structural and functional organization of the enteric nervous system in normal and disease states with focus on neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases and enteric neuropathies.