Optimizing Treatment in Moderate-to-Severe UC in the New Landscape

Session learning objectives

Describe pros and cons of escalating to an advanced therapy early for UC versus optimization of conventional therapy
Identify the appropriate place-in-therapy for new oral targeted therapies used in managing ulcerative colitis
Select patients who are appropriate candidates for targeted oral therapies, including S1P receptor modulators

Dr. Christopher Ma is an academic gastroenterologist at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. He completed advanced clinical fellowships in inflammatory bowel disease at the University of Calgary and Western University, as well as formalized research training in clinical trial methods as the 2018 Robarts International IBD Clinical Trials fellow. He received his MPH in Epidemiology & Biostatistics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2019. His research portfolio now focuses primarily on clinical trial design and analytic methods, and the epidemiology and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Dr. Ma has published over 180 peer-reviewed manuscripts (h-index 35, i-10 index 90). He is the lead for the international COREOS and CORE-IBD Consortia, and has been awarded over $6.5 million in peer-reviewed research funding, including from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology, the Canadian IBD Research Consortium, and the Helmsley Charitable Trust.