Chair in ulcerative colitis established at McMaster
Dr. Walter Reinisch, an expert in inflammatory bowel disease research from the Medical University of Vienna, will take on a new endowed chair role at McMaster in July. The position will focus on ulcerative colitis, a painful inflammatory bowel disease.
A $3.5 million endowed chair is being established at McMaster to further research into ulcerative colitis — an inflammatory bowel disease that impacts more than 100,000 Canadians, and millions more worldwide.
Dr. Kevin Glasgow, CEO of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC), said Wednesday the new position is being established because medical research is the only hope for finding cures and better treatments.
“Money raised by the CCFC allows our donors to invest in world-class research and programs, right here in Canada. These are tricky diseases. [They’re] hard to diagnose, too frequently misdiagnosed and frustrating to treat. But we are making progress on every front.”
The position will likely be named the Audrey Campbell Chair in Ulcerative Colitis at McMaster University. The late Audrey Campbell, a philanthropist and daughter of Canadian media pioneer Roy Thomson, suffered from ulcerative colitis. Her three daughters, Linda Campbell, Gaye Farncombe and Susan Grange, provided the initial $2 million in funding for this position in her honour. The remainder of the funding is from McMaster.
University President Patrick Deane welcomed the new chair, and said the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine has one of the world’s top 10 research programs in digestive health research.
“We appreciate the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada’s commitment to advancing the most progressive and innovative projects to find new approaches in treating IBD,” said Deane. “This endowed chair will ensure ongoing focus on this chronic, debilitating disease of ulcerative colitis.”
The new position has already attracted a world-class scientist as its first holder, Dr. Walter Reinisch — a clinician scientist and associate professor of gastroenterology at the Medical University of Vienna. Trained in Austria and the U.S., he’ll begin his new role at McMaster in July.
Reinisch’s research involves both individualized treatments and finding a “common language of inflammatory bowel disease” to improve communications with patients. He has published several landmark papers on ulcerative colitis, and recently finished a pilot study on the impact of human biotherapy aimed at changing bacteria in the bowel.
“CCFC is particularly proud to partner with McMaster to unveil this unique chair ” added Glasgow. “Sunday, May 19 is World IBD Day, and the impact of this important investment in ulcerative colitis research is really global in scope and relevance. We are extremely grateful to the daughters of Audrey Campbell for making this chair possible.”
