Governing board and scientific committee
Governing board members
The Governing Board members, in collaboration with the Scientific Committee, are responsible for reviewing, vetting and prioritising all relevant applications for international studies. Board members serve in office for a period of two years.
- Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Sheffield, UK
Professor Reena Sidhu is a consultant gastroenterologist and honorary professor at the University of Sheffield. Her main area of interest is the small bowel, with over 150 publications. She has led a European-wide curriculum for capsule and device assisted enteroscopy for the ESGE. She has also led accreditation for DAE in the UK.
Reena was awarded the Hopkins Endoscopy Prize by the BSG in 2012, the first female gastroenterologist ever to have won this award. First author of the 2008 British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on capsule endoscopy and enteroscopy; co-author of the 2015 ESGE guidelines on small bowel endoscopy and the revised ESGE guideline 2023. She led and is the first author of the BSG & RCoA position statement on the use of propofol sedation for complex endoscopy in the UK and led the UK sedation guidelines 2024 (Gut 2024) and a co-author on the BSG anaemia guidelines.
Reena was the BSG education chair 2021–2023 and curated an entire new educational platform for the BSG. She has been a member of the UEG Research Committee and UEG NSC Committee. She has led the ESGE Quality Improvement Initiative (QIC) for small bowel (Endoscopy 2025) and is leading the QIC in sedation. She is also co-leading the ESGE sedation guidelines and ESGE Sedation curriculum. Professor Sidhu previously served on the iCARE Group Scientific Committee, Secretary General of iCARE and was elected as President at the General Assembly meeting in November 2025.
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
Cristina Carretero is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at University of Navarra, and a gastroenterologist at Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. She is an international trainer on capsule endoscopy. Her research interest is capsule endoscopy (small bowel, colon and pan-enteric) and she also has a special interest in the hereditary syndromes of digestive tumours.
Cristina is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Society of Digestive Endoscopy and Board Member of this Society. She has also served on the Scientific Committee and National Societies Committee at UEG.She is part of the quality improvement committee, curricula working group and social media working group of ESGE.
Professor Carretero has co-authored five books, as well as authoring over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
- Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Milan, Italy
- Gastroenterologist at Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Opsedale Maggiore Policlinico Milan, Italy
Dr. Elli has a degree in medicine and surgery, University of Milan (cum laude), a PhD in gastroenterological sciences, also from Milan, and a specialization in gastroenterology, University of Udine. He is professor at the Specialization School in Gastroenterology, University of Milan, supervising PhD, specialization, and medical degree theses since 2007 and is the scientific director at Centre for the Prevention and Diagnosis of Celiac Disease.
Luca is a member of the Harvard CDGEMM project, co-ordinator, international task force (Society for the Study of Celiac Disease & ESSCD) for global guidelines on celiac disease monitoring, member of ESGE guidelines group for device-assisted and capsule enteroscopy, member Green Endoscopy Group (ESGE), ESSCD refractory celiac disease guidelines group and a member of the BSG celiac disease guidelines group. He has collaborated with the universities of Chicago, Mainz, Oslo, Santiago de Chile, Sheffield, Tampere, Yale, Charité Berlin, Harvard and McMaster University.
Dr. Elli is referee and editor of several peer review journals, has authored 239 articles and has an H-Index of 36.
- Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Unit, University Hospital of Parma, Italy
Pablo Cortegoso Valdivia is a gastroenterology consultant at the University Hospital of Parma, Italy. He gained his medical degree at the University of Parma (2014), with part of his studies conducted abroad (New York University, USA and University of Caen, France). He became a board-certified gastroenterologist in 2019 with the University of Turin and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU).
His major clinical research interests are capsule endoscopy (including non-imaging platforms) and device-assisted enteroscopy, colonic neoplastic pathology (including hereditary predisposition syndromes), and biliopancreatic endoscopy. He’s been collaborating with international research groups on a regular basis since 2018.
Pablo is a current member of ESGE, UEG, SIED (Italian Society for Digestive Endoscopy), AIGO (Italian Association of Hospital Gastroenterologists) and serves on the website committee of EGEUS (European Group for Endoscopic Ultrasound). He was elected as Councillor to the iCARE Governing Board at the November 2023 General Assembly meeting and now serves as its Secretary General.
- Consultant, Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona
- Associate Professor, University of Barcelona
Professor González Suárez is the coordinator of the Small Bowel Endoscopy Program at Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. Her areas of interest include inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), diagnostic and therapeutic small bowel endoscopy, and faecal microbiota transplantation. She is dedicated to advanced therapeutic endoscopy in IBD and organizes annual workshops focused on training new specialists.
Begoña is a professor in the Master’s Program in Advanced Endoscopy and IBD at the University of Granada, and associate professor at the University of Barcelona. She recently completed an 18-month clinical research fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University.
Begoña has led four FIS-funded projects and several privately funded studies. She has participated in over 200 national and international conferences, presenting more than 300 posters and 50 oral communications. In addition to serving as a reviewer for several high-impact journals, she is an associate editor for three of them.
Scientific committee
The Scientific Committee, in collaboration with the Governing Board members, is responsible for reviewing, vetting and prioritising all relevant applications for international studies. Membership of the Scientific Committee is open to all iCARE members and has a 2-year duration. You are invited to declare an interest in serving on the committee.
- Gastroenterology Unit. Head of Endoscopy Unit, Valduce Hospital, Como, Italy
Dr. Emanuele Rondonotti graduated at the University of Milan in 1999 and board certified as a gastroenterologist in 2003. In 2009, he obtained his PhD at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He’s currently Head of Endoscopy Unit at Valduce Hospital, Como, Italy.
Ema’s primary areas of expertise include small bowel endoscopy (capsule endoscopy and device-assisted enteroscopy), technological innovation in upper and lower GI diagnostics, including artificial intelligence and advanced tissue resection techniques. He’s currently a member of ESGE, SIED (Italian Society of Digestive Endoscopy). Dr. Rondonotti has authored more than 150 indexed papers and contributed to the development of national and international clinical and technical guidelines.
- Chief Physician, Internal Medicine, Agaplesion Bethesda Hospital Bergedorf, Germany
Dr. Peter Baltes is a specialist in internal medicine and gastroenterology, as well as being certified in clinical acute and emergency medicine and intensive care. Peter has been a lecturer at national and international gastroenterology courses on the small bowel endoscopy and capsule endoscopy for more than 20 years. He is a member of the German Society for Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic Diseases (DGVS) and a speaker at international symposia.
- The BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna, Pisa, Italy
Gastone Ciuti is Associate Professor of Bioengineering at The BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, leading the Healthcare Mechatronics Laboratory. He is co-author of more than 100 international peer reviewed papers on computer-integrated platforms for medical robotics and the inventor of more than 15 patents. He has been Visiting Professor at the Sorbonne University (Paris, France) and at the Beijing Institute of Technology (Beijing, China) and Visiting Student at the Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A) and at Imperial College London (London, UK).
He is Associate Editor of the IEEE Transaction on Biomedical Engineering (IEEE-TBME), of the IEEE Journal of Bioengineering and Health Informatics (IEEE-JBHI), and of IEEE Transaction on Medical Robotics and Bionics (IEEE-TMRB). Professor Ciuti is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) society and Member of the Technical Committee in BioRobotics of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS).
His research interests include robot/computer-assisted platforms, such as tele-operated and autonomous magnetic-based robotic platforms for navigation, localisation and tracking of smart and innovative devices in guided and targeted minimally invasive surgical and diagnostic applications, e.g. advanced capsule endoscopy.
- University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece
Dr. Dimitris Iakovidis is a Professor of Signal Processing and Medical Decision Support Systems, and Director of the Biomedical Imaging laboratory at the Department of Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics, University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece. The research interests of Prof. Iakovidis include signal and image processing, artificial intelligence, and decision support systems, with applications in biomedicine and other domains. In this context, he has co-authored over 200 scientific papers in international journals, conferences, and books, and he has participated in several funded European and National research projects. He has contributed several pioneering methodologies for endoscopic image analysis and clinical decision making since the beginning of the millennium.
Professor Iakovidis is a Fellow of EAMBES, a Senior Member of IEEE, and member of IAPR and VPHI. He has served in Editorial positions of high-impact scientific journals, such as IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, and currently he is Editorial Board Member of the Measurement Science and Technology journal. Also, since 2014 he collaborates with the European Commission and other public authorities as an independent expert and quality controller, as well as with industrial bodies as a scientific consultant.
- Agaplesion Bethesda Krankenhaus Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany
Honorary Professor Martin Keuchel is a consultant at department of Internal Medicine at Agaplesion Bethesda Hospital, Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany. He has a board certification in internal medicine, gastroenterology and nephrology and a diploma in tropical medicine.
He is a fellow of the European Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE), American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and European Board of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (EBGH) and is a member of several scientific societies. He contributed to guidelines on quality in endoscopy, GI bleeding and terminology of the German Society for Digestive and Metabolic Diseases (DGVS) and on small bowel endoscopy of the ESGE. Professor Keuchel serves on ESGE QIC working groups: the small bowel endoscopy team, endoscopy service SACRED team and the IBD endoscopy group.
He has organised multiple structured capsule endoscopy training courses, has been a faculty member of many national and international courses and was involved in development of ESGE and German small bowel endoscopy curriculum.
Martin is co-editor of 5 books including the latest 2025 edition of Video Capsule Endoscopy with Springer Nature, co-author of many book chapters and more than 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals which have generated over 3,400 citations. Professor Keuchel has been a member of the Governing Board, serving as Treasurer since the foundation of the iCARE Group until November 2025.
- Hospital São João, Porto, Portugal
- Faculty of Medicine University of Porto, Portugal
Dr. Miguel Mascarenhas is an MD (gastroenterologist), PhD, mainly focused on big data’s many challenges and opportunities in digestive healthcare. He is the founder and coordinator of Hospital São João’s Gastroenterology Precision Medicine unit. He is also the lead inventor of 8 academic patent-pending AI technologies in different fields of gastrointestinal endoscopy (capsule endoscopy, colon capsule endoscopy, Crohn’s capsule endoscopy, device-assisted enteroscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, cholangioscopy, high-resolution anoscopy and anorectal manometry).
Dr. Mascarenhas is the first author of more than 100 clinical and data-science publications in peer-reviewed indexed journals and has been awarded multiple national and international awards from the most relevant medical societies, namely the ACG Auxiliary Award 2022 (for the best scientific paper), Top 10 Oral Abstract Award from Highlights of European Crohn´s and Colitis Organization, two best of ILC awards from International Liver Congress 2021 and 2022 and IANS 2023 best presenter award.
Dr. Mascarenhas became a member of the iCARE Scientific Committee in November 2023.
- Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy Unit, Fondazione Poliambulanza, Brescia, Italy
Since the Residency in Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy at Cattolica del Sacro Cuore University, Dr. Piccirelli conducted clinical research in the field of capsule endoscopy under Professor Cristiano Spada. She is a member of the ESGE guidelines committee to update CE in suspected small bowel bleeding, and the first international prospective trial called ARTIC study on AI in SBCE, presenting preliminary data in many European countries.
Stefania has a special interest in deploying and translating clinical research to improve patient care and outcomes. She is a member of ESGE, UEG and SIED (Italian Society of Digestive Endoscopy), SIGE (Italian Society of Gastroenterology), and Board member of AGGEI (Italian Association of Young Gastroenterologists). Dr. Piccirelli joined the iCARE Scientific Committee in November 2023.
- Endoscopy Digestive Unit, Gemelli University Hospital, Rome, Italy
Dr. Maria Elena Riccioni received her medical degree from the Catholic University, Rome and a postdoc in general surgery and experimental surgery at La Sapienza University of Rome and L’Aquila University, Italy. Research interests include new endoscopic diagnostic and therapeutic technologies (capsule endoscopy and push and pull enteroscopy).
Dr. Riccioni is adjunct professor of general surgery at the Catholic University and member of SIED (Italian Society of Digestive Endoscopy) and ESGE. She has published many papers, reviews and chapter of books for both Italian and international journals (>150) with an H-Index=29 and has contributed to national guidelines for antithrombotic therapy and rare hemorrhagic diseases (von Willebrand, haemophilia). She works as a reviewer for many journals and is a member of Technical-Scientific Committee of Cottolengo Hospital in Turin and has a collaboration with LUMSA University of Rome. Dr. Riccioni joined the iCARE Scientific Committee in November 2023.
- Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Senhora da Oliveira, Guimarães, Portugal
Dr Bruno Rosa is a gastroenterologist at the Hospital da Senhora da Oliveira, Guimarães, Portugal and a member of the scientific committee of iCARE. His clinical, research and educational activity is focused on capsule endoscopy and device-assisted enteroscopy. He is currently pursuing a PhD in the field of capsule endoscopy.
He regularly collaborates with international working groups for investigation and education on small bowel endoscopy. Dr Rosa is President of the Portuguese Small Bowel Study Group, a Member of Board of the Portuguese Society of Gastroenterology and a Member of Editorial Board of the Portuguese Journal of Gastroenterology.
Bruno is co-ordinator of the annual capsule endoscopy training program, at the School of Medicine of University of Minho, Portugal.
- Associate Professor, Lund University, Sweden
- Senior Consultant in Gastroenterology, Skåne University Hospital Malmö, Sweden
Professor Ervin Toth is an Associate Professor at Lund University and a Senior Consultant in Gastroenterology at Skåne University Hospital in Malmö, Sweden. He is an active member of several national and international specialty societies, including the iCARE Scientific Committee and the European Colonoscopy Quality Investigation Group (ECQI), and serves on multiple scientific journal editorial boards. Professor Toth has also previously served on the iCARE Governing Board.
Professor Toth has been practicing gastroenterology since 1983. His main clinical and research interests encompass diagnostic and therapeutic gastrointestinal endoscopy, with particular emphasis on chromoendoscopy, capsule endoscopy, and colonoscopy. For several decades, his research has focused on the development and clinical application of capsule endoscopy and other innovative technologies in GI endoscopy, as well as on the assessment and enhancement of endoscopic quality, with a special focus on inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer.
He has served as principal investigator in numerous national and international studies and has authored 212 peer-reviewed publications and 17 book chapters, 89 of which are dedicated to capsule endoscopy.
- Consultant Gastroenterologist Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield
Dr. David Tai is a Consultant Gastroenterologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals with an interest in small bowel endoscopy. On behalf of the UK Small Bowel Quality Improvement committee, he described the Training pathway for small bowel capsule endoscopy in the UK and designed the e-learning teaching modules as part of the national JAG accreditation process.
- Gastroenterology Department, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta
Dr. Stefania Chetcuti Zammit is a consultant gastroenterologist at Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta. She qualified as a medical doctor from the University of Malta and completed a masters degree with distinction on the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease in the Maltese population. She has worked as a clinical research fellow and a consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, completing an MD at the University of Sheffield.
Dr. Chetcuti Zammit has published extensively in the area of small bowel pathology, including a recent paper on small bowel intussusception in adults with the iCARE Group. Research interests have led to numerous multicentre collaborations and publications including papers on the use of small bowel capsule endoscopy in coeliac disease. She has worked with other European working groups, including the ESGE training group on small bowel endoscopy and the ESGE small bowel quality improvement group. Dr. Chetcuti Zammit joined the iCARE Scientific Committee in November 2023.
