Bram Verstockt, MD Phd
Gastroenterology
Bram Verstockt is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) and a staff gastroenterologist in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at University Hospitals Leuven, where he has been a member of the IBD unit since 2021. He provides comprehensive care for patients with IBD, leads the multidisciplinary IBD clinic, and pioneered the implementation of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) as a point-of-care imaging modality within the Leuven IBD programme and across Belgium.
He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven in 2013 and completed his specialist training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2021. During his residency, he trained at Mater Dei Hospital (Malta), Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Hospital (Aalst/Asse), Imelda Hospital (Bonheiden) and University Hospitals Leuven. In 2021, he completed an additional fellowship in Lüneburg (Germany), becoming an IBUS-certified intestinal ultrasound specialist.
In 2015, he interrupted his clinical training to pursue a PhD supported by a fellowship from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). His doctoral research, Predicting Outcome in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Multi-omics Approach Towards Personalised Medicine, was conducted under the supervision of Professors Marc Ferrante and Séverine Vermeire. During the first year of his PhD, he completed a research fellowship at the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke's Hospital in the laboratory of Professor Kenneth Smith, working closely with Dr James Lee. He successfully defended his PhD in 2019.
His research programme bridges disease biology, translational science and clinical implementation to accelerate precision medicine in IBD. By integrating multi-omics technologies, advanced imaging, spatial biology and patient-derived organoid and gut-on-chip models, his laboratory aims to unravel disease heterogeneity, identify novel therapeutic targets and discover predictive and prognostic biomarkers that can guide personalised treatment strategies. His work particularly focuses on fibrostenotic disease, perianal Crohn's disease, disease progression, intestinal repair, and IBD-related fatigue.
Complementing this translational research, Professor Verstockt leads and contributes to multiple national and international clinical studies and strategic clinical trials evaluating innovative therapeutic approaches, (imaging) biomarkers and novel clinical endpoints. His clinical research focuses on non-invasive disease monitoring through intestinal ultrasound, biomarker-driven decision making and the development of clinically meaningful outcome measures for future trials.
Together, these complementary research programmes create a continuous translational pipeline that spans mechanistic discovery, biomarker identification, preclinical validation and clinical implementation, with the ultimate goal of delivering more precise, mechanism-based therapies for patients with IBD. He is co-founder of the international IBD proteomics consortium COLLIBRI, which aims to accelerate biomarker discovery through collaborative multi-centre research.
Beyond his research activities, Professor Verstockt plays an active role in shaping international IBD research, education and clinical practice. He currently serves as Secretary of the International Bowel Ultrasound Group (IBUS), Vice-President of the European Microscopic Colitis Group (EMCG), Chair of the Belgian IBD Biobank (BIO-BIRD), Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Belgian IBD Research and Development Group (BIRD), and board member of the ECCO Guidelines Committee (GuiCom). He previously chaired both the IBUS Scientific Committee and the Young European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (Y-ECCO).
He currently holds a Clinical Research Fund (KOOR) research mandate at UZ Leuven. Previously, he was supported by both PhD and postdoctoral fellowships from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). His research has received competitive funding from several national and international organisations, including the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (ECCO), the International Bowel Ultrasound Group (IBUS), the Belgian IBD Research and Development Group (BIRD), the Crohn and Colitis Association Flanders (CCV vzw), and other competitive funding programmes.
Professor Verstockt is Associate Editor of the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis and serves as reviewer for numerous leading gastroenterology journals, international conferences and research funding agencies. His work has been recognised through several national and international distinctions, including the Prof. Dr Jan De Groote Prize (2013), the Horlait-Dapsens Prize (2020), the KU Leuven Research Council Award in Biomedical Sciences (2022), the UEG Rising Star Award (2025) and the ECCO Young Investigator Award (2025). In 2020, he also reached the semi-finals of the Flemish PhD Cup.
His long-term ambition is to bridge molecular discovery, advanced imaging and innovative clinical trial design to enable truly personalised treatment strategies and improve outcomes for people living with IBD.
