For more than 30 years the International Colorectal Disease Symposium hosted by Cleveland Clinic Florida has been the world’s leading annual colorectal postgraduate symposium. After a covid induced hiatus, the meeting will return in February 2025. Our internationally esteemed faculty represent the best, brightest, most innovative, and insightful leaders in colorectal disorders. The interdisciplinary panel of colorectal surgeons, gastroenterologists, medical oncologists, pathologists, urologists, and others will allow a multidisciplinary approach to the newest most cutting-edge methods of evaluation and management of the entire array of disorders of the colon, rectum, anus, and small bowel. Each of the twelve sessions includes a 30-minute interactive panel discussion with questions, answers, debate, and dialogue. 

The major focus will be optimizing outcomes for patients through interdisciplinary care in the major areas of carcinoma, inflammatory bowel disease, anorectal surgery, and functional pelvic floor disorders. The faculty will be including evidence-based guidelines and, where appropriate, will introduce and discuss standards. Liberal use of video for demonstration of technique will, as has always been the case in the past, continue to help augment the educational process. 

Some very new and exciting aspects which will be on the program include artificial intelligence, surgical simulation, fluorescence imaging and fluorescence guided surgery, and treatment of metastatic disease. 

Furthermore, lectures and discussion will also be devoted to the very timely topics of surgeon wellness and wellbeing, patient satisfaction, cost-effective care, and patient reported outcomes. 

Program Directors

Steven D. Wexner, MD, PhD (Hon)
Director, Ellen Leifer Shulman and Steven Shulman
Digestive Disease Center
Chair, Department of Colorectal Surgery
Cleveland Clinic Florida 
Weston, Florida

Marylise Boutros, MD, FACS, FRCSC
Regional Director of DDI Research
Ellen Leifer Shulman and Steven Shulman
Digestive Disease Center
Department of Colorectal Surgery
Cleveland Clinic Florida
Weston, Florida

By Attending, You Will Be Able To:

• Debate tools to determine success focusing on patient reported outcomes, validated databases, and evidence based guidelines
• Discuss the etiology of, and methods of decreasing the impact of anastomotic leaks
• Evaluate methods of minimally invasive surgery including laparoscopy, robotics, and transanal access techniques
• Manage methods of teamwork and communication including mentoring, coaching, conflict resolution, and communication
• Review currently available tools to optimize patient outcomes including fluorescence guided and minimally invasive surgery

Faculty

Mariana Berho - Florida
Mary L. Brandt - Texas
Mary Brindle - Canada
Juan Luis Calisto - Florida
Ahmed (Sami) Chadi - Canada
Manish Chand - United Kingdom
Richard Cohen - United Kingdom
Delia Cortes-Guiral - Spain
Giovanna da Silva - Florida
Connor Delaney - Florida
Paula Denoya - New York
Andre D'Hoore - Belgium
Tolga Erim - Florida
James Fleshman - Texas
Emre Gorgun - Ohio
Brooke Gurland - California
Dana Hayden - Wisconsin
Arthur Hiranyakas - Thailand
Stefan Holubar - Ohio
Hermann Kessler - Ohio
Charles Knowles - United KingdomClifford Ko - California
Antonio Lacy - Spain
David Liska - Ohio
Emanuele LoMenzo - Florida
David Maron - Florida
Anna Martling - Sweden
Gabriela Möslein - Germany
Venkatesh Munikrishnan - India
Arun Nagarajan - Florida
Martin I. Newman - Florida
Juan J. Nogueras - Florida
Lucia Oliveira - Brazil
Marcus Oosenbrug - Florida
Albert Parlade - Florida
Rodrigo Perez - Brazil
Sameh Rizkalla - Florida
Guillermo Rosato - Argentina
Raul Rosenthal - Florida
Richard Rothman - Florida
Nicolas A. Rotholtz - Argentina
Mayank Roy - Florida
Ebram Salama - Florida
Dana Sands - Florida
Laurence Sands - Florida
Nicole Saur - Pennsylvania
Sherief Shawki - Minnesota
Virginia Shaffer - Georgia
Sherief Shawki - USA
Antonio Spinelli - Italy
Sharon Stein - Ohio
Eva Suarez - Florida
Patricia  Sylla - New York
Andrew Ukleja - Florida
Asad Ur Rahman - Florida
Sneha Vaish - Florida
Eric Weiss - Florida
Oded Zmora - Israel