Albert J (Arjan) Bredenoord, MD studied Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. He subsequently worked on several clinical research projects on GI motility at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA and at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands which resulted in a PhD thesis on gastroesophageal reflux disease in 2006. His clinical training was performed in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands and at the Royal London Hospital in London, UK. He currently works as a consultant Gastroenterologist at the Amsterdam Medical Center where he is dedicated to patients care, scientific research and education. His main focus is on achalasia, reflux disease and eosinophilic esophagitis. He is one of the pioneers of high-resolution manometry and impedance monitoring of the esophagus. The esophageal clinic in the AMC Amsterdam hosts the largest population of benign esophageal diseases in the Netherlands. Dr Bredenoord is an author of over 150 papers, books and book chapters on esophageal diseases and organizes regular courses in Europe, North America and Asia. Dr Bredenoord is associate editor of Neurogastroenterology and Motility and co-founder of the International HRM working group.André Smout was born in 1950 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam and thereafter specialized in gastroenterology in Rotterdam and Utrecht. Since 1984 he has worked as a consultant gastroenterologist at the University Medical Centers of Utrecht and Amsterdam. Since 1994 he is professor of "Neurogastroenterology and Motility”, first at the University of Utrecht and later at the University of Amsterdam. For almost 40 years André Smout's research, clinical and teaching activities have been devoted to gastrointestinal motility and neurogastroenterology. In later years the emphasis of his scientific activities was on gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophageal motility disorders. He is author of more than 425 peer-reviewed scientific publications, several books andmany book chapters on gastrointestinal motility and functional bowel disorders. Jan Tack is Head of Clinic in the Department of Gastroenterology, Professor in Internal Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine at the University of Leuven, and a principal researcher in TARGID (the Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders) at the University of Leuven. Professor Tack’s scientific interest focuses on clinical and physiological aspects of neurogastroenterology and motility, and on this topic he has published more than 40 book chapters and over 580 articles, which received more than 17000 citations. He has won several awards for basic and clinical research in gastrointestinal science and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the United European Gastroenterology Journal, a board member of the Rome Foundation and a member of the Steering Committee of European Society for Neurogastroenterology and Motility.
