Prof. John Hermon-Taylor.

Prof. John Hermon-Taylor,
Chairman, Department of Surgery,
St. George's University Hospital Medical School,
London, England.

WWW : http://www.paratuberculosis.org/members/hermon-taylor.htm


John Hermon-Taylor studied medicine at Cambridge University and at the Royal London Hospital, London UK. He subsequently proceeded to higher surgical training in London, and obtained the Mastership of Surgery degree by Thesis at Cambridge. He spent a year 1968-69 as a Medical Research Council Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Gastrointestinal Physiology at the Mayo Clinic. On returning to London he took up a position as Associate Professor in Surgery, London University and was appointed to the Chair of Surgery at St. George's Hospital and Medical School in 1976. He set up a laboratory of molecular biology in the Department of Surgery at St. George's in the early 1980's, and has applied these methods to the study of Crohn's disease. He currently leads an active research group in the field and a clinical team specializing in the treatment and ongoing care of patients with Crohn's disease. The principal clinical objective is the development of a multi-subunit therapeutic vaccine incorporating DNA and protein technologies, based upon specific genes from Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, to accelerate immune-mediated microbial clearance in Crohn's disease sufferers.

Dr Leonid B. Heifelts.

Dr. Leonid B. Heifets.
Director, Mycobacteriology Laboratory,
National Jewish Medical and Research Center
Denver, Colorado.


Dr. Heifets, a graduate of the Academy of Medical Science, Moscow, has been for many years involved in research related to mycobacteria. He has been a Senior Researcher in the Department of Microbiology of the Central Research Institute for Tuberculosis in Moscow, and a Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the National Jewish Hospital, researching the mechanisms of bactericidal function of the macrophages. He is a professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Medicine (Pulmonology) of the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, and Director of the Mycobacteriology Clinical Reference Laboratory at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center. Dr. Heifets is the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Tubercular Lung Disorders, and a member of several professional organizations whose work is related to mycobacterial diseases.

Dr Ira Shafran.

Dr. Ira Shafran.
Gastroenterologist
MNH Surgery Center,
Maitland, Florida, U.S.A.

WWW : http://www.shafran.net

Dr. Shafran has been a leader in the use of antibiotic treatment for Crohn's Disease in the United States. He is conducting clinical research to explore the benefits of RMAT (rifabutin and macrolide antibiotic therapy) for Crohn's disease. Dr. Shafran has treated approximately 100 patients from all over the U.S. with RMAT.
In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Shafran is founder of Crohn's Disease Research Inc., a non-profit organization that disseminates information about Crohn's Disease and its relationship to MAP. The organization publishes a newsletter, "The Crohn's Crohnicles", that contains news and information relevant to Crohn's Disease and MAP. Dr. Shafran has served as a liaison for doctors interested in RMAT treatment and his website provides resources for patients.

Dr Walter R.Thayer.

Dr. Walter R. Thayer.
Rhode Island Hospital,
Providence, Rhode island, U.S.A.

WWW : http://www.paratuberculosis.org/members/thayer.htm


Dr. Thayer has been in the practice of gastroenterology for the past 35 years. He has been the Section Chief of Gastroenterology at Brown University and its affiliated hospital from 1965 to 1995. At that time Dr. Thayer reached his retirement age of 65 and settled down into the private practice of gastroenterology. During his days of active research he was very interested in the mycobacterial etiology of Crohn's disease. At the 1970 World Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark, he was privileged to give the Quadrennial lecture on Crohn's disease and strongly suggested that a mycobacteria was the etiological agent in Crohn's disease.
Dr. Thayer has spent most of his life doing research on Crohn's disease and was instrumental in getting Dr. Rodrick Chiodini to culture the intestinal tissue from his patients. This was the first isolation of paratuberculosis that was made. Dr. Thayer has been interested in immunology of the disease and has also conducted a controlled trial of Rifabutin/streptomycin in the treatment of Crohn's disease. At this time he is not performing active research in the area, but is very interested and still uses antimycobacterial treatment in some of his more difficult patients.
Dr. Thayer received Clinician of the Year Award from the American Gastroenterological Association in 1999. Dr. Thayer has over 100 publications in all aspects of gastroenterology, especially in the area of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.