Cleveland Clinic Names Anthony de Buck, MD, as New Section Head of IBD

Cleveland Clinic has welcomed Anthony de Buck, MD, MSc, to its Department of Colorectal Surgery as Section Head of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Dr. de Buck, a colorectal surgeon, comes to Cleveland Clinic from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

Originally from Belgium, Dr. de Buck received his medical degree from the University of Leuven in Belgium, where he completed his surgical and colorectal training. He completed a colorectal fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto before returning to Belgium to join the University of Leuven as a colorectal surgeon. After four years, he returned to Toronto as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto and a colorectal surgeon in the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. de Buck also has a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology from the University of Toronto. His work has focused primarily on IBD and specifically looks at clinical outcome research centered around functional and quality of life outcomes in IBD patients.

Dr. de Buck recently sat down with ConsultQD to discuss what drives his passion for helping patients, how technology has impacted IBD care and his plans for the program moving forward.

Q. What drew you to colorectal surgery and, specifically, IBD care?

A. Initially, during medical school, I knew I wanted to do something surgical, but I didn’t really have anything specific beyond that. It was only during my general surgery residency that I decided to focus on colorectal surgery. I liked how colorectal surgery allowed me to build a very close relationship with my patients, especially in IBD, being able to significantly impact their lives, while remaining a highly technical specialty.

I am Belgian, and I did medical school and surgical training in Belgium at the University of Leuven. While I was there, I had the opportunity to work with several key individuals within the IBD world, including Paul Rutgeerts, MD, PhD, well-known for the Rutgeerts Score used for assessing postoperative recurrence and who was a pioneer in the medical care of patients with IBD. I also worked with Severine Vermeire, MD, PhD, who has just become the first female rector of the University of Leuven in its 600-year existence. The other person in Leuven whom I learned a great deal from is my surgical mentor, Andre D’Hoore, MD, PhD.

During my fellowship in Toronto, I learned so much about surgical IBD care and techniques from Zane Cohen, MD, and Robin McLeod, MD, who were two ‘giants” in the field of colorectal surgery. So, I think it was really working closely with these people that drew me to the specialty.

Q. You mentioned the impact a colorectal surgeon can have on their patients. What about IBD, specifically?

A. I think what stuck out to me most with IBD is the impact this disease can have on our patients. Patients are often young and, although not often life-threatening, this disease has such a significant effect on patients’ quality of life. Patients are often in their 20s and 30s and are significantly impaired in their ambitions to go to university, start their professional career or start their families. Surgery can drastically improve their quality of life and open up these opportunities. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing a patient after surgery and seeing how they thrive in their studies or were able to start their new dream job, not to speak about coming to present their newborn!

Many patients are scared to have surgery, although it’s often only after having surgery that they realize how much of an impact their IBD has had on their quality of life. Being able to really impact these patients’ lives and having the privilege to witness this every day, is truly amazing. Moreover, since IBD is a chronic disease, we often develop long-term relationships with our patients.

Q. How has IBD care evolved since you started in medicine?

A. I think looking at where technology is today and where I expect it will be in the near future is very exciting. I think we're at a crossroads. Obviously, the improvement in minimally invasive surgery over the last 20 years, with laparoscopy, with even single-port surgery, is something we can further improve. But we also see robotic or endoscopic technology improve every year, and we as surgeons need to make sure we stay on top of all these new developments so we can ensure our patients are receiving the best possible care using the best technology available.

The other big development is obviously the impact AI will have on colorectal surgery. I expect that we’ll use it routinely very soon to help us interpret imaging, endoscopic findings, and other diagnostic tools, but what I’m also excited about is the potential of AI to help us predict better which patients would benefit from early surgery as opposed to further medical management. This would potentially allow us to provide care and relief sooner while being more impactful. It could also help us detect postoperative complications earlier, allowing us to reduce hospital stays dramatically, among other benefits.

Q. What is it about coming to Cleveland Clinic that excites you?

A. I think one of the great things about Cleveland Clinic is the number of resources available to try to help our patients. As I just described the technical revolutions coming to us, Cleveland Clinic is probably the place where those approaches can be developed and adopted early on to remain at the forefront of patient care.

As more IBD medications come onto the market, we have more options to treat patients non-surgically, reducing the need for surgery over time. This is obviously good news for the patients; however, I expect that patients needing surgery will be more complex to treat. That’s why centers like the Cleveland Clinic, which have extensive expertise in caring for IBD patients, will be even more important in the future. It’s part of why I’m so excited about my new position at Cleveland Clinic. I have great colleagues here with so much experience and expertise, and I’m looking forward to working with them and reaching our shared goals of caring for and improving the care of our patients with IBD. It’s a great challenge, but also a great privilege.