2019 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Alessio Fasano

Dr. Rogers Prize Award Gala
Thursday, September 26, 2019 | 6:00 to 9:30 pm
Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Vancouver, BC
Purchase Tickets

The Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine is awarded every two years to celebrate the achievements of individuals who have impacted the practice and progress of health care.  We are pleased to announce that the keynote speaker for this year’s award gala is Dr. Alessio Fasano, the Allan Walker Chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Harvard Medical School and author of Gluten Freedom. (Read Dr. Fasano’s biography below.)

Past keynote speakers have included Dr. Helene Langevin, Director of the Osher Centre for Integrative Medicine (Harvard Medical School); Dr. Jeffrey Bland, author of The Disease Delusion; Dr. Irving Kirsch, author of The Emperor’s New Drugs, and Dr. Wayne Jonas, former CEO and President of the Samueli Institute. Early bird tickets are now on sale for this exceptional event! Purchase online at: drrogersprize2019gala.eventbrite.ca.

Alessio Fasano, MD

Allan Walker Chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
Chief of Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
Director of Center for Celiac Research and Treatment
Director of Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center
Associate Chief, Department of Pediatrics, Basic, Clinical and Translational Research
MassGeneral Hospital for Children
Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Professor of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Alessio Fasano, MD is Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center (MIBRC) at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Dr. Fasano’s current research expertise encompasses basic science focused on bacterial pathogenesis, gut microbiome composition and function in health and disease, the regulation of gut permeability, and intestinal mucosal biology and immunology, as well as translational science focused on the role of impaired intestinal barrier function in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including celiac disease and type 1 diabetes.

Dr. Fasano’s group was responsible for the discovery of zonulin in 2000, a protein involved in the regulation of tight junctions, which is released in conditions of dysbiosis.  Current research directed by Dr. Fasano is focused on the basic science of the gut microbiome and intestinal mucosal biology, as well as translational science focused on interventional clinical trials in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Fasano is also Director of the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. He founded the Center, where he treats both adults and children for gluten-related disorders, in 1996. His visionary research, which established the rate of celiac disease at one in 133 people, led to the awareness of celiac disease as a growing public health problem in the United States. The author of Gluten Freedom, Dr. Fasano is widely sought after as an expert in celiac disease, intestinal permeability and autoimmune disorders and has been featured in media outlets around the world, including National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the BBC and The Daily Mail.