A Message from Dr. Nik Plevris: Why ChatIBD Matters

For as long as I’ve been practising medicine, my goal has been simple: to improve the lives of people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

At the Edinburgh IBD Unit, I’ve been involved in everything from introducing new advanced therapies and developing an intestinal ultrasound service, to leading research on drug optimisation and real-world outcomes. Alongside this, I’ve contributed to international trials and guideline committees, working with colleagues around the world to push the boundaries of how we deliver care.

But one thing has always struck me: no matter where you are - whether in a tertiary centre in Europe or a district hospital in a developing region, clinicians want the same thing: clear, reliable answers they can trust, quickly.

That’s why we built ChatIBD.

Why I Believe in ChatIBD

ChatIBD is an educational assistant, built to give clinicians fast access to the latest evidence-based IBD knowledge, adapted to their local context. My role as Head of Research & Validation is to make sure clinicians can trust what ChatIBD says. That means building a model that is:

Accurate: benchmarked against gold-standard guidelines (BSG, ECCO, ACG, UEG).
Safe: reviewed by experts, with every clinician able to flag and feedback on responses.
Relevant: localised for country-specific guidelines, drug availability, and care pathways.

How We’re Validating It

We’re taking validation as seriously as any clinical research study. That includes:

Independent QA review of responses, targeting >90% accuracy.
Built-in clinician feedback systems to continuously improve.
Quarterly international expert panel reviews.
Direct benchmarking against existing tools.

We’ll also measure what really matters: adoption, trust, accuracy, and global reach.

The Road Ahead

Over the next 18 months, we’re launching research studies on educational impact, equity in global access, user metrics and even health economics, asking whether tools like ChatIBD can shorten the time to best care and save health systems money in the process.

For me, ChatIBD is the natural extension of my work in IBD. It combines clinical practice, research, and education into something that can reach far beyond the walls of my clinic in Edinburgh.

I believe this tool can help level the playing field - giving every clinician, everywhere, access to the very best knowledge in IBD. And that, ultimately, means better outcomes for patients.