Research Committee

Parakkal Deepak, M.M.B.S, M.S., FACG is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Clinical and Translational Research in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) in St. Louis, Missouri.

He received his medical degree from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIMPER) in Puducherry, India. He completed his fellowship training in gastroenterology, Masters in Clinical and Translational Science and additional Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Fellowship training at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. He also serves as the Deputy Director of Data Quality and Enhancement of the SPARC-IBD cohort of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts in IBD (h-index 27, i10-index 54) including Science, Nature Medicine, Cell Medicine, Gastroenterology and Lancet Gastroenterology Hepatology. He is also an Associate Editor of the Crohn’s and Colitis 360 journal of the Crohns and Colitis Foundation.

His current research interests supported by the funding from the American Collge of Gastroenterology, American Gastroenterological Association, and The Leona M. and Harry B. Hemsley Charitable Trust include developing non-invasive tools for assessing disease activity and response including imaging techniques and novel biomarkers in small bowel and perianal Crohn’s and a prospective study on the effectiveness and safety of Covid-19 vaccines in patients with IBD and similar immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. He also has ongoing studies in cardiometabolic syndromes in IBD.

He is also a co-investigator on NIH (US) funded studies and the site-principal investigator for multiple Phase 2 and 3 trials of novel biologics and small molecules in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and IBD registries.

Dr. Jalpa Devi is an Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, where she has spent the past two years training under Dr. Deepak Parakkal and Dr. Matthew Ciorba with focused experience in complex IBD care, clinical research, and education. In July 2025, she will join the University of Nebraska Medical Center as an Assistant Professor of Medicine. Trained in Pakistan, Dr. Devi completed her Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology fellowship at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences and remains deeply committed to advancing IBD care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Dr. Devi is actively contributing to The Lancet’s Global IBD Commission and the ECCO Working Group on IBD in LMICs. She co-chairs the Women in GI Committee under the Emerging Leaders Collaborative of APAGE and has led multiple international collaborative projects, including the Lancet Global IBD Preparedness Survey and ECCO’s global workforce training initiative. Her research spans optimization of advanced therapies in IBD, development of imaging and molecular biomarkers, use of artificial intelligence in clinical decision-making, and health equity.

She is the first co-author of a CGH publication on the real-world effectiveness of upadacitinib in Crohn’s disease and co-lead author of an international Delphi study on MRI-based healing definitions in perianal fistulizing disease. She has over 25 peer-reviewed publications in journals including CGH, BMJ Open, Crohn’s & Colitis 360, JGH Open, and Indian Journal of Gastroenterology. Her work has been presented at ECCO, DDW, ACG, and IDDF, including two posters selected for distinction at DDW 2025.

She is a member of the 2023 cohort of the ACG Emerging Leaders Program and a recipient of the MILESTONE IBD Fellowship with scholarship support. Her efforts have been recognized with multiple awards, including the Crohn’s & Colitis Congress Early Career Investigator Award and travel grants from UEG and EBMed.

“I’m thrilled to work with SAIA because it offers a unique platform to advance equity, amplify patient voices, and drive meaningful change in global IBD care. The mission aligns closely with both my personal values and professional aspirations.”