Professor Hans Beger MD FACS is Chairman and Head of the Department of Surgery, University of Ulm, Germany. He has published 675 papers and has served as an Editorial Board Member for 28 international surgery journals. He has also edited 21 books and delivered more than 250 international lectures. He also developed a surgical procedure for removing the head of the pancreas while preserving the duodenum: known as Beger's operation.

Professor Andrew L. Warshaw MD FACS is the W. Gerald Austen Professor of Surgery, surgeon-in-chief and chairman of the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has made important contributions to the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer and the pathogenesis and management of pancreatitis. A distinguished teacher, editor and prolific writer, he is Editor-in-chief of the journal Surgery. He has served on the editorial boards of 15 other major journals and as visiting professor at more than 50 major universities in the U.S. and around the world. He serves as a governor of the American College of Surgeons, and president-elect of the Halsted Society. He is past-president of the Society of Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and International Association of Pancreatology.

Professor David Whitcomb MD PhD, is Professor of Medicine, Cell Biology & Physiology, and Human Genetics, and Chief, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA (Pancreatologist). He founded and directs the Center for Genomic Sciences beginning in 1995. He has received numerous awards, including election to the prestigious American Society for Clinical Investigation ("Young Turk"). He conducts basic and translational research with a focus on pancreatic diseases. His laboratory group discovered the gene causing hereditary pancreatitis and other causes of pancreatic disease. In addition, he leads several research projects on alcoholic pancreatitis and pancreatic physiology. He has published over 100 manuscripts and recently co-edited two books on inherited diseases of the pancreas. He is a Counselor for the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA), the American Pancreas Association and the International Association of Pancreatology, and is Chairman of the Pancreatic Disorders Section of the AGA. He is an Associate Editor for Pancreas, Digestive Diseases and Sciences, and Pancreatology. He co-founded the Midwest Multicenter Pancreatic Study Group and serves on national and international committees for the major gastroenterology and pancreatic societies. He has just been elected President of the American Pancreas Association.

Professor Richard Kozarek, Chief of Gastroenterology, Virginia Mason Medical Center, and Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.