Dr Jake (Jakob) Begun has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to Mater Research this year with his recent promotion to Associate Professor.
Reaching the three key attributes, recognition, distinction and leadership, Associate Professor Begun will be able to continue his clinical and translational research in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).
“I am so humbled by this recognition and the support it gives to me and my team,” Associate Professor Begun said.
“We can continue to search for the causes of IBD and explore cures for those living everyday with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”
Associate Professor Begun’s recent work has gained recognition by being featured in podcasts (Finding Genius), published in Gut, Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology, Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis and the Internal Medicine Journal and across research in Mater Hospitals.
Recently, he has achieved success from the Global Gut health grant and was profiled in Natureresearch journal.
Associate Professor Begun has led the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) research group at Mater Research since 2016, and in this time he has contributed and led his team to achieve significant accomplishments including greatly expanding the offering of clinical trials for IBD at the Mater (over 25 clinical trials currently underway), leading a multi-centre nationwide investigator initiated trial on the effectiveness of new therapeutics, and establishing the largest IBD biobank in Australia to investigate prognostic markers in IBD.
His work in clinical research examines predictors of response to therapy which will help minimise the barriers of care, especially in children/adolescents and young adults with IBD, the use of intestinal ultrasound as a non-invasive measure of disease activity, and the role of newly approved therapeutics.
Crossing the hurdles between hospital and research, Associate Professor Begun works to improve outcomes in pregnancy and IBD.
His translational research expands further into the areas of functional genetics underlying the risk of IBD, the role of innate immunity and the microbiome in driving gut inflammation, and developing novel treatments of IBD based on immunomodulatory bioactives produced by the healthy gut bacteria.
You can help Associate Professor Begun and his team’s work now. Learn what your donation does for research.