Few diseases can lay claim to four large multiauthor textbooks in addition to numerous more concise handbooks and monographs. This is certainly unique in gastroenterology where inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has attracted eager basic scientists, clinicians, and the pharmaceutical industry with a frenzy of translation from bench to bedside. The concept of “boundary less”, so effectively developed by Jack Welch as the CEO of General Electric Co, aptly describes current IBD research, where geneticists, epidemiologists, immunologists, microbiologists, and molecular biologists interact seamlessly with gastroenterologists, physicians, health economists, and nurse specialists.

Three additional questions posed in …