Frank Hoentjen

Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Medicine Dept

Contact Overview Announcements Publications

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Medicine Dept

Email: hoentjen@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 492-8691

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Ulcerative colitis Crohn's disease inflammatory bowel disease inflammation dysplasia cancer biologicals microscopic colitis

About

Dr. Frank Hoentjen is a Gastroenterologist and Professor of Medicine at the University of Alberta, specializing in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. He earned his medical degree at the Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. After completing a 2-year research fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, his PhD was awarded by the Free University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research focused on immunological and microbial factors in the pathogenesis of colitis. Dr. Hoentjen completed his residencies and GI fellowship at the Free University Medical Center, Amsterdam, and completed an advanced IBD fellowship at the University of Chicago, USA. In 2011 he joined the Gastroenterology faculty at the Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Dr. Hoentjen joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Alberta in 2021. Currently he is Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease unit and Co-Director of the Gastroenterology Trial Unit (GastroIntestinal and Liver Disease Research Group, GILDR) at the University of Alberta. Dr. Hoentjen is Vice Chair of Clinical Research, Scientific and Medical Advisory Council (SMAC) for the Crohn's and Colitis Canada (CCC).

Clinical Interests

Dr. Hoentjen’s clinical focus is inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis, and inflammatory conditions associated with immune deficiencies. He specializes in the management of immunosuppressive and biological IBD therapies and the prevention of colorectal cancer in IBD patients. He runs a specialized clinic for IBD patients and provides endoscopic services at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.

Research

Dr Hoentjen’s research focuses on IBD, a life-long inflammatory disease of the intestinal tract. His goal is to ensure that IBD patients can forget their chronic disease thanks to excellent disease management. In order to achieve this, he employs three strategies; (1) Optimizing immunosuppressive and biological or biosimilar therapies through clinical and translational studies to improve efficacy, safety, therapeutic drug monitoring and cost effectiveness. (2) Implement care pathways to improve the IBD care delivered by creating and using registries, e-health and telemonitoring at a regional level and nation-wide level. (3) Achieve a better understanding of the risk of colorectal cancer and dysplasia in IBD patients and improve surveillance strategies to prevent cancer.

Teaching

Dr. Hoentjen supervises clinical and research trainees and residents and provides classroom instruction for the medical students. He also participates in continuing medical education sessions for physicians and other health care providers. Students and peers at the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences at Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, The Netherlands voted him PhD supervisor of the year in 2020.

Announcements

Dr. Hoentjen's research group has positions available for PhD students in clinical research in the area's of biologics in inflammatory bowel disease, and colorectal cancer risk in inflammatory bowel disease and primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Featured Publications

Ustekinumab versus adalimumab for induction and maintenance therapy in biologic-naive patients with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, phase 3b trial

Sands B.E., Irving P.M., Hoops T., Izanec J.L., Gao L.L., Gasink C., Greenspan A., Allez M., Danese S., Hanauer S.B., Jairath V., Kuehbacher T., Lewis J.D., Loftus E.V., Mihály E., Panaccione R., Scherl E., Shchukina O., Sandborn W.J., Afzali A., Aitova L., Aldeguer i Mante X., Altorjay I., Argüelles Arias F., Armuzzi A., Augustyn M., Bafutto M., Barrio J., Begun J., Behrend C., Bezemer G., Bonnaud G., Brankovic M., Byung I.J., Calvet Calvo X., Chachu K., Chebli J.M.F., Cheon J.H., Cichoz-Lach H., Clark L., Cummings F., Dalal K., De Boer N., De Lourdes Ferrari M., Désilets E., Dugalic P., Duvall G., Fedorishina O., Filip R., Flores C., Fogel R., Fon J., Frankel M., Friedenberg K., Fries W., Galina V., Gietka P., Goel R., Hasselblatt P., Herfarth H., Herszényi L., Hindryckx P., Hoentjen F., Horjus Talabur Horje C., Iduru S., Irving P., Isfort R., Jones M., Kalimullina D., Katz J., Kaur M., Khurana S.K., Kim J.S., Kim Y., Kleczkowski D., Knezevic S., Knoll A., Korman L.Y., Kotzev I., Kulyapin A., Lee K.M., Leemreis D., Leszczyszyn J., Limdi J., Lissauer J., Loftus E., Malecka-Panas E., Marshall J., Mihály E., Milan L., Monteleone G., Nagorni A., Owczarek D., Palekar N., Park Y.S., Park S.H., Parra R., Patai Á., Patel K., Patel B., Pershko A., Petrova E., Pineton de Chambrun G., Randall C., Riestra Menendez S., Ritter T., Rivero M., Roblin X., Rocca R., Romatowski J., Rydzewska G., Saibeni S., Salzberg B., Sarles H., Saunders J., Savarino E.V., Serclova Z., Shchukina O., Siegel J., Soofi N., Sparrow M., Stokesberry D., Suiter D., Svorcan P., Tkachev A., Tsonev N., Tünde K., Ulbrych J., Vanasek T., Varga M., Vermeire S., Vicente Lidon R., Weiss M.L., Wesley E., Winstead N., Wojcik K., Wypych J., Zaltman C., Zdena Z.

LANCET. 2022 June; 399 (10342):2200-2211 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00688-2