Dr. Bertus Eksteen

Dr Bertus Eksteen is the founder of the Calgary PSC clinic and a member of the Calgary Liver Unit and the
Southern Alberta Liver Transplant Clinic. His main interests are autoimmune liver and gastrointestinal
diseases such as Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), Auto-immune hepatitis (AIH) and Inflammatory
Bowel Disease (IBD). His research has defined many of the crucial immune pathways that underpin these
diseases in the search for new therapies. He is part of the International PSC study group (IPSCSG) and
runs one of the biggest PSC clinics in the world. Closely linked to his clinical practice is his clinical
research and clinical trials to develop novel drugs in PSC.

Dr Eksteen was born in South Africa where he completed his basic medical degree at the University of
Pretoria before moved to the University of Birmingham in the UK in 1996 where he completed his
training in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. He spent 10 years on the renowned Birmingham
liver transplant unit as a MRC Clinician scientist and member of clinical staff before moving to the
University of Calgary in 2011 before starting the Aspen Woods Clinic in 2016. Dr Eksteen obtained a PhD
in liver immunology in Birmingham in 2007 under the supervision of Prof. David Adams. He was elected
a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, UK in 2011. His work has been published in
illustrious scientific journals such as Science, the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Gastroenterology
and Hepatology. His work has received numerous prestigious awards including the Dame Sheila Sherlock
Research prize from the British Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL) in 2007 and in 2010 the Sir
Francis Avery Jones Research Medal from the British Society of Gastroenterology. In 2011/2012 he was
the United European Gastroenterology and American Gastroenterology Association rising Star recipient.