Dr. Mark A. Samaan gained experience as a clinician and researcher at specialist IBD centres in England, The Netherlands, Canada and the U.S. Dr Samaan's international experience was undertaken as part of an “International IBD Clinical Trials Fellowship” with Robarts. In addition, he has co-authored several book chapters on IBD and worked as a ‘Bibliographic Fellow’ on the IOIBD international consensus process regarding treatment targets in IBD (STRIDE). He was awarded the St George’s Young Researcher of the Year Award in 2015 and again in 2016. He was runner up for the 2016 ‘BSG Alistair McIntyre Prize’ for improving education by founding the London IBD SpR Training Group. In 2017 he received an ‘RCP/NIHR CRN Award for Outstanding Research Leadership in the NHS’ and an ECCO Travel Award. In 2018 he was named the ‘BSG Young Gastroenterologist of the Year for Clinical and Translational Science’ and received another ‘RCP/NIHR CRN Award for Outstanding Research Leadership in the NHS’. He was chosen as an ‘Advanced IBD Fellow’ for the Cornerstones program at DDW 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2021, he was awarded an NIHR CRN Principal Investigator Greenshoots initiative award. He was previously a member of theUK Clinical Research Network: Gastroenterology National Specialty Group as well as the Young-ECCO (Y-ECCO) committee.