Our Fall 2026 Community Conference is almost here! I cannot wait to see each of you in Detroit September 16 - 18. If you haven’t had an opportunity to register, I hope you will do so today and join us for opportunities to learn, connect, and continue our quality improvement efforts.

We are excited to be hosting our Fall 2026 Community Conference in Detroit, Michigan from September 16 to September 18. We look forward to engaging with healthcare providers, patients, parents/caregivers, researchers and improvers from across ImproveCareNow to all teach and all learn, to share and develop new and innovative approaches to improve pediatric IBD care and outcomes, to further our research, and to build our community. Download our agenda and check out some highlights from this event ⬇⬇

Our Spring Live Online Community Conference (LOCC)is right around the corner - on Thursday, April 23, 2026. ImproveCareNow's Executive Director Becky Johnson Rescola speaks to why she's excited for this year's Spring Conference and shares more about our plenary speaker, community proposed sessions, and lunch & learn opportunity! Read her reflections below and be sure to join us as sessions run from 10 AM ET (9 AM CT, 8 AM MT, 7 AM PT) to 5 PM ET.  Registration is completely free for patients and families, and rates have been reduced for our care center partners. Whether you can join us for one hour or the full day, you’ll walk away with actionable insights and a stronger sense of community.

On Thursday, April 23, 2026 ImproveCareNow is hosting our Spring Live Online Community Conference (LOCC). Sessions will run from 10 AM ET (9 AM CT, 8 AM MT, 7 AM PT) to 5 PM ET. This isn't just a meeting; it’s a space designed for you to connect with a national network of IBD experts and peers who truly 'get it.' Best of all, registration is completely free for patients and families. Whether you can join us for one hour or the full day, you’ll walk away with actionable insights and a stronger sense of community..

As a parent, advocate, and self-described IBD "researcher," Inbal has been on the front lines of her family’s IBD journey for a decade. But this isn't just one story, it’s two. Inbal's family has navigated two separate Crohn's disease diagnoses, years apart: one for her younger son in the pediatric system and one for her older son as a young adult. This gave her a unique, firsthand view of the striking differences between the two healthcare worlds. In this insightful Ignite Talk, Inbal shares her lived experience…the fear, the advocacy, the care, the community, the systems that worked, and the ones that failed, to show us the importance of sharing lived experiences and coming together. Her message is a vital one: the healthcare system must learn from families, not just about them, to bring this kind of supportive care to every IBD patient.

Be inspired by Inbal's #IgniteTalk 🔥

This summer, ICN staff invited community members to respond to the prompt "What ICN means to me..." and then mashed up the responses into a fun 3-minute video that was shared at our Fall 2025 Community Conference in September.

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible – Walt Disney

I’m here to make an admission – I love Walt Disney World. I never visited as a child and never really had a desire to visit Disney World until I felt that parental pressure to take my kids. And on that first visit – I was hooked! I loved the magic and escape. Disney is fundamentally designed to innovate, inspire, and ignite – all through bold imagination. Therefore, I am thrilled that my first community conference as Executive Director will be taking place in Orlando!

For families navigating the complexities of chronic illness, Maggie's story offers a powerful reflection. Before her Crohn's diagnosis at sixteen, Maggie, a vibrant "theater kid," found solace and strength in the Hamilton lyric: "I am the one thing in life I can control." This deeply personal belief in her independence was profoundly challenged when her own body became unpredictable. What happens when the very foundation of self-reliance is shaken by an illness that defies control? At our Spring 2025 Live Online Community Conference, Maggie bravely shared her journey, offering insights into adapting to a new normal, redefining strength, and discovering that true resilience often lies not in control itself, but in the courageous choice of how to respond when life takes an unexpected turn. Her story is a testament to the power and resiliency of the human spirit within our shared chronic illness community.

Be inspired by Maggie's #IgniteTalk 🔥

On Thursday, April 24, 2025 ImproveCareNow is hosting our Spring Live Online Community Conference (LOCC). Sessions will run from 10:30 AM ET (9:30 AM CT, 8:30 AM MT, 7:30 AM PT) to 5:30 PM ET. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join us for this interactive, online event and we are proud to be able to offer FREE registration for all patients and parents/caregivers. 

ImproveCareNow (ICN) believes that when patients and parents/caregivers are true partners in the design and delivery of IBD care, we can achieve even better outcomes. One way our Learning Health Network fosters this partnership with our pediatric IBD families is through a Community Conference scholarship program. Scholarships cover the full costs for patients and parents/caregivers to attend our in-person meetings. 

Medical conferences have traditionally been designed just for medical professionals. Shifting this paradigm - offering enriching, content-focused meetings that engage and meet the needs of a diverse audience - is both a challenge and an opportunity. In ICN we are committed to continuously improving our conferences to better include all members of our community. Patients and parents/caregivers not only attend as full participants in our conferences, many of our sessions are also co-created and presented by these vital partners. 

Below are some reflections shared by patient & parent/caregiver attendees from our Fall 2024 Community Conference. If you would like to support this important work and bring more IBD family voices to our learning events, please make a donation to the Richard B. Colletti Family Fund.