Dr Dulai is the recipient of this year's Sherman Emerging Leader Prize, awarded to a clinician or researcher who, "early in his or her career, has contributed to an advancement in his or her discipline and shows great promise for significant contributions in the future" to the study and advancement of treatment in IBD.

This award recognizes his work over the past decade to determine if hyperbaric oxygen therapy can heal acute symptoms among patients hospitalized with ulcerative colitis. In two phase 2 trials, Dr. Dulai has shown that hyperbaric oxygen therapy reduces damage to the colon mediated by neutrophils and alters microbial composition, helping to prevent colectomy in some patients. He is now planning a phase 3 trial of hyperbaric oxygen therapy among hospitalized patients with ulcerative colitis.

Dr Dulai is associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology; director of GI Clinical Trials and Precision Medicine; and director of the Digestive Health Foundation BioRepository at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.