by GI Research Foundation | Dec 17, 2021 | GIRF Event, Newsletter, Research and Discovery, University of Chicago Medicine
On Thursday, December 2nd, more than one hundred GIRF supporters joined the University of Chicago Medicine Digestive Diseases Center online for the second presentation of Moving the Needle: An Update on GIRF’s Impact. Eight esteemed physician scientists shared latest...
by Anna Gomberg | Dec 17, 2021 | Newsletter, University of Chicago Medicine
Everyone knows that what you eat can impact how you feel, and what we choose to eat can be unpredictable, especially during the holidays. But for patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, the way that the disease affects diet and nutrition—and vice versa—is...
by Anna Gomberg | Nov 5, 2021 | GIRF Profiles, Newsletter, Research and Discovery, University of Chicago Medicine
“It’s important to me to prioritize research that has meaning for patients—work that will relieve patient suffering in reasonably short order,” says Michael Charlton, MBBS, Professor of Medicine. An international expert in the study and treatment of liver disease and...
by Anna Gomberg | Oct 11, 2021 | Newsletter, University of Chicago Medicine
For many patients with moderate to severe digestive diseases, the pathway to symptom relief and lasting remission requires finding a specific medical therapy to meet the individual needs of a patient and their disease. Many barriers interfere with the patients’ access...
by Anna Gomberg | Oct 11, 2021 | Grateful Patients, Newsletter, University of Chicago Medicine
Few patients have more experience with Crohn’s disease than Montana Weissner. Now just 21, Montana was diagnosed at 13 with Crohn’s disease and, for over half of her life, has climbed many mountains as part of her journey to finding relief from her debilitating...
by Anna Gomberg | Sep 14, 2021 | Newsletter, Research and Discovery, University of Chicago Medicine
Sometimes, the best recommendation for an ulcerative colitis patient with a damaged colon is to surgically remove the organ entirely and create a new ‘pouch’ made of small intestine tissue. This pouch, called a J pouch because of the shape of the sutures used to...
by Anna Gomberg | Sep 14, 2021 | GIRF Profiles, Newsletter, Research and Discovery, University of Chicago Medicine
Tina Rodriguez, GI Research Foundation Scholar, 2021-2022, spent this past year working hard in the Rubin lab on a complex issue of perennial interest to the IBD community: the connection between mental health disorders like anxiety and depression and Crohn’s disease...
by Anna Gomberg | Aug 5, 2021 | Grateful Patients, Newsletter, University of Chicago Medicine
Billy Perry remembers sitting as a child with his father and his father’s friends in the front seat of their cars, parked outside their neighborhood liquor store. After they opened their bottles, they would give him the first sips. Now 61, Mr. Perry began drinking in...
by Anna Gomberg | Aug 5, 2021 | Newsletter, Research and Discovery, University of Chicago Medicine
On Wednesday, July 21, more than 270 participants joined David T. Rubin, MD, and Russell D. Cohen, MD for an online educational event for IBD patients and their families. The event highlighted the new wave of treatments for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and...
by Anna Gomberg | Jun 9, 2021 | Research and Discovery, Uncategorized, University of Chicago Medicine
Some survey-based studies show rates of sexual dysfunction as high as 90% for IBD patients across all stages of the disease. Due to the complexities involved, patients and providers may miss the opportunity to discuss and resolve this important issue. “Many factors...
by Anna Gomberg | Jun 9, 2021 | Grateful Patients, Uncategorized, University of Chicago Medicine
In January 2013, Jackie Lopez knew that something was wrong. Just after starting her second semester at the University of Iowa, Jackie began to experience debilitating symptoms of abdominal pain and urgency. Jackie says, “I remember rushing to the bathroom, and...
by Anna Gomberg | Apr 8, 2021 | Newsletter, Research and Discovery, University of Chicago Medicine
Difficulty swallowing is a particularly troubling digestive disease symptom with myriad causes. Often, patients suffer for years, adapting their behavior to contend with the sensation of food sticking in their throat or esophagus as they eat, eating a limited diet and...
