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...
by Anna Gomberg | Apr 8, 2021 | Grateful Patients, Newsletter, University of Chicago Medicine
By 2014, Katherine (Kathy) France had been having trouble swallowing for years. Her symptoms became so severe that even drinking a glass of water could take over an hour. She sought guidance from several gastroenterologists. A close colleague had been treated for...
by Anna Gomberg | Mar 17, 2021 | Grateful Patients, University of Chicago Medicine
Triple Organ Transplant with a Hepatitis C Positive Liver On December 12, 2021, Ed Hogan underwent one of the rarest surgical procedures performed anywhere in the world: a simultaneous triple organ transplant of his heart, kidney, and liver. Ed’s case had one more...
by GI Research Foundation | Dec 16, 2019 | Research and Discovery, University of Chicago Medicine
The human microbiome is a complex ecosystem made up of bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic organisms. In recent decades, scientists have recognized that the microbiome is a factor in inflammatory bowel diseases and other gastrointestinal illnesses. Support from...
