GI Insights

Host Dr. Barry Mennen welcomes Dr. Ashwin Ananthakrishnan, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical co-director at the MGH Crohn’s and Colitis center. Dr. Ananthakrishnan is involved in several large cohort studies that are attempting to examine established and novel environmental factors, including diet, that influence the risk of development of inflammatory bowel diseases. His recent study focusing on the potential role of dietary zinc in preventing bowel inflammation becomes the focus of this discussion.

Dr. Carol Burke, Director of the Center for Colon Polyp and Cancer Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic, unveils ongoing but underrecognized gender disparities in the practice of gastroenterology, such as differences in academic vs private practice opportunities, average salaries and hours worked, rates of promotion and partnerships, and male-modeled endoscopic equipment designs. Dr. Burke then explores gender disparities in GI care for patients with colorectal cancer, including differences in efficacy of colorectal cancer screening, male vs female morbidity and mortality rates, and even the underlying biologies of cancers themselves.

Irritable bowel syndrome is becoming increasingly recognized as a complex interplay of pathologies, from changes in gut microflora to nutrient absorption abnormalities to psychosocial stressors. The ways in which these factors contribute and interact create different profiles of disease, requiring personalized therapeutic plans for IBS patiets. Joining Dr. Barry Mennen to discuss a multimodal model for approaching the root causes of IBS is Dr. Neelesh A. Tipnis, the Paul H. Parker Professor and Chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Director of the GI Motility and Functional Bowel Disorders Program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Live from the floor of Digestive Disease Week in Washington DC, GI Insights presents two interviews focusing on screening, surveillance, and therapeutic updates for colorectal and liver cancers, hosted by Dr. Barry Mennen. Guests on this program include:

• Dr. Linda Rabeneck, Vice President of Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO), Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto. Dr. Rabeneck speaks on global initiatives to increase awareness about colorectal cancer screening and surveillance.

• Dr. Kris Kowdley, Director of the Liver Care Network and Research Director of the Organ Care Program at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, WA. Dr. Kowdley summarizes key takeaways on recognition of liver cancer and other related diseases of the liver in American populations today.

Live from the floor of Digestive Disease Week in Washington DC, GI Insights presents two interviews focusing on innovative approaches to inflammatory bowel disease, hosted by Dr. Barry Mennen. Guests on this program include:

• Dr. Jonathan Braun, Professor and Chair of Pathology and Lab Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His research centers on the biology of mucosal interaction of host immunity with the local microbial community, and its impact on chronic mucosal inflammatory disease and cancer.

• Michael Hurst, author of Poop Power: How a Man Used a Fecal Transplant at Home to Permanently Cure Himself of Ulcerative Colitis. Mr. Hurst is a known advocate and volunteer for the Fecal Transplant Foundation, whose story of self-designing an unorthodox treatment regimen for ulcerative colitis has since offered new insights on best clinical management practices for IBD.

Host Dr. Barry Mennen welcomes Dr. Ryan Stidham, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Center of the University of Michigan Health System, to discuss the current therapeutic landscape for IBD based on recent comparative clinical trials.

Host Dr. Jay Goldstein discusses the latest in IBS & Functional GI Disorders (FGIDs) with guest expert Dr. Douglas Drossman of the Drossman Center for the Education and Practice of Integrated Care. Dr. Drossman is Professor Emeritus in the departments of Gastroenterology and Psychiatry at the Center for Functional GI and Motility, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Host Dr. Jay Goldstein welcomes Dr. Sunanda V. Kane, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Mayo Clinic, to dicuss the latest in Crohn's disease diagnosis and management. Dr. Kane is author of IBD Self-Management: The AGA Guide to Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, now in its second edition.

What types of small bowel abnormalities are most common among pediatric patients? How can physicians investigate suspected small bowel disease or gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in our younger patients? Dr. Stanley Cohen, gastroenterologist at the Combined Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Children's Center for Digestive Health Care at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and adjunct clinical professor of pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, Georgia, discusses the roles of CT scans, MRIs and small bowel capsule endoscopy in evaluating pediatric patients with suspected small bowel disease. Dr. Jay Goldstein hosts.

Obscure gastrointesinal bleeding can pose investigational challenges. What are the potential causes of obscure GI bleeding? After initial negative upper endoscopy and colonoscopy tests are performed, what new technologies can help physicians more effectively detect small bowel abnormalities? Dr. Jonathan Leighton, professor of medicine and chair of the division of gastroenterology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and Dr. Moshe Rubin, director of gastroenterology and program director of the GI fellowship training program at New York Hospital Queens Medical Center and the Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York, discuss the roles of small bowel capsule endoscopy, balloon-assisted enteroscopy, spiral enteroscopy, and CT enterography in evaluating patients with obscure GI bleeding. Dr. Jay Goldstein hosts.