Inflammatory bowel disease program
The inflammatory bowel disease program is a multidisciplinary program focusing on the care and research of children diagnosed with Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis. Located at the hospital's Outpatient Center in Lincoln Park, the program offers patients and their families comprehensive and individualized treatments for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Patients are seen by a multidisciplinary team that includes a pediatric gastroenterologist, pediatric nurse practitioner, registered dietitian and a social worker. The dedicated team provides ongoing evaluation and therapy for patients with IBD, including second opinions for complex cases. The team focuses on all aspects of care from improving quality of life to preventing complications of the disease.
The members of the IBD program include:
Members of the IBD program participate in both clinical and laboratory research to advance understanding of this complex disease.
Clinical research
Jennifer Strople, MD, is a participant in a multi-center, collaborative research consortium for the study of pediatric IBD. The goals of this research network are to characterize and describe the pediatric IBD population, identify risk factors for development of IBD, and evaluate and compare the effectiveness and safety of various treatments of IBD.
Laboratory research
Jeffrey Brown, MD's laboratory research focuses on identifying the specific localization of effector cell trafficking within the colon and what role these pathways play in the establishment of memory function. The longterm objective is to better define pathways of colonic recruitment and establish what factors maintain memory function within the effector compartment of the colon that may be relevant to host defenses.