Published in UAB Insight, Spring 2008
Will Offer Multidisciplinary Care
UAB will join ranks with an elite group of health care centers with the 2008 opening of an Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center. Currently, fewer than 10 facilities nationwide offer multidisciplinary IBD centers that integrate multispecialty care for IBD. Scheduled to open later this year in The Kirklin Clinic® under the initial directorship of gastrointestinal surgeon Ernesto R. Drelichman, MD, UAB’s IBD Center will be the only such center in the Southeast.
“The center will offer specialized expertise, core facilities, multidisciplinary collaboration, and single-site care,” he says. Drelichman, a Protective Life Clinical Initiative Grant recipient, also received $200,000 from the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation General Endowment Fund to establish a proctology clinic and office-based endoscopy that will streamline and enhance diagnosis and treatment at the IBD Center.
“Patients will be able to arrive for morning evaluation and diagnostic testing, consult with IBD specialists, discuss the most effective individualized treatment options and, if warranted, return the following morning for surgery,” he says.
Simultaneous coordination of visits with multiple specialists provides continuity of care and decreases return appointments. This is particularly important for IBD patients with active symptoms who may be traveling long distances for medical care, Drelichman says.
Expansion of UAB’s current clinical and research resources will improve the existing coordinated care for IBD patients and provide educational opportunities for scientists and health care professionals.
The center builds on the interdisciplinary IBD care already provided by Drelichman and gastroenterologist Alexandra Gutierrez, MD, who currently coordinate their clinical and surgical schedules to meet patient needs. To enhance referring physician’s access, UAB IBD physicians offer a dedicated toll free number, 1.877.IBD.DOCS.
UAB IBD patients have access to the latest clinical trial information. “Potential options for the medical management of IBD are developing at an unprecedented rate,” Gutierrez says. “Every week we receive information about investigative trials for new IBD therapies,” she says. UAB offers a menu of active clinical trials for IBD patients.
UAB also is expanding its gastroenterology staff, adding a gastrointestinal surgeon and gastroenterologist. In addition, Abbott Laboratories is sponsoring a gastroenterology fellowship in IBD. The program exposes fellows to research programs; clinical trials; IBD epidemiology, clinical pharmacology and immunology; and advanced, specialized training. This training opportunity, the first at UAB, will increase the clinical expertise and knowledge base for this devastating disease.
“The IBD Center will build on UAB’s established reputation for clinical research and expert care by expanding faculty expertise and strengthening and simplifying the diagnostic and treatment process for patients,” Drelichman says.
For more information:
Dr. Ernesto Drelichman
Dr. Alexandra Gutierrez
1.800.UAB.MIST
mist@uabmc.edu