On the Horizon Jill Lowe SAVE THE DATE
Champions for A Cure : Saturday, June 4th, 2022, 6pm
The GI Research Foundation Annual Ball So many of us have a loved one, know someone or know of someone with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and for those of us in Chicago, all this exceptional patient care and research is RIGHT IN OUR OWN BACK YARD.
This year, GIRF honors Ira Hanan, MD for his commitment to providing excellent care and training future leaders in digestive diseases. At the Ball this year GIRF proudly honors its Lead Scientific Advisor, David T. Rubin, MD, with the Joseph B. Kirsner Award - an annual tradition recognizing those who have made a substantial commitment to further and impact the GI Research Foundation’s mission. He has been referred to as the “Colon Whisperer”. The following 2 page article is reprinted with kind permission (obtained by GIRF), of The Forefront Magazine : the University of Chicago Medecine. Original article by Stephan Benzkofer. Photo by Sandro Miller
The
‘COLON WHISPERER’ Physician-scientist David T. Rubin, MD, devotes his career to improving the lives of patients with inflammatory bowel disease Patients come through his door looking for answers and relief. The symptoms that began as a nuisance have turned painful and chronic. Their bodies have turned on them. University of Chicago Medicine gastroenterologist David T. Rubin, MD, is a world-renowned expert on the treatment and research of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. He’s a tireless educator — in classrooms, at conferences and on Twitter, where he’s known as @IBDMD — and an ardent advocate for people living with IBD. His pre-eminence was recognized in 2020 with the Sherman Prize. Becker’s Healthcare recently named him to its list of “10 GI Leaders to Know.” “The first thing I tell my patients, especially those who have been newly diagnosed, is that we’re going to treat it early, and we’re going to treat it hard, because after we do that I would like you to be in remission the rest of your life,” said Rubin, who created and is Co-Director of the University of Chicago Medicine Digestive Diseases Center. Rubin explains that while recent advances provide doctors and patients with the tools to manage these diseases, none is perfect, and there are no cures. But he is also sure his patients hear one final thought: This disease will not ruin your life. It does not define you. These are particularly comforting and important ideas to hear, because Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis typically first develop in teens and young adults between the ages of 15 and 30. Which likely explains a coffee mug he received as a gift: “Keep calm and call Dr. Rubin.”
WHAT’S NEW IN IBD CARE Gastroenterologist Russell Cohen, MD, answers questions about the latest advances in IBD treatment. UChicagoMedicine.org/RCohen
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The Forefront | FA L L 2 0 2 1
As many as 70,000 Americans will be diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis next year, joining more than 3 million others in the U.S. who live with these chronic conditions. To understand IBD, it is necessary to explore one of the most underappreciated parts of the human body. The gastrointestinal tract harvests the nutrients from everything you eat and drink, breaks them down to be absorbed through the cells lining the system, and then packages the waste for subsequent elimination. MICROBIOME CONNECTION
But scientists now know that the system does so much more. There is a growing appreciation that a key player in human health is the microbiome — the collection of microbes, be they bacteria, fungi, protozoa or viruses, that lives in and on the human body, with the largest concentration in the gut.
DR. RUBIN REALLY IS AMAZING. WHEN YOU’RE IN THAT APPOINTMENT WITH HIM, YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE HIS ONLY PATIENT.
specific enzymes or other mechanisms of inflammation. These molecules are small enough to be delivered as pills and be absorbed into the bloodstream. And finally, 5-ASA therapies, which Rubin has been studying for years, were first developed in the early 1950s to treat arthritis. These therapies don’t suppress the immune response, but are believed to affect the immune activity in the lining of the bowel. QUEST FOR A CURE
With so many options, it would seem that patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can live worry-free, even if a cure isn’t found. But then the human body proves again why it is such a marvelous example of biological engineering.
R ACH E L H E N DE E
“Remember that we’re not treating the cause of IBD, we’re treating the result of it,” Rubin said. “The immune system of the gut is there The microbiome is essential for such to protect us. It still thinks there is a threat. wide-ranging tasks as brain development, inflammation. Patients can experience pain So, it can be just a matter of time before it nutrition and fighting infection. Scientists tell and cramping, more frequent bowel us the microbiome also plays a role in obesity, movements, diarrhea, bleeding and weight loss. finds a new pathway and the inflammation returns.” As a clinician-scientist, Rubin food allergies, and such diseases as diabetes, attacks these problems from all angles, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and, “Treatments are aimed at turning off the pushing the understanding of biology and of course, IBD. inflammation,” Rubin said. “And we’ve made disease in his research while analyzing and great progress in managing these conditions.” assessing the stream of information coming The gut is exposed to the environment more from his patients. Each patient’s unique than any other part of the body except the Today, there are more than 15 effective and biology might provide a special insight into skin. “So, every time you eat, you’re exposing safe treatments for Crohn’s disease and how IBD works. your intestines to what’s coming from the ulcerative colitis. Biological therapies — outside world,” Rubin said. proteins that are made in living cells — Rachel Hendee, diagnosed with severe include anti-TNF therapies that block the Crohn’s disease 25 years ago when she was Normally, this sophisticated system becomes body’s signals that fight infection or cause just 14, has been Rubin’s patient for the past mildly inflamed after a meal and then shuts inflammation; a therapy that selectively seven years. A physician assistant in colon itself off and goes back to a resting state, targets white blood cells on their way to the and rectal surgery at a Chicago hospital, distinguishing between nutrition and pathogens. bowel; and a therapy that targets an Hendee said her own expertise in the field has “What happens with IBD is that the inflammatory protein called IL-23, and only increased her admiration for the IBD inflammatory system of the gut is turned on but works in IBD and psoriasis. specialist, to whom she once gave a mug that doesn’t turn itself off, either because the patient reads “Colon Whisperer.” “The strategy is to turn down the overactive has lost the ‘off switch’ or because there is immune response long enough so that the ongoing stimulation by something we have yet “Dr. Rubin really is amazing,” she said. “I body can take over and then heal,” Rubin to discover,” Rubin said. “Either way, when the think that quite possibly he is the busiest explained. inflammation continues, it causes damage.” person I know, but when you’re in that appointment with him, you feel like you’re The newest treatment focus is on synthetic Symptoms can be extremely uncomfortable his only patient.” targeted small molecules, which work on and vary based on the location of the
WHERE TO FIND US FOR IBD CARE
CHICAGO Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine (DCAM) 5758 S. Maryland Ave. UChicago Medicine River East 355 E. Grand Ave.
HINSDALE UChicago Medicine — Hinsdale 12 Salt Creek Lane, Suite 106
TINLEY PARK UChicago Medicine at Ingalls 6701 W. 159th St.
ORLAND PARK UChicago Medicine Orland Park 14290 S. La Grange Road
Learn more about IBD treatment at UChicagoMedicine.org/ibd
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History of GIRF In 1961, the GI Research Foundation - GIRF, was founded by grateful patients and friends of the late Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner, a pioneer in gastroenterology who devoted his life to medicine, teaching, and patient care. Today, the University of Chicago Medicine Digestive Diseases Center is internationally recognized for research-driven medicine and its team of highly specialized physicians. Inspired by Dr. Kirsner’s vision, the GI Research Foundation helps ensure the UChicago Digestive Diseases Center remains at the forefront of innovation and personalized care. Without exception it seems, all influential physicians in the field of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Chicago, especially Dr. David Rubin, honor and revere the impact of Dr B. Kirsner. As a pioneering academic physician, he made contributions beyond Chicago, to literature in every aspect of gastroenterology, publishing 18 books, including the authoritative text book for IBD.
Dr B. Kirsner Image permission: UChicago Medecine, obtained by GIRF
And here is a restatement of the Gala information
Dr David T. Rubin Image provided courtesy of GIRF
The storied Annual Ball is the GI Research Foundation’s premiere fundraising event. Hundreds of contributors, friends, grateful patients, and medical professionals will come together to raise funding for groundbreaking research and exceptional patient care at the University of Chicago Medicine Digestive Diseases Center. It all takes dollars, to “move the needle” For more information, to donate, sponsorship opportunities or Ball tickets, please visit www.girf.org. or call 312.332.1350 Notes
Image of Jill : Joe Mazza Bravelux inc.
www.girf.org.