Specialists and Care Centers

Specialists and Care Centers

The Northwestern Medicine Functional Bowel Disease Program is one of the few programs in the country with active collaborations between gastroenterology, behavioral psychology, and dietetics. We stress the importance of treating the physiological, psychological, and social aspects of these disorders, focusing on global patient-centered care.

Our goal is to provide multidisciplinary interventions that incorporate the most leading-edge therapies. The Functional Bowel Disease Program is supported by the most sophisticated and comprehensive motility lab in the Chicago area.

Our therapeutics range from traditional medicines to highly evidence-based complementary and alternative treatment strategies including all of the treatments discussed above. Your Functional Bowel Disease Program team* collaborating to effectively treat these disorders, includes:

• Gastroenterologists

• Behavioral psychologists

• Nutritionists/Dietitians

• Physical therapists

Our staff is on the leading edge of treatment innovation for functional bowel disorders. Our team has been integral in establishing and substantiating the effectiveness of multiple therapies, ranging from the use of probiotics, secretagogues, opioid receptor manipulators, diet modifications and cognitive behavioral therapy for treating IBS to developing algorithms and running trials with peripheral µ-opioid receptor antagonists for opiate-induced constipation. We are also in the early phases of establishing clinical trials testing virtual reality to treat IBS symptoms. Our team not only uses the most advanced technologies and therapies available for these disorders, but is also intimately involved in the clinical trials establishing their benefits.