The Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) research team at Indiana University School of Medicine is lead
by some of the best board certified physicians in internal medicine and
gastroenterology. The program started in 2010 with a single registry study. In
2012, the first research coordinator was hired and the program expanded to
include three pharmaceutical clinical trials. In 2015, Dr. Monika
Fischer took over as the IBD Program Director, and the IBD research program was
running seven pharmaceutical clinical trials, four investigator initiated trials, and
one registry study. In 2016, the research
team added clinical research coordinator, and team leader, Tonika Peterson, as
well as clinical research nurse Debbie Drenzyk. The team continued to grow with the addition of advance practice
provider Laura Worley, PA-C, and the coordinator research staff had grown to a
team of six with two research nurses, two research coordinators, and two research
technicians. That same year the volume of research had skyrocketed to include three registry studies, seven investigator initiated studies, and 28 pharmaceutical
clinical trials.
Research areas of interest include biomarkers of disease
activity and severity in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, fecal
microbiota transplantation (FMT), small bowel endoscopy, Clostridium difficile infections (CDI), anemia in inflammatory
bowel disease, nutrition for patients with IBD, and pharmaceutical clinical
trials in IBD.
Over the lifetime of the program many partnerships have
developed. The team works very closely
with the Indiana Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America participating
and hosting fundraising events, patient information events, clinical trials
such as SPARC IBD. Collaborations with other
physicians at several other research centers have allowed us to further understand Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI),
IBD, and provide additional treatment opportunities to
our patients.
The team is continuously developing and conducting innovative
studies to help further understand and solve problems associated with IBD and
CDI. Dr. Fischer has built one of the largest FMT databases to
further examine the efficacy and outcomes on patients receiving FMTs. Unique
research topics the team has explored includes studies on the safety and
efficacy of biologic therapies for inflammatory bowel disease in patients with
primary sclerosing cholangitis, various outcomes in transplant patients with
IBD and CDI, Randomized controlled trial of encapsulated fecal microbiota for
Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus decolonization, efficacy outcomes of
different pharmaceutical therapies on patients with IBD, and non-invasive vagal
nerve stimulation in the treatment of Crohn’s disease.
IBD
Research faculty are widely published in leading journals and text books as a
result of their work. They have presented their research at conferences all
over the world, and are frequently asked to be guest speakers at various
events.