Curbside Consultation in IBD: 49 Clinical Questions

Newly updated with the latest information on inflammatory bowel disease, Curbside Consultation in IBD: 49 Clinical Questions, Third Edition contains brief, practical, and evidence-based answers to the most frequently asked questions that are posed during a “curbside consultation” between surgical colleagues. 

Drs. David T. Rubin, Sonia Friedman, and Francis A. Farraye are joined by an expert group of contributors, offering advice, preferences, and opinions on tough clinical questions commonly associated with IBD. With a unique Q&A format, this text provides quick access to current information. Numerous images, diagrams, and references are included to better illustrate IBD.

Some of the questions answered inside the Third Edition include:

• What are the new approaches to using and minimizing steroids?  
• What is the evolving role of calcineurin inhibitors in IBD?  
• Where should anti-IL-23 therapy be placed in the therapeutic algorithm for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis?
• What should the clinicians and patients know about biosimilars?  
• What are JAK inhibitors? And when should they be used in IBD?  
• What is the approach to loss of response to biological therapy?  
• How should we screen our patients with IBD for depression and anxiety?

With information basic enough for trainees and expert practical advice that even high-volume clinicians will appreciate, Curbside Consultation in IBD: 49 Clinical Questions, Third Edition is a must-have. Gastroenterologists, surgeons, IBD nurses and advanced practice providers, and medical and surgical trainees at all levels will benefit from the user-friendly format and up-to-date advice for complicated cases.

David T. Rubin, MD, is the Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine; Chief of the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition; and the Co-Director of the Digestive Diseases Center at the University of Chicago Medicine. He earned a medical degree with honors at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowships in gastroenterology and clinical medical ethics at the University of Chicago, where he served as Chief Resident and Chief Fellow. He also currently serves as an associate faculty member at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, an associate investigator at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is a member of the University of Chicago Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics. He is the chair of the National Scientific Advisory Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, where he also serves as a Board of Trustees member. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Rubin served as the Director of the Fellowship in Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at the University of Chicago for 11 years.

Dr. Rubin is a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), the American College of Physicians (ACP), and the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh). He is on the Board of Trustees for the ACG. Among numerous awards and honors, Dr. Rubin was chosen by his peers as a member of Best Doctors (recognized for superior clinical ability) and America’s Top Physicians (gastroenterology). Additionally, he twice received the ACG’s Governor’s Award of Excellence in Clinical Research (2003 and 2013), and the UChicago Postgraduate Teaching Award in recognition of significant contributions for fellowship education (2006). In 2012, he received the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s Rosenthal Award, a national leadership award bestowed upon a volunteer who has contributed in an indisputable way to the quality of life of patients and families. In 2020, Dr. Rubin received the Sherman Prize for Excellence in Crohn’s and Colitis. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Gastroenterology and Editor-in-Chief of the ACG On-Line Education Universe. In 2018, Dr. Rubin completed the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Leadership Development Course for Physicians.

In addition to Curbside Consultation in IBD, Dr. Rubin is an associate editor of the 11th edition of Sleisenger and Fordtran’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease, and an author or coauthor of more than 450 articles on treatment and management of IBD, cancer in IBD and novel paradigms, as well as the first author of the 2019 ACG Guidelines for ulcerative colitis. His current research is in the area of biosensor monitoring of IBD, prevention of progressive complications from uncontrolled inflammation, and a variety of collaborative studies related to the causes of IBD and its complications. He is also a featured media contact for issues related to IBD, appearing on satellite radio, television, and print media and maintains a popular and verified Twitter feed @IBDMD. 

Sonia Friedman, MD, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician at Brigham and ­Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mas­sa­chu­setts. She is an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. Dr. Friedman completed her undergraduate degree in biology at Stanford University and her MD at Yale Medical School. She did her medical internship and residency at University of Pennsylvania and her gastroenterology fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. She specialized in IBD during her fellowship and now has a large IBD practice in the gastroenterology division of Brigham and ­Women’s Hospital. She has been at Brigham and ­Women’s for the past 21 years and is Director of ­Women’s Health at the Center for Crohn’s and Colitis.

Dr. Friedman’s research interests include reproductive health and the safety of medi­cations taking during conception and/or during pregnancy in patients with IBD. Her clinical interests are the care of patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. She specializes in the management of infertility and pregnancy in patients with IBD. Dr. Friedman is a frequent speaker and invited regional and national lecturer on the management of IBD. She has authored or co-­authored papers on cancer in Crohn’s disease, adherence to surveillance colonoscopy, management of polyps and cancer in IBD, medical management of IBD, fertility, sexual function, pregnancy, and men’s health in IBD, as well as the long-­term outcomes of ­children exposed to IBD and IBD medi­cations in utero.

Dr. Friedman is the Deputy Editor of the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and is on the Gastroenterology and Digestive Diseases and Sciences editorial boards. She is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Assessment of NIH Research on Autoimmune Diseases as well as the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Unbiased Peer Review Task Force. She is a member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Clinical Research Alliance and is a member of the organ­izing committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Congress. She has received a recent Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Se­nior Research Award as well as an American College of Gastroenterology Clinical Research Award to continue her work on reproductive health in IBD.

Francis A. Farraye, MD, MSc, is a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. ­After graduating from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, Dr. Farraye earned his medical doctorate from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, New York, and his master’s degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mas­sa­chu­setts. He completed an internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Farraye is a clinical investigator with an active academic practice managing patients with IBD. A frequent speaker and invited lecturer on topics on the diagnosis and management of IBD, Dr. Farraye has authored or co-­authored more than 450 original scientific manuscripts, chapters, reviews, and abstracts. He is the series editor for the text Curbside Consultation in Gastroenterology and co-­wrote the texts Curbside Consultation in IBD and GI Emergencies: A Quick Reference Guide. His newest books for patients are Questions and Answers About Ulcerative Colitis and Questions and Answers About Crohn’s Disease.  He is the Editor-in-Chief for IBD Journal Scan, published weekly by the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

Dr. Farraye is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and American Gastroenterological Association and a Master in the American College of Gastroenterology. He has served on numerous national and international committees and currently is the Chair of the North Florida Chapter Medical Advisory Committee for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. The New ­England Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation named Dr. Farraye Humanitarian of the Year in 2003. In 2009, the American College of Gastroenterology awarded Dr. Farraye the William Carey Award for ser­vice to the college. In 2020, Dr. Farraye was a recipient of the Life Time Achievement Award from the New ­England Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.