Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program

Clinical Services

One key to effective disease management is coordinated care among specially trained physicians in a variety of specialties, including gastrointestinal adult medicine and pediatric services; colorectal adult and pediatric surgery; pathology; and diagnostic and interventional radiology. Yale IBD Program physicians collaborate closely with fertility and high-risk obstetric specialists before, during and after pregnancy in their pregnant patients.

Yale is the only organization in Connecticut that offers gastroenterology fellowships and specialized education and training in medicine, pediatrics, surgery and pathology. This excellence in medical education and training helps our Yale IBD Program offer the highest level of patient care.  If hospitalization is required, patients are hospitalized at Yale-New Haven Hospital located directly across the street from our main offices.

The physicians and health care providers participating in the Yale IBD Program accept all forms of insurance and payment. Please call 203-785-4138 for an appointment.

Accurately diagnosing IBD is a multi-step process involving endoscopic procedures, diagnostic imaging, pathology review and surgery. The gastrointestinal pathology program at Yale is the only subspecialty pathology program in Connecticut, offering true diagnostic expertise in the pathologic diagnosis of digestive diseases.

Treatment of ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease usually begins with medical therapy. While surgery can be a primary therapy for certain symptoms of IBD, it is usually reserved when medical and non-surgical therapy is not working. At Yale, the goal of GI surgery is to restore function, using bowel-conserving surgery as the first approach. Some patients may be candidates for a minimally invasive version of the open-surgery procedure.

Pediatric specialists and caregivers provide the same care and services that adults receive, but in a pediatric setting at the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH). YNHCH provides advanced laparoscopic surgical capabilities for children. As the child becomes older, Yale Medical Center is uniquely positioned to transition the patient to the adult program for continued lifelong care.

Physicians meet weekly to discuss each patient’s care and related diagnostic, medical and surgical issues. The Yale IBD Program team also invites community physicians to monthly case conferences so that they may stay informed.

Among special services offered by this program are the following:

• Weekly multidisciplinary team meeting to discuss each patient's care and related diagnostic, medical and surgical issues
• Coordinated medical and surgical specialists at same visit
• Enterostomal nurses provide wound care and family support
• Genetic counseling
• Social service support
• Patient education and nutrition counseling
• Program coordination of visits and tests