Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Program in Jacksonville

The Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Program in Jacksonville provides world-class care for people with inflammatory bowel diseases. This includes Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and microscopic colitis (lymphocytic colitis and collagenous colitis). The IBD Program also manages symptoms after surgery for patients with IBD, including symptoms after ileal pouch anal anastomosis surgery. We use innovative approaches not widely available in the United States.

The program includes six gastroenterologists, five advanced practice professionals, six nurses, a pharmacist and four colorectal surgeons. Its physicians hold leadership roles in national and international organizations, including the American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastroenterological Association, Crohn's & Colitis Foundation and World Gastroenterology Organisation.

Gastroenterologists, colorectal surgeons and other specialists work together to provide coordinated care tailored to your condition, symptoms and goals. Specialists at Mayo Clinic in Florida bring exceptional expertise and integrated, multispecialty collaboration to your care.

Dedicated IBD specialists backed by a multispecialty institution

Because we can draw on the immense resources of Mayo Clinic, we offer care options that very few institutions can match.

• The IBD team features four colorectal surgeons, each highly skilled in all aspects of IBD surgery. Mayo Clinic colorectal surgeons have particular expertise performing ileal pouch anal anastomosis surgery for patients with ulcerative colitis who need the colon removed.
• Endoscopists on the team have advanced training in endoscopic procedures. They can remove complex polyps and widen narrowed areas, called strictures. In some cases, these treatments may help people avoid surgery.
• The IBD Program in Jacksonville is one of only a few sites in the United States that performs stem cell transplants for Crohn's disease that has not improved with other treatments.

Our focus is people ages 16 and older, but we also ensure outreach to pediatric gastroenterology groups in the Southeast for younger people who need care.

Mayo Clinic in Florida also offers access to emerging IBD medicines through clinical trials. If standard treatments have not helped, eligible patients may be able to join a trial studying promising new treatment options.

Leaders in IBD care, research and training

The IBD Program brings together a rare combination of specialists with distinctive clinical, research and supportive-care expertise. Program physicians offer rare strengths for your care. The team includes:

• A widely published translational scientist whose research helps connect laboratory discoveries with new approaches to patient care.
• A nationally and internationally recognized physician-scientist advancing the use of clinical artificial intelligence in inflammatory bowel disease.
• A physician leader directing an innovative stem cell transplant program for patients with the most difficult-to-treat Crohn's disease. Read a Mayo Clinic patient story about this treatment approach.
• A physician expert in intestinal ultrasound.
• Intestinal ultrasound is a noninvasive, radiation-free examination used to evaluate the colon and the last part of the small intestine in patients with IBD.
• The examination can be performed in the office without bowel preparation, sedation or recovery time.
• During the visit, the care team can visualize the bowel wall, assess blood flow related to inflammation, identify complications and evaluate disease activity.
• A physician leader who represents Mayo Clinic in IBD Qorus, a national quality-of-care initiative.
• Mayo Clinic in Florida is one of just over 50 participating IBD centers.
• Members work to improve care for their own patients while testing approaches that may benefit people with IBD across the country.
• Learn more about IBD Qorus.
• A gastroenterologist expert in malnutrition and short bowel syndrome, to provide focused care for patients who experience these complex complications.
• A psychologist who provides consultation for patients in the IBD Program and helps address the emotional and behavioral effects of living with a chronic digestive condition.
• The IBD Program director, who is is nationally and internationally recognized for expertise in diagnosing and managing inflammatory bowel disease. This leadership includes extensive publication and teaching experience, with particular expertise in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines for people with IBD.

Mayo Clinic in Florida also trains future gastroenterologists to treat patients with IBD through an advanced IBD fellowship.

Additionally, two gastroenterologists from Mayo Clinic in Florida and in Minnesota have published a comprehensive, evidence-based guide to Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Multidisciplinary collaboration

One of the many things that separate Mayo Clinic from many other medical practices is our collaborative approach to caring for people with complex intestinal disorders.

• Our high-volume, multidisciplinary practice gives patients access to clinicians with extensive expertise simply not found at most other institutions, which can lead to better outcomes.
• Each year on average, the IBD Program in Jacksonville evaluates more than 1,200 new people with confirmed or suspected IBD. The program provides more than 5,000 visits each year for people receiving IBD care.

Our team approach helps us understand your condition fully and create the best plan for you.

• We review your records before you arrive for your first evaluation.
• You will meet with a gastroenterologist who focuses on IBD care. Your team also may include a nurse practitioner, IBD nurses, an IBD pharmacist and others. We will arrange any needed imaging tests, endoscopic procedures and follow-up visits.
• After we review your records, we also may set up visits with other specialists, such as colon and rectal surgery, rheumatology, dermatology or other areas.
• If your case is especially complex, our team may discuss best care options for such needs at a weekly IBD conference with IBD specialists from throughout the country.

A plan that reflects your goals

After your evaluation, you and your care team will build a treatment plan based on your health needs and personal goals. You also can share this plan with your referring gastroenterologist.

Rare diagnostic and surgical expertise

The IBD program offers advanced diagnosis and treatment by gastroenterologists who focus on inflammatory bowel disease.

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease

You'll have access to colon and rectal surgeons, radiologists and pathologists with deep experience in caring for people with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Services may include:

• Surgical consultation and treatment by colon and rectal surgeons with extensive experience in surgery for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
• Review by gastrointestinal radiologists and pathologists with expertise in both conditions.
• Intestinal ultrasound.
• Double-balloon enteroscopy to evaluate the small bowel to diagnose and manage Crohn's disease. Mayo Clinic in Florida is the highest-volume center for this procedure in the southeast United States.

We also offer intestinal ultrasound and advanced endoscopic procedures to treat strictures and remove large precancerous polyps in people with IBD.

Research and investigational drug therapies

The IBD Program in Jacksonville is actively involved in research for patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The program can provide investigational drug therapy with a variety of drugs for patients who do not respond to standard medical therapy.

Physicians within the program routinely publish over 75 research publications a year.