Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Heather, Shawn Eric/Dr. Drossman

Hi beaglelover, Dr Drossman is one of the leading experts in the world on IBS and the UNC is the top center in the US on functional gi disorders including IBS.

I can't really tell you one way or another to see the one close or go to the UNC, I can tell you the UNC is state of the art on IBS however. I know DR Drossman personally and he is super nice and caring and an IBS expert.

I did hear he might not be accepting Patients anymore however, so you might want to recheck that out, maybe he still is an you could see him before he doesn't anymore, if that is what he is going to do.

Dr Whitehead at the UNC is one of the leading experts in Constipation also so you know.

"Dr. Drossman is a Co-director of the Center and Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at UNC-CH. He established a program of research in functional gastrointestinal disorders at UNC more than 15 years ago and has published more than 250 books, articles, and abstracts relating to epidemiology, psychosocial and quality of life assessment, design of treatment trials, and outcomes research in gastrointestinal disorders.

To see a current list of these publications, click here.

He was responsible for organizing the Functional Brain Gut Research Group as a special interest section within the American Gastroenterological Association, is a past president of the American Psychosomatic Society. Dr. Drossman sits on the Board of Directors and is Chair of the Scientific the Advisory Board of the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. He also sits on the board for the medical website Medscape Gastroenterology . Dr. Drossman chaired the 1999 Digestive Health Initiative on Functional GI Disorders � sponsored by the American Digestive Health Foundation. He was the recipient of the 1999 Janssen Award for Clinical Research in Digestive Disease, which was at Digestive Disease Week(DDW), the American Gastroenterological Association's international conference in Orlando.

In 2001, Dr. Drossman was appointed Associate Editor of Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association and appointed to the Nerve-Gut Council of the American Gastroenterological Association. He received the prestigious Research Scientist Award for Clinical Research presented by the Functional Brain-Gut Research Group at Digestive Disease Week in Atlanta. In addition, he is Chair of the IBS Program for the American Gastroenterological Association.

Dr. Drossman has developed a series of videotapes to teach physicians and other health professionals how to administer an effective interview, carry out a psychosocial assessment, and enhance the patient-doctor relationship (available through the Center). He has taught numerous US and European workshops on this topic, was the chair of the Physician-Patient Relations Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology from 1994 - 1996, and is a charter fellow of the American Academy on Physicians and Patients, a consortium of physicians which teaches these skills to medical school faculty.

Dr. Drossman is also involved in teaching the evaluation and management of patients with complex GI problems or difficult-to-diagnose conditions. He completed the AGA Clinical Teaching Project on IBS (unit 13), and is now completing the AGA GI Teaching Project on IBS-II to be released this summer. He is editor of the Manual of GI Procedures (now in its third edition), and Rome II: The Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, 2nd Edition and has been appointed Chair of the International Rome III Committees with the book, Rome III, to be published in 2006.

In addition to seeing patients in the GI clinic, Dr. Drossman precepts GI fellows and visiting gastroenterologists in seeing clinic patients with functional GI disorders. He also supervises medical faculty, psychiatry residents, and medical students, working with them on how to provide psychological care to patients with functional GI disorders."

Dr. Whitehead is a Co-director of the Center and Professor of Medicine at the UNC Division of Digestive Diseases. He is also Professor of Psychology at UNC. Dr. Whitehead is the Director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratory and conducts research on visceral pain mechanisms in irritable bowel syndrome; behavioral treatments for constipation, incontinence, and IBS; and early learning experiences that contribute to the development of IBS. Prior to coming to UNC-CH in 1993, Dr. Whitehead was at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for 15 years where he was chief of the Gastrointestinal Physiology Laboratory at the Bayview Medical Center and head of a research program on vomiting disorders, IBS, and incontinence. Dr. Whitehead is associate editor of two GI journals and has published more than 200 papers on functional gastrointestinal disorders. To view a current list of these publications, click here.

Dr. Whitehead has taught workshops on gastrointestinal motility assessment, biofeedback, and behavior modification to groups of physicians, psychologists, and nurses. He wrote the text, Gastrointestinal Disorders: Behavioral and Physiological Basis for Treatment (Academic Press, 1985) with Dr. Marvin Schuster. Dr. Whitehead provides clinical training in the conduct and interpretation of diagnostic gastrointestinal motility studies to gastroenterology fellows and Urogynecology/Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery fellows. In addition, he has trained ten postdoctoral and five pre-doctoral psychologists in gastrointestinal psychophysiology. Former post-doctoral fellow now head their own research programs in departments or divisions of gastroenterology, pediatrics, family medicine, gerontology, and psychology.

In 2001, he was appointed Associate Editor of Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association and was appointed to the General Clinical Research Committee (GCRC) Advisory Board at UNC, Chapel Hill.

As head of the Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratory, Dr. Whitehead oversees diagnostic assessment and, when appropriate, biofeedback treatment to patients with motility disorders. In addition, he provides behavioral management to selected patients with rumination syndrome, aerophagia, or other functional disorders not requiring surgical or medical management."

http://www.med.unc.edu/wrkunits/2depts/medicine/fgidc/welcome.htm

I personally would go to the UNC really, but because the other is close, that has its benefits also of course.

Hope this helps.

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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com

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