UNC
Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders
The UNC Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders was established in 1994 by
its Co-Directors -- Douglas A. Drossman, MD and William E. Whitehead, PhD -- as
a center of excellence within the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology,
School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Center has evolved into a multidisciplinary patient care, research,
training, and public education initiative with an annual budget of $1.8 million
and a base of 32 faculty, investigators and staff, in addition to visiting and
collaborating scholars.
UCLA/CURE Neuroenteric Disease Program
Past:
The new Center has evolved from existing research programs at UCLA and at the
Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System (GLAVAHS), in particular the CURE:
Digestive Diseases Research Center, the UCLA/CURE Neuroenteric Disease Program
under Dr. Emeran Mayer, and the Brain Gut Research Program under Y. Taché. Drs.
Mayer and Taché are the P.I. and co-P.I. of the new center grant.
Present:
The core of CNS/WH is the newly funded NIDDK P50 SCOR Center grant "Women's
Health and Functional Visceral Disorders Center." The new center which closely
links investigators based at UCLA and the VAGLAHS, is the only NIH-funded center
in the area of brain-visceral interactions and the first DK Women's Center. It
focuses on research into the bi-directional mechanisms by which the central
nervous system and the viscera interact in health and disease. A particular
focus is on the neurobiological mechanisms by which stress modulates these
brain-visceral interactions, on mind/brain/body interactions and on sex-based
differences in this modulation.

The Cleveland Clinic: Gastroenterology and Hepatology:
(Best Hospitals 2004: U.S. News &
World Report names The Cleveland Clinic one of the nation's top four hospitals
in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey.)
The Center for Gastrointestinal Motility
Disorders diagnoses and treats patients with motor abnormalities of the stomach,
small intestine and large intestine (colon). Some of these problems are among
the most common health concerns. It’s estimated that constipation affects up to
10 million Americans, while approximately 20 million Americans suffer from the
opposite problem, fecal incontinence.
The center provides the latest and most comprehensive diagnostic and treatment
options for bowel incontinence. Diagnostic tests available include several types
of manometric techniques, electrical recording from the stomach and nerve
conduction tests. If necessary, additional tests are provided by the Radiology
and Nuclear Medicine Departments.
Patients seen at the center are offered medical therapy and biofeedback training
exercises, or surgical treatment in the departments of general surgery or
colorectal surgery.
In addition to patient care, our staff participates in patient and medical
education and clinical research. When appropriate, patients can participate in
new treatment trials conducted at the Cleveland Clinic.
overview
Departments & Services
Written Information from the Cleveland Clinic

Mayo Clinic
Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo
Clinic specializes in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the
digestive tract and liver. It is the largest practice of its kind in the United
States. In any given year, members of the Division perform approximately 30,000
minimally invasive, endoscopic procedures in state-of-the-art facilities.
Through a divisional infrastructure organized around interest groups oriented
toward disease processes, organ systems, procedures or patient groups, clinical
expertise is integrated with the newest forms of established and experimental
diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Outpatients and patients in the hospital are
cared for by teams of physicians and allied health personnel with broad
expertise in all forms of gastroenterological and hepatobiliary diseases.
Because of our recognition that high-quality care depends upon scientific
discovery, major research programs at the basic, applied, and translational
levels exist to generate new knowledge that ultimately benefits patients.
Mayo Clinic IBS

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Gastroenterology and Hepatology
IBS Information