CDC/Crohns and Colitis Foundation Grant Focusing on Disparities in IBD

Traci Jester, M.D. is the director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Children’s of Alabama and is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Jester serves as the Co-Director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic Chair of Pediatric Affairs Committee for Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. Recently, the Foundation received a grant from the CDC to support a comprehensive 5-year project partnering with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to identify and address barriers to diagnosis and care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, especially the experience of African American patients. The study will be conducted at the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease clinic at Children's of Alabama as well as the UAB Gastroenterology Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic. In this PedsCast, Dr. Jester will talk about the 3 components of the study which include research, focus groups and dissemination of resources to the community to raise awareness about IBD and highlight the importance of timely referrals to gastroenterologists.