The Adult Small Bowel Program at NYP/Columbia University is making advances in managing patients with intestinal and multivisceral transplants.
“We are learning that nutritional therapy, including oral dietary choices, play an important role in gut rehabilitation,” says the program’s director, Shilpa Ravella, MD, a leading expert in nutritional management of gastrointestinal disorders. “Patient outcomes have markedly improved over the past decade due to both advances in medical management as well as surgical techniques. Early referral for patients who may benefit from intestinal transplant is important.
Dr. Ravella is interested in the interactions between dietary therapy, the human microbiome and the immune system, particularly the clinical potential of targeted nutritional therapy to prevent and treat systemic disease including autoimmune disease and organ transplant rejection. She offers a multifaceted approach to the care of transplant and gastroenterology patients with a focus on nutritional optimization.