IBD in Clinical Practice for Dietitians: Special Considerations for Malnutrition in IBD Patients

Kelly Issokson, MS, RD, CNSC, is a certified nutrition support clinician and has been a registered dietitian for over 7 years at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.
 
Kelly graduated magna cum laude from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. She earned her masters degree in Family and Consumer Sciences and Nutrition and performed her dietetic internship at California State University in Northridge, California.
 
Kelly specializes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), providing nutrition counseling to hospitalized patients and joining the IBD team on rounds where she educates GI fellows and residents on the specific nutritional needs of IBD patients. Kelly also counsels GI patients in her outpatient clinic, and at the IBD Nutrition & Integrative Clinic with Dr. Eric Vasiliauskas.
 
Kelly is actively involved in nutrition research at Cedars-Sinai (with the GI and Clinical Nutrition divisions), and with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). Kelly has spoken at both local and national Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) conferences on the topics of IBD and other digestive conditions. She is also involved with CCFA as a member of the Los Angeles Chapter Medical Advisory Committee, as well as a speaker on the topic of nutrition at local patient education events.

Caroline Hwang, MD, is Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine and Medical Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Keck/University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
 
Dr. Hwang earned her medical degree from David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She went on to complete a fellowship in gastroenterology and was a clinical research fellow in the Hereditary Cancer Prevention Program at Columbia.
 
Dr. Hwang is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Gastroenterological Association, and the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. She is on the medical advisory board of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America. She has received a number of awards and grants in recognition and support of her work and research in inflammatory bowel disease, education, and gastroenterology.
 
Dr. Hwang has authored multiple articles in peer-reviewed publications such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gastroenterology, and Cancer. She has been invited to talk at many meetings and symposiums, as well as present posters, abstracts, and lectures across the country.

Gil Y. Melmed received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and his gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA, where he also received a master's of science in clinical research. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in gastroenterology.

Dr. Melmed is Director of Clinical Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. His main clinical and research interests are clinical outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), including health-related quality of life, post-operative outcomes, vaccination and health maintenance issues in patients with IBD, and quality of care for IBD. He has authored or co-authored over 70 publications and serves as a review editor for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He is an active member of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, and co-chairs the Los Angeles Medical Advisory Committee as well as the national Quality of Care Committee.

Aline Charabaty, MD, is an associate professor of medicine and Director of the IBD Center at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC.
 
Dr. Charabaty graduated with honors from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and earned her medical degree at University St. Joseph, Faculte de Medecine in Beirut, Lebanon. She completed an internship at St. Raphael's Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut and her residency and gastroenterology fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital.
 
Dr. Charabaty is actively involved in patient and professional education. She serves on multiple educational committees and is a consultant for the FDA. She is the Chair of the Mission Committee of the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan Area Chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, and an active member of the CCFA physician education committee. She is a member of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the American Gastroenterology Association, and the American College of Gastroenterologists. She has received the Celiac Champion award from the National Foundation of Celiac Awareness and the Gastroenterology Award in Excellence in Teaching Residents and Fellows from Georgetown University Hospital.  
 
Dr. Charabaty has been a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, including Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American Journal of Gastroenterology, and Digestive Disease and Sciences. Her work and editorials have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and she has written book chapters on women's health and inflammatory bowel disease and radiosurgery. Dr. Charabaty has lectured and presented her studies at regional and national meetings, seminars and ground rounds.

Catherine E. Giguere-Rich, RDN, LD, CNSC, is a clinical dietitian and a specialist in adult gastroenterology and pediatric cystic fibrosis at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
 
Catherine graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Nutritional Science and has completed courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, and biochemistry at Boston University.
 
Catherine specializes in gastroenterology and enteral and parenteral nutrition. She draws on her history as a diabetes education and personal nutrition coach as well as her time working in a large hospital wellness center. She also gained a lot of valuable experience in nutrition support at a level 3 NICU and level 1 trauma center at Boston Medical Center. This background has informed her fascination with the link between nutrition and the health of the GI tract. Catherine appreciates the science of metabolism and her ability to develop an expertise in assessing nutritional deficiencies.
 
Catherine has spoken about nutritional science at many lectures and events. She is a member of the American Society for Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition (ASPEN), the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE). She is a committee member of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation Nutrition Care Pathway.

Erin Feldman, RD, CSP, is a clinical dietitian for the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Erin graduated from California State University, Chico and completed her dietetic internship through Viterbo College in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Erin's professional focus is on pediatric gastro-intestinal disorders. She is a member of the CCFA Los Angeles Chapter Medical Advisory Committee and an annual guest speaker at CCFA support group meetings.