Blog
Tanya’s Pregnancy Journey Living with Crohn’s Disease in India
My name is Tanya, and I live in Chennai, India. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1999, a time when little was known about IBD in India. This means that I have segments of intestinal narrowing and scarring throughout my small intestine known as strictures…
How to Own Your Crohn’s & Ostomy While Traveling to India
By Tina Aswani-Omprakash As IBD warriors, it’s always nerve-wracking to travel withour conditions and/or an ostomy. For me, it’s been 7 years of me traveling allover the U.S. and Europe for patient advocacy work. And even though I’ve spokenmany times virtually for...
Rohit’s Reflections on DDW 2024: Understanding the Complex Interactions in Genetics, the Gut Microbiome, and the Environment in the Development of IBD
Written by: Rohit Aita Reviewed by: Lea Ann Chen, MD At Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in Washington, D.C., I had the privilege of being involved as co-author on an abstract and presentation given by Dr. Lea Ann Chen, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, titled...
Highlights from ACG 2024: SAIA’s IBDesis’ Patient Experience
By: Madhura Balasubramaniam, Sharan Khela, & Tina Aswani-Omprakash Our patient advocate team, SAIA’s IBDesis, were honoured to participate in the American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, USA, between October 25th...
Nour’s Reflections on DDW 2024: Intestinal Ultrasound as a Non-Invasive Tool for IBD Monitoring
Written by: Nour Al-Timimi In the poster session at DDW 2024, I learned about a new fascinating method that can help providers and patients predict relapse from the poster titled "Intestinal Ultrasound is Predictive of Disease Relapse in Asymptomatic Inflammatory...
Patient Perspectives on DDW 2024: Basmah Recaps on GI Cancers in African Populations
As part of the 2024 Digestive Disease Week Conference (DDW), I had the honor of attending a session led by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the Pan African Organization for Health, Education, and Research (POHER) on the incidence and...
Navigating Disability Accommodations in India: Madhura’s Experiences in her Ph.D. Program
I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease shortly after I graduated from my Master’s program, and after a two-year break, I am now pursuing a full-time Ph.D. in International Relations. Like many countries, IBD is not legally recognised as a disability that requires...
Tina’s Real-World Experience with Intestinal Ultrasound
In today's blog post, SAIA's President, Tina, shares her experience with the new imaging modality for IBD called intestinal ultrasound (IUS): "Last week, I had my first intestinal ultrasound. I had been very nervous the last month getting ready to go in for IUS as...
Basmah’s Reflections on DDW 2024
I had the privilege to attend Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. One of the most rewarding aspects of the conference was learning from presentations on current research on IBD and other GI conditions. As someone who works in mental...
Nour’s Reflections on DDW 2024
Attending Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in Washington, D.C., was an exhilarating and enlightening experience that left a lasting impact on my professional and personal growth. As one of the largest conferences dedicated to gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy, and...