Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Care

Faculty physicians in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology provide cutting‑edge care to more than 5,000 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other complex gastrointestinal conditions. This is the only team in Indiana with dedicated expertise in IBD, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as celiac disease.

Our fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) program has performed more than 875 transplants since 2012 and developed a groundbreaking protocol for treating severe and fulminant Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). This protocol has since been adopted by treatment centers across the country.

Each year, our highly skilled care team performs over 25,000 procedures, including colonoscopy, FMT, upper GI endoscopy, small bowel endoscopy, double‑balloon endoscopy, ileoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, video capsule endoscopy and pouchoscopy. Our providers are pioneers in the field and have helped develop many of the techniques used for these procedures today.

Looking for Patient Care?

To schedule an appointment with an IU School of Medicine faculty gastroenterologist, contact Indiana University Health at (317) 944-0980 or through the Find a Provider portal.

Find a Provider

Patient Care Facilities

Gastroenterology and hepatology faculty physicians are the exclusive GI and hepatology care providers at IU Health University Hospital, Eskenazi Health and the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. The division also has ambulatory and procedural practices at Spring Mill, IU Health North hospital.

The IBD faculty physicians have a robust outreach clinical program where faculty clinicians have established practices in the towns surrounding Indianapolis. Outreach programs are active in Batesville and Lebanon.

Division History

In 1995, Debra Helper, MD, joined the division as faculty and established an IBD center providing state-of-the-art patient care and training in IBD to fellows, residents and medical students. Under an IBD training grant, she mentored GI fellows in the advanced evaluation and treatment of IBD.Dr. Helper was lead site investigator on numerous therapeutic trials for IBD and a small bowel capsule study. An early adaptor of double balloon endoscopy, she helped advance use of the technique at IU. She served as inaugural medical director of the Glen Lehman and Douglas Rex endoscopy suites until her retirement in 2015 when she moved west to spend more time with her family. She retired as associate professor of clinical medicine, emeritus. She left a great legacy: her mentee, Monika Fischer, MD, a physician dedicated to IBD care, and a scholarship established in her name provides tuition funds to an underprivileged medical student every year.