Forging a New Frontier: Revolutionizing Iron Deficiency Therapy in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Gary R. Lichtenstein, MD, is the Vice Chief, Division of Gastroenterology, Development and Philanthropy; Emeritus Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program; and Professor of Medicine in the Gastrointestinal Division of the Department of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Lichtenstein earned his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, New York. He then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He also served a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. His current research interests encompass investigational therapies for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and his research has had a significant focus on the safety of current and future medical therapy. He has also focused his research on the natural history of disease. Dr. Lichtenstein has received numerous research grants focusing on these areas and has served as the national/international principal investigator evaluating novel agents for therapeutic trials in the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

A Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), the American College of Physicians, and the American College of Gastroenterology, Dr. Lichtenstein is listed in Best Doctors in America (inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]) and has served as Medical Secretary for the American Board of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology Section. He holds membership and committee positions in many professional societies at a national level, including the AGA where he has served as Vice Chair of the Clinical Practice Committee and Practice Economics Committee and where he has served as Chair of the Clinical Practice Committee; the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy where he has served on the committee on training; and the American College of Gastroenterology where he has served on the Education Committee, Programs Committee, and Nominations Committee. He recently served as a member of the research committee. He has been the chair of numerous abstract review committees for IBD for the American College of Gastroenterology and the AGA and has served as section chair and moderator for numerous sessions at Digestive Disease Week. Dr. Lichtenstein is also a member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America where he served at the national level as the chair of the membership committee of the Clinical Research Alliance, on the National Grants Review Committee, on the National Physician Education Committee, and currently as chair of the Membership Committee. Additionally, he is a longstanding member of the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association.

Dr. Lichtenstein has received numerous awards, including the National Scientific Achievement Award from the national Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), for his clinical work and research. In 2020, he was recipient of the AGA’s top academic clinician award (the AGA Distinguished Clinician Award in Academic Practice). He received the award for the top specialist in the University of Pennsylvania Health System (the Louis A. Duhring Award) as well as the top teaching award in all of University of Pennsylvania (the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award). Additionally, he has received the medical school teaching award (the Penn Pearls Award), the Department of Medicine house staff teaching award (the Donald B. Martin Teaching Award), and the Gastroenterology Division teaching award (the Sidney Cohen Teaching Award).

Dr. Lichtenstein is listed in Philadelphia Magazine among top gastroenterologists for elderly in Philadelphia and among top gastroenterologists in Philadelphia (special focus: IBD). He is the recipient of the CCFA Physician of the Year Award: Philadelphia and Delaware Valley Chapters.

In addition to having served on the editorial board of the journals Gastroenterology, American Journal of Gastroenterology, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, World Journal of Gastroenterology, and Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Dr. Lichtenstein served as a former writer of Selected Summaries in the journal Gastroenterology and as the Section Editor of Selected Summaries as well as Print and Media Review in Gastroenterology for a 5-year term. He has been and is currently serving as a reviewer for journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine,Gastroenterology, The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Gut, Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, World Journal of Gastroenterology, and Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. He is the journal founder and Executive Editor of the PubMed-indexed journal Gastroenterology and Hepatology, now in press for 18 years, and has served as Associate Editor of Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, The Physician and Sports Medicine, and Clinical Investigation and has served as Assistant Editor-in-Chief of World Journal of Gastroenterology. He is the author or coauthor of more than 150 primary research articles, 280 chapters, editorials, and reviews, has edited 32 books, and has presented over 350 abstracts. Dr. Lichtenstein has been an invited speaker at the local, national, and international levels, speaking at over 500 conferences, lectures, symposia, and institutional grand rounds.

Neilanjan Nandi, FACG, AGAF, FACP, is Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Nandi’s practice focuses on the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (e.g., Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis) and recurrent Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection via fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Dr. Nandi serves on the executive council of the Philadelphia Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation (CCF) and on the medical advisory board of the United Ostomy Associates of America (UOAA), coordinates outreach on the American College of Gastroenterology Patient Care Committee, and is a founding board member of the South Asian IBD Alliance (SAIA). He also regularly peer reviews research publications and serves on the social media editorial board for the premier journals Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Crohn’s & Colitis 360. His research has focused on studying conditions co-morbid to IBD quality of care, namely the diagnosis and management of refractory C. difficile infection and the application of FMT in C. difficile; also, characterizing the management and consequences of iron deficiency anemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in patients with IBD. Dr. Nandi has authored numerous book chapters on the diagnosis and management of various viral, parasitic, mycobacterial, and bacterial infections of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

Dr. Nandi’s fervor for clinical education has been recognized with multiple teaching awards. He was honored as the 2019 Physician Hero by the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation at their annual Take Steps for Crohn’s & Colitis event, and wields digital and social media platforms to amplify education, outreach, and advocacy in IBD to clinicians and patients. He was also awarded the Philadelphia CCF’s Chairman’s Citation in 2022. He is the regular host of the academic podcast GI Insights: IBD Crosstalk, which features high-yield, evidence-based medicine discussions with guests from different interdisciplinary fields critical to providing comprehensive IBD care. Dr. Nandi’s passions include fitness, cooking, virtual reality gaming, reading, and dancing. Follow him on social @fitwitmd.