Naga Chalasani, M.D. Division Chief

March 2, 2011

Dear friend:

Welcome to the Indiana University Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Our division has a distinguished tradition of excellence in patient care and innovation in research and education. Consistently ranked in the top 15 units nationally by US News and World Report, we are one of the largest divisions in the country with enormous breadth to our clinical and research expertise. Our division, founded by Dr. Philip Christiansen in 1958, has flourished over the last two decades under the leadership of Drs. Lawrence Lumeng (Division Director from 1984 to 2007) and Glen Lehman (Clinical Director from 1985- 2005). Under the current leadership, there has been significant growth to our faculty and fellowship size, patient and procedural volume, and our federally funded research program.

Our administrative offices are located on the fourth floor of the Regenstrief Building. Our home base is in downtown Indianapolis where we are the exclusive GI and hepatology care providers at Indiana University Hospital, Wishard Memorial Hospital, and the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center. In order to better serve our suburban patients, we also have an office and a procedure suite at 103rd and Spring Mill Road. In continuing the tradition started nearly 25 years ago, we have a robust outreach clinical program where our faculty clinicians have established practices in the towns surrounding Indianapolis. We have outreach programs at Batesville, Greensburg, Martinsville, Greenfield, Lebanon, and Zionsville. As you browse through our website, you will take notice of the breadth of our expertise in endoscopic procedures and clinical care of patients with gastrointestinal and liver illnesses.

Some highlights of our clinical strengths and expertise:

• We consistently perform more endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) procedures than any other GI program in the United States. Our faculty physicians are pioneers in the field and have developed many of the techniques utilized for these procedures
• Our liver transplant and small bowel transplant programs are one of the largest in the country with excellent patient outcomes
• Spearheaded by Dr. Doug Rex, our colorectal cancer screening program is one of the most experienced and innovative programs in the country
• Our hepatitis C program is the most experienced and innovative in the midwest, and its leader, Dr. Paul Kwo, is an internationally recognized authority in the field
• We are the only group in the State of Indiana with dedicated expertise in inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) and celiac disease
• For treatment of precancerous and early stage cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, we offer all advanced luminal endoscopic procedures including endoscopic mucosal resection, photodynamic therapy, radiofrequency ablation, argon plasma coagulation, luminal stenting, polypectomy of small and large polyps
• We are one of the top programs nationally and the only center in Indiana for performing double balloon enteroscopy
• We are one of the few centers in Indiana to provide advanced motility testing (Bravo Ph monitoring, small bowel manometry, anorectal manometry), video capsule endoscopy (GIVEN imaging), and gastric pacing
• We are the only GI group in entire Indiana to have two full time GI psychologists on faculty
• We are the only GI group in entire Indiana to have a bariatric physician on staff to medically manage obesity
• We are the only center in Indiana to pioneer cutting edge technologies such as the use of mini scopes to investigate diseases of the pancreas and biliary tree, lithotripsy of pancreatic stones. natural orifice transgastric endoluminal surgery (NOTES), and anti-reflux procedures

Our research is extensive and is both laboratory-based and patient-oriented. Our group receives more than 5 million dollars of research funding each year from the National Institutes of Health and other extramural sources. We have many faculty members with sustained federal funding (both NIH and VA) and we publish more than 100 full length papers each year in top-tier medical journals. Our faculty members serve as editors and members of the editorial boards of many prestigious biomedical journals. We have faculty members who serve on NIH and VA study sections, NIAAA advisory council, and on the boards of many other national and international research organizations. Some examples of our research themes include hepatitis C, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, drug hepatotoxicity, alcoholic liver disease, colorectal cancer screening, new endoscopic devices and techniques including those to treat acid reflux, minimally invasive endoscopic techniques to treat precancerous and early cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas and biliary tree, endoscopic treatment of a variety of diseases of the biliary tree and pancreas, endoscopic sedation, sphincter of oddi dysfunction, and cystic tumors of pancreas.

Education and mentoring are critical to our mission. We host one of the most robust general GI and advanced therapeutic endoscopy fellowships in the country and we will be starting a dedicated advanced IBD fellowship in July 2012. We are very proud that many of the prominent gastroenterologist's practicing in central Indiana are our former trainees (to name a few, Drs, Greg Blitz, Brian Sipes, Arthur Baluyut, Matt Harrison, Chris Sofianos, Mike Hartley, Paul Haynes, David Pound, Ernest Orinion, Dan Ciaccia, Frank Troiano, Michael Elmore, Spencer Wilson). Our faculty members conduct local CME programs throughout the year in the form of several ERCP and EUS courses, annual GI update course, and annual AASLD update. Many of our faculty members regularly lecture at various national and international meetings.

Whether you are a patient looking for a competent and compassionate GI physician,a medical student contemplating a GI elective, a medical resident looking for a GI fellowship, a researcher looking for a collaborator/study site, or if you are looking for a faculty position, please consider giving us a chance. We are very confident that you will not be disappointed.

Naga Chalasani, MD, FACG
Professor of Medicine and Cellular & Integrative Physiology
Director, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology