David L. Suskind, M.D.

As a Pediatric Gastroenterologist working within a tertiary care center, I am all too familiar with the pain and anguish IBD inflicts on my patients and their families. These same families show immense strength and perseverance in the face of such a debilitating disease.  Innovative and groundbreaking research is a crucial step in improving the lives of patients and their families. I have had a long-term interest in IBD and the fecal microbiome. My research has focused on the effect of the fecal microbial transplant and diet on inflammatory bowel disease, both of which impact the fecal microbiome. I have recently concluded studies focusing on the clinical, laboratory and microbiome changes which occur after fecal microbial transplantation as well as on nutritional treatment approaches in inflammatory bowel disease. My research on the specific carbohydrate diet in IBD has shown that patients with active Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can go into clinical and biochemical remission with diet alone. Clinically, I have focused my work within Seattle Children’s Hospital IBD center. We currently follow over 800 children with IBD. I am Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Clinical Gastroenterology at Seattle Children’s Hospital as well as Physician Lead of ImproveCareNow, a national quality improvement collaborative with over 68 other children’s hospitals whose main objective is improve the quality of care for patients with IBD using standardized quality improvement methods.