New York, NY, August 21, 2008 – Today, the Foundation for Clinical Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease announced the itinerary for its fall Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Disease patient education series, a free education program for IBD patients and their caregivers. Advances in IBD will be presented in:

• October 21, 2008, - Grand Rapids, MI
  Hilton Grand Rapids Airport
  4747 28th Street SE
  Grand Rapids, MI 49504
• October 23, 2008 - Cleveland, OH
  Cleveland Airport Marriott
  4277 West 150th Street
  Cleveland OH 44135
• November 11, 2008 - New Orleans, LA
  Hilton New Orleans Airport
  901 Airline Drive
  Kenner, LA 70062
• November 13, 2008 - Memphis, TN
  Hilton Memphis
  939 Ridge Lake Bolevard
  Memphis, TN 38120

Advances in IBD is a free patient education seminar for anyone affected by Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and indeterminate colitis, the diseases collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease. IBD, a chronic and painful disease that has no cause or cure, affects approximately one and a half million Americans. The seminars run from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. and feature a visiting national IBD expert and two local IBD experts.

“Advances in IBD is designed to help patients and their families better understand their disease,” said Jane Present, co-founder and executive director of the Foundation for Clinical Research in IBD. “We empower those who attend our seminars by helping them learn more about the treatment of their disease, which helps them better manage it.”

Since the seminar series began in 1999, Advances in IBD has been presented to patients in over 95 cities throughout the United States. The Advances in IBD patient education seminar features national IBD thought leaders as visiting faculty and local experts who discuss the latest management techniques and treatments. Attendees also submit questions to the panel of experts for their discussion. In addition, because IBD patients have a higher risk of developing osteoporosis, free bone density scans are available during the seminar.

The value of these seminars was assessed in a study conducted by Hude Quan, M.D., Ph.D., Lloyd R. Sutherland, M.D., and Jane W. Present, Department of Community Health Services, University of Calgary, Canada. Between March 2000 and December 2001, seminar participants from nine communities were asked to fill out a series of questionnaires. The results showed that the seminars not only improve participants' knowledge of IBD but that participants retain the knowledge they acquire during the seminars.

A full report of the study appeared in the November 2003 issue of the peer-reviewed journal, “Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.”

Patients and caregivers who want to attend any of the fall Advances in IBD programs can register in advance by calling toll free 1-866-442-3243 or e-mail register@myIBD.org.

The Foundation for Clinical Research in IBD is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing continued support to the IBD professional community, encouraging and enabling continued clinical research into IBD and its treatments and supporting patients and their families through education. For more information about the Foundation for Clinical Research in IBD, visit www.myIBD.org.

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