New York, NY, October 28, 2009 – The Foundation for Clinical Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease announces that its Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Disease patient education program will be presented in Denver, Co., on November 12, 2009. This free program for patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and their caregivers will be held at the Doubletree Hotel Denver, 3203 Quebec Street in Denver, Co., from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Registration begins at 5 p.m. Patients and caregivers who want to attend the Denver Advances in IBD program can register in advance by calling toll free 1-866-442-3243 or e-mailing register@myIBD.org. The Advances in IBD program in Denver is sponsored by Shire Pharmaceuticals.

Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and indeterminate colitis, the diseases collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease, are chronic and painful diseases that have no known cause or cure, and affect approximately one and a half million Americans.

“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.”

The Advances in IBD patient education program in Denver features visiting lecturer David T. Rubin, MD, FACG, Associate Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Joining Dr. Rubin in a panel discussion about IBD will be John S. Sabel, MD, FACG, FACP, AGAF, Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee and Board Member of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America and Amethyst C. Kurbegov, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center and The Children's Hospital of Denver.

Since the Advances in IBD series began in 1999, the seminar has been presented to patients in 105 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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