- About the Center for Women's Digestive Health
- About the Integrative Medicine Clinic
- Current Clinical Research at CNS
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Center for Women's Digestive Health
The Women's Digestive Health Center -- the clinical component of the newly established CNS -- will focus on the diagnosis and management of chronic digestive disorders characterized by pain and discomfort such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), that primarily affect women. The center's features include patient care, medical education programs, and for patients who qualify, access to appropriate clinical trials investigating functional bowel disorders. These services will be offered to all patients with functional bowel disorders as well as other medical conditions which commonly co-exist with IBS and/or occur commonly in women, including interstitial cystitis (IC), migraine headaches, depression/anxiety, and certain hepatological conditions such as fatty liver.
Viewing the patient and their symptoms as a whole, with good health as an indicator of homeostasis and disease as a breakdown of that physiological balance, the center is based upon a holistic vision of health and disease. "In many ways, the center will herald a unique approach to treatment," says Lin Chang, MD, Director of the Women's Digestive Health Center, and UCLA Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases. "A team of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare specialists will apply novel treatments integrating the best and most advanced in Western biomedical techniques with the best in complementary medicine," elaborates Dr. Chang.
About the Center for Women's Digestive Health
The Women's Digestive Health Center -- the clinical component of the newly established CNS -- will focus on the diagnosis and management of chronic digestive disorders characterized by pain and discomfort such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), that primarily affect women. The center's features include patient care, medical education programs, and for patients who qualify, access to appropriate clinical trials investigating functional bowel disorders. These services will be offered to all patients with functional bowel disorders as well as other medical conditions which commonly co-exist with IBS and/or occur commonly in women, including interstitial cystitis (IC), migraine headaches, depression/anxiety, and certain hepatological conditions such as fatty liver.
Viewing the patient and their symptoms as a whole, with good health as an indicator of homeostasis and disease as a breakdown of that physiological balance, the center is based upon a holistic vision of health and disease. "In many ways, the center will herald a unique approach to treatment," says Lin Chang, MD, Director of the Women's Digestive Health Center, and UCLA Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases. "A team of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare specialists will apply novel treatments integrating the best and most advanced in Western biomedical techniques with the best in complementary medicine," elaborates Dr. Chang.
About the Integrative Medicine Clinic
The Integrative Medicine Clinic offers treatment approaches that are tailored to each individual patient. The Clinic reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focusing on the whole person - including mind and body - and guided by evidence and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches to achieve optimal health and healing.
Through a network of established practitioners in the community, patients are offered an array of proven therapies, both conventional and alternative, such as acupuncture, mindfulness-based stress reduction training, nutritional and psychotherapeutic counseling, yoga, among others.
Current Clinical Research at CNS
Clinical research is essential in advancing our understanding of biological and psychological mechanisms underlying functional GI disorders. The only way these studies can be performed is when affected patients are willing to participate in these studies. If you are interested in these studies, you can either participate in clinical trials in which the effectiveness of novel therapies on IBS symptoms is being evaluated or you can participate in research studies aimed at characterizing mechanisms underlying symptoms in IBS.