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The fastest way to improve IBD outcomes is not always a new drug. Sometimes it’s a better system and a team that can actually reach you before you end up in crisis. We’re joined by Dr. Corey Siegel, a renowned gastroenterologist and IBD specialist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, to unpack what “high-quality inflammatory bowel disease care” looks like when you measure it, stress-test it, and rebuild it around real patient needs.

We talk through IBD Qorus, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation quality improvement program that defines key standards for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis care and then tracks whether clinics meet them. That leads to a practical, patient-first goal: keeping people out of the emergency department by creating urgent clinic access, proactively supporting high-risk patients, and using better visit workflows that start with the patient’s top concern. These aren’t flashy changes, but they reduce prednisone use, unnecessary CT scans, opioid exposure, and the emotional toll of feeling unheard.

Then we zoom out to rural healthcare and specialty access. Dr. Siegel explains RADIUS, a telemedicine “hub-and-spoke” model where community practices connect patients early to a full multidisciplinary IBD team, including behavioral health, nutrition, pharmacy support, and nursing coordination. We also get real about treat-to-target, why symptoms can mislead, and how insurance barriers like prior authorization and step therapy can delay the right biologic or advanced therapy for months.

If you want smarter, more human IBD care and concrete ideas you can advocate for, hit play now. After you listen, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more patients can find these conversations.

Links:

• Dr. Siegel's podcast- Digesting: The Latest in IBD- apple podcasts
• Spotify option
• Information on IBD Qorus- Crohn's & Colitis Foundation
• Information about the BRIDGe Group

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An MRI, a phone call, and four words nobody wants to hear: “You have a perforated bowel.” Zach Koscuik was on the road to a comedy gig when Crohn’s disease forced yet another hard pivot, adding to a 25-year history that includes perianal Crohn’s, fistulas, abscesses, emergency surgeries, biologics, and three ileocolonic resections. We talk with him about what it’s like to grow up sick, manage the stigma that makes people minimize inflammatory bowel disease, and keep showing up to school, work, and life when your body is always negotiating the nearest bathroom.

Then the story takes a turn into the world of clinical trials and high-stakes medicine. Zach explains how severe disease and short bowel complications pushed his team toward an autologous stem cell transplant, a process that essentially wipes out and restarts the immune system. We get specific about the testing, chemo, isolation, and the surreal experience of being treated on a cancer floor without having cancer, plus the very real impact of insurance decisions that kept him hospitalized for 43 days.

The payoff lands with the kind of news IBD patients barely let themselves hope for: a one-year follow-up colonoscopy that comes back completely clean. We also keep it honest about what remains, including motility issues, joint pain, and the mental aftershocks of medical trauma. Zach closes with a simple challenge for the Crohn’s and colitis community: practice equal empathy, because two people can share a diagnosis and live totally different realities. If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people living with IBD can find it.

Links:

• Find Zach on Instagram
• Information on the stem cell trial that Zach did
• Stem Cell Therapy clinical trial site- Clinicaltrials.gov

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A ninth inning ballpark burger. Days of relentless diarrhea. Then blood. John Capodilupo’s ulcerative colitis diagnosis didn’t arrive slowly, it hit like a truck, and it sent him into a crash course on what living with IBD really demands. We talk through the early fear and uncertainty, the 28-day hospitalization, and the chaos of juggling treatment while also battling infections like C. difficile and CMV colitis. John also shares his experience with fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) for recurrent C. diff and why the microbiome still feels like one of the biggest unsolved stories in gut health.

From there, we connect the dots between health data and better decisions. John helped build Whoop, the wearable built around continuous physiological tracking like heart rate variability and sleep, and he explains what longitudinal data can reveal about stress, recovery, and early warning signs. We dig into how sleep disruption and subtle body signals can show up before you’re sure whether you’re flaring or just paying the price for Taco Bell.

Then we get into Throne, the smart toilet monitoring system John now co-leads as Chief Product Officer. Throne clips onto the toilet and uses computer vision and sensors to track stool and urine trends passively, aiming to reduce guesswork, improve symptom recall, and open the door to research like flare prediction, medication durability, and future screening signals such as blood detection for colon cancer. We also cover the “real life” questions: multi-user households, cleaning, cost, and a privacy approach built around de-identified data and opt-in research.

If you’re curious about ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, IBD tracking, gut health technology, or the future of smart toilets, listen now then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review.

Links:

• Throne's website
• Fun article about the founding of Throne
• Buy Throne for $50 off! or use code ListenToYourGut

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