Noah Ashenafi is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina whose research project on IBS was made possible through an AGA-funded fellowship.
Noah Ashenafi is passionate for holistic health, nutrition and personalized medicine. This passion motivated him to pursue a career in integrative medicine.
Noah’s research project — made possible through an AGA-funded fellowship — analyzes the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients that display symptoms of problematic food avoidance/restriction. His aim for this project is to evaluate the effect of CBT on problematic food avoidance, IBS symptom severity, and IBS quality of life. Results from his project will inform the use of advanced practice provider-delivered CBTs in patients with IBS to best target problematic avoidant/restrictive eating and improve access to behavioral treatments integrated into the gastroenterology setting.
Noah’s story like those of other undergraduate students shows the importance of growing the GI investigators pipeline.
