The Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation (GIRF) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for clinical and laboratory research in digestive diseases in the Gastroenterology Section at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

GIRF provides funds for equipment, laboratories and support of investigators and young physicians in the University of Chicago GI Section, a group of full-time dedicated doctors who seek solutions to all kinds of gastrointestinal illnesses, affecting the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine, the liver, the gallbladder, and the pancreas.

The Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation is proud of its long relationship with the U of C GI Section. Since 1962, GIRF has enjoyed a rare and rewarding partnership with the physicians and investigators “at the forefront of medicine”. For the past four decades, men and women, patients and their families who comprise GIRF have worked together to raise funds for clinical and laboratory research.

The G.I. Section at the University of Chicago has consistently been ranked in the top ten listing of Gastroenterology sections in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. In 2007, the G. I. Section the U of C was ranked 6th in the country!

Operating with a fraction of the budgets of larger medical institutions, the U of C GI section is an acknowledged leader in the development of drugs, the improvement in technical procedures and breakthrough genetic research. It was here that that Nod2, the gene that contributes to the on-set of Crohn’s disease, was identified. And the discoveries continue at a rapid pace keeping this GI Section at the cutting edge of medicine.

The GIRF story begins in 1962 when two Chicago businessmen, Martin N. Sandler and Joseph E. Valenti, Sr., joined their friend Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner in establishing the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation.

“It shall be the mission of the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation to raise funds for gastroenterologic research. The Foundation will endeavor to promote the education of the public regarding issues of digestive health.”

GIRF is comprised of men and women from all walks of life; many are patients; all are friends, who share the common purpose of supporting research in the causes and cures for digestive disease, and assisting physicians and scientists who work daily to improve the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal illness, as well as the quality of life for patients who come to the University of Chicago G.I. Section from all over the world.