The Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation (GIRF) supports the dedicated physicians and scientists in the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition at The University of Chicago Medicine as they work to improve the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses such as colon and pancreatic cancer, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, liver disease and many others which affect the lives of so many men, women and children.

By providing timely and critical funding, GIRF enables the GI Section to attract the highest caliber of professionals, and helps maintain its fast pace of scientific discovery keeping it at “at the forefront of medicine.”

With the help of GIRF the GI Section at The University of Chicago Medicine has achieved national and international status as a major research center. In many cases, GIRF funds the critical seed money necessary to get these and other projects off the ground so researchers can pursue larger federal grants.  This aspect of GIRF’s fundraising efforts is unique among medical charitable foundations.

Just a few of the GI Section’s accomplishments supported by GIRF include:

• Discovery of the first gene associated with Crohn’s Disease
• Discovery of the role of microRNA in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and colon cancer
• Role of vitamin D in inflammation and cancer
• Use of Endoscopic Mucosal Resections for Esophageal, Stomach,
   and Colon Cancer
• First to perform a living donor liver transplant from parent to child

The University of Chicago Medicine's new state-of the-art, 1.2 million-square-foot Center for Care and Discovery, opened in February 2013, is a groundbreaking clinical and surgical center dedicated to specialty care in areas such as cancer, gastrointestinal disease, neuroscience, advanced surgery, and high-tech medical imaging.