Jill K. J. Gaidos, MD

Jill Gaidos, MD, specializes in treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an umbrella term describing two conditions that cause chronic inflammation within the digestive system: ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Dr. Gaidos says she was drawn to IBD because of its variety. “I like how sometimes I get to perform a procedure and see a patient only once; but, I also get to care for others over the span of many years,” she says. “You have to think about the entire patient—it’s a mix of acute and chronic cases.”

Dr. Gaidos enjoys helping patients better understand their IBD and the medications that can be used to help treat their colitis or Crohn’s disease. “My goal is to get the patient to return to enjoying life again,” she says. “It’s rewarding when a patient tells me they had no idea how bad they had been feeling until they started to feel better.”

As the director of clinical research for the Yale Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program, Dr. Gaidos helps patients understand the treatment options available, as not all IBD medications work for all IBD patients. “We are learning more about what causes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease,” she says. “Hopefully, one day we will be able to better predict which patients we can put on a particular drug that will work for them.”