Garth R. Swanson, MD, MS

Garth R. Swanson, MD, MS, AGAF is a Professor of Medicine and the Graduate College at Rush University. He is the Director of the Rush Crohn’s & Colitis Center, the Director of the Clinical Chronobiology Lab and the Associate Director of the Rush Center for Integrated Microbiome and Chronobiology Research at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL. He started as an Assistant Professor at RUMC in July of 2008, was promoted to Associate Professor in August 2014 and to Professor in May 2021. He is a practicing gastroenterologist and scientist with a specialty in managing patients with inflammatory bowel disease for 13 years who completed a retrospective project looking at the impact of alcohol consumption in patients with IBD for his Master’s in Clinical Research while a GI fellow. Swanson’s overall translational research is focused on the impact of environmental factors on the gastrointestinal tract and gut-derived inflammation and includes circadian disruption and the mechanisms by which they impact the microbiome, intestinal permeability, endotoxemia, and mucosal injury. He completed a K23 grant in which the focus was interaction between alcohol consumption and circadian disruption on intestinal barrier function in night shift workers. Swanson currently has two R01s examining the impact of circadian misalignment in Inflammatory bowel disease, and chronotherapy of 5-ASA therapy in UC. He is an active mentor and established a monthly IBD conference and supervises the selection and presentation of all cases and potential articles discussed. This conference now meets bimonthly prior to the IBD clinic and carries one CME credit. Swanson was instrumental in establishing the Rush Crohn’s and Colitis Center at RUMC in 2018 which includes the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Multidisciplinary (IBD) Clinic which he Co-Directs with Colorectal Surgery and multidisciplinary (combined medical and surgical) in-patient consult IBD service. The establishment of this multidisciplinary clinic in Inflammatory Bowel Disease has helped advance state of the art and cutting-edge treatments in a coordinated care center to patients facing a complex medical and surgical disease.