About the Iowa Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center
Integrated Treatment Approach for Adults and Children
The Iowa Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center (IBD Center) offers integrated patient-centered care for adult and pediatric patients in need of treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The Iowa IBD Center is a collaborative initiative of the Iowa Digestive Disease Center, the Colorectal Surgeons of the Iowa Clinic, the Children’s Center at Mercy Pediatric Subspecialty Clinic.
The Center offers a complete array of services from diagnosis to treatment programs, surgical procedures and follow-up care. The IBD Center staff consults with referring primary care physicians, general surgeons and gastroenterologists. Together we work to develop an individualized plan for comprehensive disease management so patients can gain control of their disease.
Evaluation
With 70 years of combined expertise in treating patients with IBD, the Center offers adult and pediatric gastroenterologists, as well as colorectal and pediatric surgeons to provide specialized treatment programs for patients. Services and scheduling are centralized to meet a patient or family’s needs. Each patient will receive a complete evaluation including:
- Patient interview
- Physical examination
- Laboratory and diagnostic testing to stage disease extent and activity
- Discussion of surgical options when necessary
- Access to a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach to disease management
Diagnosis
The Iowa IBD Center uses services at the Iowa Digestive Disease Center, the Iowa Clinic Colorectal Surgery Clinic and the Children’s Center at Mercy Pediatric Subspecialty Clinic. The Center provides patients access to state-of-the-art endoscopic procedures and radiologic imaging studies to visually examine and stage disease activity.
Treatment and Research
IBD Center physicians provide the latest treatment modalities as well as access to new drug protocols and surgical techniques. The IBD Center remains at the forefront of bringing new therapies to the patient in a timely or accelerated manner. Physicians will also be welcome to submit data to the Registry if they are caring for more than one IBD patient in a family. The IBD Center is actively involved in national and international medical trials. Patients who meet the qualifications of these trials, and consent to being involved, have access to treatments not widely available.
Surgery
If surgery is necessary, the IBD Center offers board certified, fellowship trained colorectal and pediatric suIrgeons. IBD Center surgeons offer patients leading edge surgical options including:
- Minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures
- Ileal Pouch Anal
- Anastomosis “J-Pouch” procedure
- Stricturoplasty bowel preserving technique
- Sphincter preserving procedures
- Advanced fistula treatment options
- Standard procedures including the Brooke ileostomy
IBD Education and Support
A cornerstone of the management of patients with IBD and their families is education and support. The IBD Center Coordinator will work with patients and families to provide resource materials, support group meeting opportunities, patient education services and links to reputable national associations for adults and children with IBD. The Iowa Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patient Education and Research Fund is dedicated to meeting these needs.
Our Team
Bernard I. Leman
Dr. Leman is a graduate of Harvard University and Tulane University School of Medicine. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Gastroenterology Fellowship at UCLA where he served as a clinic physician at the UCLA IBD Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. Dr. Leman joined the Iowa Digestive Disease Center in 1990 where his focus has been the treatment of patients with IBD. He is involved in several IBD clinical trials.
Dr. Leman is Director of Medical Education at Mercy Medical Center – Des Moines and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s Iowa chapter.
Archana Verma
Dr. Verma received her medical degree from B.J. Medical College, Pune India. She completed a year of post-graduate training in Surgery at Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore, India. Dr. Verma completed her Residency in Internal Medicine at Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Ill. as well as a Fellowship in Gastroenterology at Cook County Hospital.
Dr. Verma is board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. She joined Iowa Digestive Disease Center in 2003.
Michael J. Page
Dr. Page is a graduate of Ohio State University and Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio. He completed his Internship and Residency in General Surgery at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa. Dr. Page completed a Colon and Rectal Fellowship in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Page is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery. Dr. Page formerly a member of the Colorectal Surgery Division of the Iowa Clinic P.C. joined Iowa Digestive Disease Center in 2015.
Daniel DiMeo
Dr. DiMeo is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H. He completed his Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Children’s Hospital of Iowa located at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Dr.
DiMeo is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology. He maintains a special interest in Pediatric IBD and is a member of the Children’s Center at Mercy Pediatric Subspecialty Clinic.
Geoff Wall, R.Ph.
Dr. Wall graduated from Dixie College in St. George, UT. He received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Utah in Salt Lake and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Idaho State University in Pocatello, Id. Dr. Wall is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and also is Certified in Geriatric Pharmacy.
He completed an ASHP Accredited Specialty Residency in Adult Internal Medicine at Scott and White Memorial Hospital and Clinics in Temple, Tx. Dr. Wall is presently the Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Drake University.