Shrujal Baxi, MD, chief medical officer at Iterative Health, connected with Becker's Dec. 20 to discuss the clinical gastroenterology trends she is keeping her eye on today.
Editor's note: This response was edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
Question: What are some key trends you are seeing in the GI industry today?
Dr. Baxi: Digital health in the management of gastrointestinal diseases has accelerated with the advent of regulatory approved devices for polyp detection. We are seeing large academic centers and hospitals championing AI-integration into their endoscopy suites, which is motivating scientists to imagine more ways to apply digital solutions to improve GI care going forward.
Presently, there's also excitement around drug development in inflammatory bowel disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and other GI diseases, which highlights the industry's growing ability to address pathology. Looking ahead, like much of medicine in general, we are striving for a higher level of molecular diagnostics to drive precision medicine. Another topic that is on trend today is the emergence of research on the impact of the gut flora on outcomes in various diseases in GI and beyond.