Best colitis specialists by state in the United States

Patients searching for the best colitis specialists by state in the United States often encounter a fragmented landscape of general gastroenterologists, IBD-trained subspecialists, and academic center programs. Ulcerative colitis and related inflammatory bowel conditions are best managed by board-certified gastroenterologists who hold additional subspecialty training in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and the geographic concentration of such expertise varies significantly across states. 1

How Colitis Specialists Are Evaluated and Credentialed

Colitis specialists are typically gastroenterologists certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in the gastroenterology subspecialty, sometimes with an additional IBD fellowship year beyond the standard three-year training program. 2 The American College of Gastroenterology maintains a provider lookup tool that allows patients to verify board certification and locate regional practitioners. 3 Additional recognition sometimes comes through the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, which presents awards such as the Premier Physician Award and the Rising Star award to clinicians demonstrating distinguished contributions to IBD research and patient care.

U.S. News and World Report annually ranks hospitals by gastroenterology and GI surgery performance, drawing on patient outcomes, clinical volume, and specialty expertise. 4 Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, holds the top national ranking with a score of 100.0 out of 100, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, ranks second with a score of 92.5 out of 100. 4 These rankings reflect institutional capacity but do not capture individual physician performance, making specialist-level research an important parallel step for patients.

Ohio: Cleveland Clinic's Concentrated IBD Expertise

Ohio is home to one of the most concentrated clusters of colitis specialists in the country through Cleveland Clinic's Digestive Disease Institute. Dr. Bret Lashner, MD, serves as Director of the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Cleveland Clinic and holds board certifications in both internal medicine and gastroenterology. He received his medical degree from New York University and completed a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago. He also earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has served as principal investigator on numerous clinical trials. 5

Dr. Miguel Regueiro, MD, serves as Chief of the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic and holds the inaugural Melody and Steve Golding Chair for Digestive Diseases. He trained at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Hospital for his internship, residency, and clinical fellowship, and previously held the UPMC Endowed Chair for Patient Centered Care in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh from 2000 to 2018. 6 Additional Cleveland Clinic IBD physicians include Dr. Jean-Paul Achkar, MD, who holds a 4.9-star rating from 152 patient reviews and has received the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America Premier Physician Award, and Dr. Benjamin Cohen, MD, who serves as Co-Section Head and Clinical Director for IBD and received the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation Rising Star award in 2018. 7

California, Maryland, and New York: Academic Hub States

California hosts several leading IBD programs. Dr. Berkeley N. Limketkai, MD, PhD, at UCLA Health carries a 4.9-star rating from 44 patient reviews and serves as Director of Clinical Research at the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. He completed his internal medicine residency, gastroenterology fellowship, and PhD at Johns Hopkins University, pursued advanced Theodore M. Bayless Fellowship training in IBD, and previously led the Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Program at Stanford University. 8 The University of California San Francisco also provides advanced colitis care through its Division of Gastroenterology, reinforcing California's position as an IBD specialty hub. 9

In Maryland, Dr. David Alejandro Muniz Pedrogo, MD, MS, at Johns Hopkins Medicine holds a 4.9-star rating from 61 patient reviews and serves as assistant director of the IBD clinical trials unit at Johns Hopkins. He specializes in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, with research focused on the gut microbiome's role in predicting treatment response. 10 Johns Hopkins Hospital is broadly recognized as a leading national center for colitis diagnosis, treatment, and research. 11 In New York, Dr. Alexandra Gutierrez, MD, practices at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and holds a 4.8-star rating from 65 patient reviews, and Mount Sinai Health System operates a specialized IBD and colitis center with multiple board-certified specialists. 12

Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania: Regional Specialists

Florida patients have access to notable IBD practitioners at major academic affiliates. Dr. David Harris Kerman, MD, at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine holds a 4.8-star rating from 154 patient reviews and serves as Chief Medical Director of the UHealth Doral facility. His expertise focuses on complex IBD and recurrent C. difficile colitis, and he sees patients from South Florida, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. 13 Dr. Nicholas Golden, MD, practices through Cleveland Clinic's Indian River Hospital location in Vero Beach, Florida, carrying a 4.9-star rating from 152 ratings, and trained at NYU School of Medicine with a fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center. 14

In New Jersey, Dr. Sanket B. Patel, DO, directs the Virtua Crohn's and Colitis Center in Moorestown, holds a 5.0-star rating from 116 patient reviews, and completed an advanced IBD fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center following a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Connecticut. 15 Pennsylvania is served by Dr. David George Binion, MD, at UPMC in Pittsburgh, who holds a 4.9-star rating from 131 patient reviews and specializes in IBD gastroenterology and gastrointestinal transplant surgery. He trained at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic Graduate Medical Education. 16

Missouri, Oklahoma, and Utah: Specialists in Less-Dense Markets

Missouri's IBD landscape includes two notable practitioners. Dr. Richard P. Rood, MD, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis serves as Director of the Ostomy Clinic and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center with 43 years of clinical experience. He specializes in ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, microscopic colitis, and celiac disease, and serves as Chairman of the National Medical Advisory Board for the United Ostomy Associations of America. 17 Dr. Yezaz Ghouri, MD, practices at SSM Health Medical Group in Bridgeton, Missouri, with a 4.5-star rating, and holds fellowship training from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston alongside expertise in IBD, ulcerative colitis, and the gut microbiome. 18

In Oklahoma, Dr. George Salem, MD, at OU Health in Edmond holds a 4.8-star rating from 237 patient ratings and 53 comments. He is a fellowship-trained IBD gastroenterologist who received the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation Visiting Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fellow Program Award and trained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester under that program. His procedural competencies include chromoendoscopy, endoscopic mucosal resection, and fecal microbiota transplant. 19 In Utah, Dr. Amir Kashani, MPH, MD, practices at the University of Utah Health and serves as co-director of the Department of Internal Medicine breath test program, with fellowship training completed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and an advanced IBD fellowship at Vanderbilt University. 20

How to Locate and Evaluate a Colitis Specialist by State

Several structured tools exist for patients researching colitis specialists across U.S. states. The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation maintains a Find a Medical Expert portal that allows searches by zip code and filters by insurance and geographic proximity. 21 The American Board of Medical Specialties physician finder database allows verification of board certification status, an important due diligence step independent of patient review scores. 2 Major academic medical centers in metropolitan areas typically host multidisciplinary IBD clinics where gastroenterologists, colorectal surgeons, dietitians, psychologists, and IBD-trained pharmacists coordinate care within a single visit structure. 22

States with large academic medical center networks, including California, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, generally have the highest concentrations of IBD-subspecialty trained colitis specialists. Patients in lower-density states may find that telehealth consultations offered by centers like Cleveland Clinic or UCSF can bridge geographic access gaps. Factors to evaluate when researching a specialist include years of IBD subspecialty fellowship training, active clinical trial participation, patient volume in colitis specifically, and institutional affiliation with a recognized IBD center. Credentials alone do not guarantee care quality, and patients are advised to consult multiple sources and verify insurance participation directly with each provider's office before scheduling.

Institutional Frameworks and Ongoing Considerations

Several institutional markers can help narrow the search for high-quality colitis care. Mayo Clinic's ulcerative colitis program integrates specialists from gastroenterology and hepatology, colon and rectal surgery, radiology, rheumatology, wound care, nutrition, and laboratory pathology, and uses chromoendoscopy technology for colorectal cancer surveillance, which is associated with better differentiation of cancerous and noncancerous lesions compared to conventional colonoscopy. 23 The newly established Yale Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center in Connecticut reflects the growing institutional response to rising IBD prevalence and increasing demand for subspecialty care at academic medical centers. 24

Patients should also recognize systemic friction points in accessing top-tier colitis specialists. Wait times at high-volume academic centers can extend several months for new patient appointments, and not all IBD-subspecialty physicians accept all insurance plans. Clinical trial eligibility may open additional pathways to specialist-level care at no additional patient cost, though eligibility criteria vary by trial and disease severity. The broader U.S. landscape of 1,514 hospitals ranked in gastroenterology by U.S. News reflects the wide distribution of basic GI capacity, but advanced IBD subspecialty expertise remains disproportionately concentrated in a smaller number of flagship academic institutions. 4

Sources

1. American College of Gastroenterology - gi.org/patients/findagastroenterologist/
2. American Board of Medical Specialties - abms.org/member-boards/find-a-specialist/
3. American College of Gastroenterology - gi.org/patients/findagastroenterologist/
4. U.S. News and World Report - health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/gastroenterology-and-gi-surgery
5. Cleveland Clinic Provider Profile: Bret Lashner, MD - providers.clevelandclinic.org/provider/bret-lashner/4269271
6. Cleveland Clinic Provider Profile: Miguel Regueiro, MD - providers.clevelandclinic.org/provider/miguel-regueiro/4269353
7. Cleveland Clinic Provider Profile: Benjamin Cohen, MD - providers.clevelandclinic.org/provider/benjamin-cohen/4269349
8. UCLA Health Provider Profile: Berkeley N. Limketkai, MD, PhD - uclahealth.org/providers/berkeley-limketkai
9. UCSF Health - gastroenterology.ucsf.edu/patient-care/conditions-we-treat/inflammatory-bowel-disease
10. Johns Hopkins Medicine Provider Profile: David Alejandro Muniz Pedrogo, MD, MS - profiles.hopkinsmedicine.org/provider/david-alejandro-muniz-pedrogo/3053275
11. Johns Hopkins Medicine - hopkinsmedicine.org/gastroenterology-hepatology/ibd
12. Columbia University Irving Medical Center Provider Profile: Alexandra Gutierrez, MD - doctors.columbia.edu/us/ny/new-york/alexandra-gutierrez-md-161-fort-washington-avenue
13. University of Miami Health Provider Profile: David Harris Kerman, MD - doctors.umiamihealth.org/provider/david-harris-kerman/525542
14. Cleveland Clinic Provider Profile: Nicholas Golden, MD - providers.clevelandclinic.org/provider/nicholas-golden/4269275
15. Virtua Health Provider Profile: Sanket B. Patel, DO - doctors.virtua.org/provider/sanket-b-patel/2623819
16. UPMC Provider Profile: David George Binion, MD - providers.upmc.com/provider/david-george-binion/1324599
17. LinkedIn Profile: Richard P. Rood, MD - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
18. SSM Health Provider Profile: Yezaz Ghouri, MD - getcare.ssmhealth.com/find-a-doctor/doctor-details/yezaz-a-ghouri-md
19. OU Health Provider Profile: George Salem, MD - ouhealth.com/find-a-doctor/george-salem-md/
20. University of Utah Health Provider Profile: Amir Kashani, MD - healthcare.utah.edu/find-a-doctor/amir-kashani
21. Crohn's and Colitis Foundation - crohnscolitisfoundation.org/find-a-medical-expert
22. Cleveland Clinic Digestive Disease Institute - my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/digestive/medical-professionals/ibd
23. Mayo Clinic - Ulcerative Colitis Care - mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ulcerative-colitis/care-at-mayo-clinic/mac-20353335
24. Yale School of Medicine - New Yale Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center - medicine.yale.edu/news-article/new-yale-inflammatory-bowel-disease-center/