Our mission is to improve the quality of life for BIPOC who are affected by IBD, Digestive Disorders and associated Chronic Illnesses; through Community, Research, Education, and Advocacy.
Dr. Baidoo, is a Fellow of both the American College of Gastroenterologists (ACG) and the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and has been accepted to the AGA Academy of Educators. He was the ACG Governor for Western Pennsylvania for a few years, and also served on the training and education committee. In the AGA, he serves nationally as Councilor on the Immunology/Microbiology and IBD Section. He is also a member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and has been Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of the CCFA Chapter in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Dr Baidoo has received numerous teaching awards voted for by gastroenterology fellows and his peers and also received the Black Bag award for mentoring black medical students.
He serves on the editorial advisory board for the journal-Gastroenterology and Hepatology and serves as reviewer for journals like the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Journal of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Therapeutic advances in Gastroenterology.
Dr. Baidoo’s current research and clinical interest include novel biological modifiers and innovative strategies in the treatment of IBD and the evaluation of different aspects of the disease and IBD in the minority population. He is also interested in the mechanisms of creating centers of excellence for Inflammatory bowel disease management.
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Sophie M. Balzora MD, FACG is a Clinical Professor of Medicine and gastroenterologist at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She is Founding President of the Association of Black Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists (ABGH), Chair of ACG’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and co-founder of ACG’s #DiversityinGI Social Media Campaign. She serves on ACG Institute’s Leadership, Ethics and Equity Center Advisory Board, COCCI’s Medical Advisory Board, Fight CRC’s Health Equity Committee, and on the Board of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA).
She has been recognized nationally for her contributions to the field as it relates to DEI, health equity, and her health equity advocacy has brought her to Capitol Hill and The White House.
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Darrell M. Gray, II, MD, MPH, FACG is the President of Wellpoint Maryland, an Elevance Health brand Medicaid plan. Prior to his recent appointment as President, Dr. Gray was the inaugural chief health equity officer for Elevance Health, leading the execution of comprehensive strategy to advance health equity through a whole-health approach (addressing physical, behavioral, social, and pharmacy needs) among Elevance Health’s tens of millions of members and their respective communities.
Prior to joining Elevance Health, Gray was an associate professor of medicine at The Ohio State University, where he served as a practicing gastroenterologist and medical director of healthy communities for The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center as well as deputy director of the Center for Cancer Health Equity at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Notably, he co-led Ohio State’s health equity response to COVID-19 and co-designed the health enterprise’s antiracism action plan.
Gray is a co-founder of the Association of Black Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists and the immediate past chair of the American College of Gastroenterology Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
Gray has published widely, including high-impact peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Reviews, Lancet, and Cancer. Additionally, he has received numerous awards including the National Minority Quality Forum 40 Under 40 Leader in Minority Health Award, and the 2020 Healio Disruptive Innovators Health Equity Award. He nonetheless cites his roles as husband to Brittney and father to Harper, Ella, Noah, and Zoë as his crowning achievements.
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Dr. Liu completed her internal medicine training at Mayo Clinic Rochester and gastroenterology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She then completed a research fellowship at the Harvard Center of Minimally Invasive and stayed on faculty for four years to investigate the mechanism of endoscopic anti-reflux procedures. She moved to University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada to establish a robust research program in endoscopy. Her research focused on the use of confocal endomicroscopy to quantify leaky gut in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome. She then relocated to University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to translate her research findings into patient care. She was recruited to Morehouse School of Medicine to continue her personalized IBD treatment approaches to help address the disparities in digestive care of Black patients through research and education.
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Expanding a potential or current patient’s understanding of gut health, the journey to diagnosis, and advocation to improve their quality of life. Also navigating the policies needed to benefit patients with chronic illnesses.
Medication hesitancy
Challenges to diagnosis and treatment
How can we improve treatment compliance?
What are access issues to diagnosis and treatment?
What concerns patients have for clinical research?
Barriers to care (referral)
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