University Gastroenterology and our partners at GI Alliance are committed to advancing the standard of patient care. To that end, we are often involved in ongoing clinical trials and studies involving new treatments. Below is information about current studies in which we're participating.
If you have questions about ongoing clinical trials and to see if you qualify, please don't hesitate to contact the clinical research team at 401-293-5401 or email Clinical Research Director Renee Ambrose.
Why Should You Participate in Clinical Trials?
In addition to helping advance medicine, there are multiple benefits to participating in an ongoing clinical trial at University Gastroenterology.
Benefits May Include:
Access to novel, targeted therapies years before they're on the market
Free Medication
Free testing & medical procedures related to the trial
Tailored, individualized care plan
Financial compensation
UGI is a SPARC IBD Site
In partnership with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, UGI is proud to be one of just 20 SPARC IBD sites across the country
SPARC IBD is a longitudinal observational study that follows adult patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) throughout their health journey, with the aim of identifying the best course of treatment for IBD.
Participants will be asked to:
Answer questions about their IBD journey
Provide Samples for analysis
Work with their physician or health care provider to track their disease course
University Gastroenterology is proud to partner with organizations that have the same commitment to providing patients with cutting-edge comprehensive care.
When it comes to testing new and promising treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, finding the right patients to participate in clinical trials has always been a challenge. In an effort to remove that obstacle, University Gastroenterology teamed up with Virgo Surgical Video Solutions.
In 2022, UGI physicians began using the Virgo Platform in their everyday standard of care to accelerate enrollment in IBD clinical trials. Virgo leverages artificial intelligence and endoscopic video data to more easily identify patients who meet the complex inclusion and exclusion criteria set forth by pharmaceutical companies. The platform automatically records every endoscopic procedure across UGI’s practice facilities without interrupting clinical workflows. Computer vision then analyzes the endoscopic video data and identifies patients who meet the eligibility criteria for specific clinical trials within Virgo’s pharmaceutical partner network.
What is the Virgo Platform designed to do, and how does it work?
The Virgo platform combines artificial intelligence machine learning and storage in the cloud, allowing us in real-time to have computer-assisted visualization of the endoscopy procedure, as well as instant recall of any procedures done in the past. In the past, we were not able to record endoscopy procedures due to storage issues. Cloud storage has solved this problem.
While the procedure is being performed, AI is continually watching the procedure and evaluating the mucosal lining of the G.I. tract. This allows us to identify abnormal pathology in real time including the identification of polyps.
Specifically for research protocols, Virgo's artificial intelligence can identify, categorize, and evaluate any potential patients for clinical studies.
What does the use of the platform mean for University Gastroenterology patients?
Initially, Virgo will help us better identify candidates for clinical research trials, which means more of our patients will have increased access to promising new drugs and devices. But that's just one benefit.
Incorporating the Virgo platform into our everyday workflow at all University Gastroenterology locations is a significant step toward combining cutting-edge technology with the skill and expertise of our providers and will enable us to provide even more effective care to our all of our patients. For example, the Virgo drastically reduces the need for repeat endoscopies because all scopes will be automatically recorded and saved on the cloud. If we refer a patient for surgery, the surgeon will have access to all of the videos from that initial endoscopy. In addition, access to that video enables us to more easily collaborate with other colleagues - whether in the practice or around the globe - on complex cases which greatly improves case documentation and care team coordination.
How often do you recommend inflammatory bowel disease patients for participation in clinical trials, and what criteria do you use to make those recommendations?
Our patients are regularly considered for clinical studies. But matching up the right patient with the right study can prove to be challenging. The exclusion and inclusion criteria pharmaceutical companies establish for entering studies are usually quite precise. This is necessary so that the study is able to clearly determine the efficacy of the treatment. Virgo leverages artificial intelligence and endoscopic video data to more easily identify patients who meet the criteria. Computer vision analyzes the endoscopic video data and identifies patients who meet the eligibility criteria for specific clinical trials within Virgo's pharmaceutical partner network. The early results are extremely encouraging — Virgo as a whole is seeing a 5x increase in patient referrals and a 4x increase in patient randomization.
Being part of this large clinical study program will give us access to an increased number of drugs and devices that have the potential to improve the care of our patients.
Will the Virgo platform be used to screen potential participants for clinical trials of treatments of gastrointestinal diseases beyond IBD?
The Virgo platform will initially be used primarily for critical studies in the area of inflammatory bowel disease. The platform is highly versatile and will be used in the future for all clinical studies involved in the GI tract at University Gastroenterology. Virgo is currently working closely with its pharmaceutical partners to develop additional solutions on the Virgo platform that help them further decentralize and accelerate their clinical trials in IBD and a number of other therapeutic areas that involve endoscopy.
With the use of the platform, is UGI joining a network of providers that are screening for eligible clinical trials participants?
University Gastroenterology is one of a number of large very clinically active centers that offer patients cutting-edge therapies and treatments. Those providers themselves aren't part of a network, per se. However, by using the Virgo Platform, University Gastroenterology patients will be considered for clinical trials within Virgo's pharmaceutical partner network.
University Gastroenterology and our partners at GI Alliance are committed to advancing the standard of patient care. To that end, we are often involved in ongoing clinical trials and studies involving new treatments. Below is information about current studies in which we're participating.
If you have questions about ongoing clinical trials and to see if you qualify, please don't hesitate to contact the clinical research team at 401-293-5401 or email Clinical Research Director Renee Ambrose.
Why Should You Participate in Clinical Trials?
In addition to helping advance medicine, there are multiple benefits to participating in an ongoing clinical trial at University Gastroenterology.
Benefits May Include:
UGI is a SPARC IBD Site
In partnership with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, UGI is proud to be one of just 20 SPARC IBD sites across the country
SPARC IBD is a longitudinal observational study that follows adult patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) throughout their health journey, with the aim of identifying the best course of treatment for IBD.
Participants will be asked to:
Currently Enrolling: Clinical Trials at UGI
CLINICAL RESEARCH DIVISION TEAM
Lisa Mueller, MD
Medical Co-Director
Jason Ferreira, MD
Medical Co-Director
Sheldon Lidofsky, MD
Medical Director, IBD Center of Excellence
Eric Newton, MD
Associate Director, Liver Center
Philip McAndrew, MD
Jeffrey Nadelson, MD
Renee Ambrose, MS
Director, Clinical Research
Belinda Bechtold
Clinical Research Coordinator
Katherine Marcil
Clinical Research Coordinator
Pam Prescott
Research Nurse
Isabella Payne
Clinical Research Coordinator
RESEARCH PARTNERS
University Gastroenterology is proud to partner with organizations that have the same commitment to providing patients with cutting-edge comprehensive care.
Virgo SVS
When it comes to testing new and promising treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, finding the right patients to participate in clinical trials has always been a challenge. In an effort to remove that obstacle, University Gastroenterology teamed up with Virgo Surgical Video Solutions.
In 2022, UGI physicians began using the Virgo Platform in their everyday standard of care to accelerate enrollment in IBD clinical trials. Virgo leverages artificial intelligence and endoscopic video data to more easily identify patients who meet the complex inclusion and exclusion criteria set forth by pharmaceutical companies. The platform automatically records every endoscopic procedure across UGI’s practice facilities without interrupting clinical workflows. Computer vision then analyzes the endoscopic video data and identifies patients who meet the eligibility criteria for specific clinical trials within Virgo’s pharmaceutical partner network.
What is the Virgo Platform designed to do, and how does it work?
The Virgo platform combines artificial intelligence machine learning and storage in the cloud, allowing us in real-time to have computer-assisted visualization of the endoscopy procedure, as well as instant recall of any procedures done in the past. In the past, we were not able to record endoscopy procedures due to storage issues. Cloud storage has solved this problem.
While the procedure is being performed, AI is continually watching the procedure and evaluating the mucosal lining of the G.I. tract. This allows us to identify abnormal pathology in real time including the identification of polyps.
Specifically for research protocols, Virgo's artificial intelligence can identify, categorize, and evaluate any potential patients for clinical studies.
What does the use of the platform mean for University Gastroenterology patients?
Initially, Virgo will help us better identify candidates for clinical research trials, which means more of our patients will have increased access to promising new drugs and devices. But that's just one benefit.
Incorporating the Virgo platform into our everyday workflow at all University Gastroenterology locations is a significant step toward combining cutting-edge technology with the skill and expertise of our providers and will enable us to provide even more effective care to our all of our patients. For example, the Virgo drastically reduces the need for repeat endoscopies because all scopes will be automatically recorded and saved on the cloud. If we refer a patient for surgery, the surgeon will have access to all of the videos from that initial endoscopy. In addition, access to that video enables us to more easily collaborate with other colleagues - whether in the practice or around the globe - on complex cases which greatly improves case documentation and care team coordination.
How often do you recommend inflammatory bowel disease patients for participation in clinical trials, and what criteria do you use to make those recommendations?
Our patients are regularly considered for clinical studies. But matching up the right patient with the right study can prove to be challenging. The exclusion and inclusion criteria pharmaceutical companies establish for entering studies are usually quite precise. This is necessary so that the study is able to clearly determine the efficacy of the treatment. Virgo leverages artificial intelligence and endoscopic video data to more easily identify patients who meet the criteria. Computer vision analyzes the endoscopic video data and identifies patients who meet the eligibility criteria for specific clinical trials within Virgo's pharmaceutical partner network. The early results are extremely encouraging — Virgo as a whole is seeing a 5x increase in patient referrals and a 4x increase in patient randomization.
Being part of this large clinical study program will give us access to an increased number of drugs and devices that have the potential to improve the care of our patients.
Will the Virgo platform be used to screen potential participants for clinical trials of treatments of gastrointestinal diseases beyond IBD?
The Virgo platform will initially be used primarily for critical studies in the area of inflammatory bowel disease. The platform is highly versatile and will be used in the future for all clinical studies involved in the GI tract at University Gastroenterology. Virgo is currently working closely with its pharmaceutical partners to develop additional solutions on the Virgo platform that help them further decentralize and accelerate their clinical trials in IBD and a number of other therapeutic areas that involve endoscopy.
With the use of the platform, is UGI joining a network of providers that are screening for eligible clinical trials participants?
University Gastroenterology is one of a number of large very clinically active centers that offer patients cutting-edge therapies and treatments. Those providers themselves aren't part of a network, per se. However, by using the Virgo Platform, University Gastroenterology patients will be considered for clinical trials within Virgo's pharmaceutical partner network.