Department of Medicine physician helps lead cutting-edge care for patients with inflammatory bowel disease
By Merin C. MacDonald
In this month’s Chair’s Spotlight, we highlight Abbas Rupawala, MD, director of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Center and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology. In February, we spoke with Dr. Rupawala to gain insights into what inspires him, and learn about his work, as well as ongoing studies for patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
As a child growing up in Mumbai, India, Dr. Rupawala was inspired to pursue a respectable career as a physician, just like his father. He saw that his father truly enjoyed his work and also wanted to be able to help people through medicine. After completing his medical training in India, he was working on a Phase 1 clinical research trial using a monoclonal antibody developed by MassBiologics when he had the opportunity to meet a team of physician-leaders from UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health (UMMH) who were touring medical schools in India. This pivotal encounter with Chancellor Collins, Dean Flotte, and Dr. Robert Finberg, and a desire to continue his medical training in the United States, led him to pursue his residency, chief residency, and fellowship in Gastroenterology at UMass Chan. What has followed since is a meaningful career and deep commitment to help patients with inflammatory bowel disease have a better quality of life. “I enjoy taking care of patients with chronic conditions who I can make a difference in their lives by making them feel better so that they can be productive and keep pursuing what they want to do,” Dr. Rupawala said. “Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are debilitating illnesses, but if we can treat them in time and lead our patients’ care appropriately, we can impact their quality of life, so working with these patients is very gratifying.”
As the director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at UMMH, Dr. Rupawala’s goal is to provide patients with high-quality coordinated care. Their multidisciplinary team includes physicians, advanced practice providers, a clinical nurse, and a social worker. They are currently in the process of expanding their team with a psychologist and a pharmacist. In this patient-centered care model, they are responsible for all of the patient’s care, including certain primary care needs such as managing anxiety and overall health maintenance. The center also provides patients from Central Massachusetts and the surrounding areas access to complex care and cutting-edge clinical trials without having to travel to Boston. “The prevalence of IBD is increasing and we can help our patients with not only straightforward needs but also those who require more complex care,” said Dr. Rupawala. “A patient who is refractory can come to us and we take charge of their care. If they fail multiple medications, we can help with recruiting them to certain clinical trials.”
The IBD Center is currently involved in three ongoing clinical trials. The first is a Phase 3 trial for Crohn's disease that is investigating the efficacy of an oral agent for the treatment of moderate to severe disease which would be a promising new option for those patients. Another is a Phase 3 trial which is investigating a novel mechanism of action for colitis. They are also currently enrolling for a Phase 4 trial of an oral agent already approved for colitis to look at secondary endpoints that were not studied in the initial study.
The IBD Center is now in the process of contracting with a pharmaceutical company on two additional clinical trials where they will investigate two novel molecules for both Crohn's and colitis, and are currently contracting for a registry study sponsored by the American Gastroenterological Association for patients with severe C. diff who need a fecal transplant. In the latter study, they will recruit patients who will get a transplant or microbiome-based therapies and will follow them longitudinally for 10 years to track the long-term implications of these kinds of treatments. Additionally, the IBD Center has active collaborations with other investigators at UMass Chan which include building a cohort to remotely monitor patients with IBD with Dr. Apurv Soni, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science-Clinical Informatics Section and a co-director of the Program in Digital Medicine, and a prospective study collecting biosamples with Drs. Ana Maldonado-Contreras and Beth McCormick of Microbiology and Physiological Systems.
Dr. Rupawala earned his medical degree at Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital in Mumbai, India. He completed his internal medicine residency, chief residency, and fellowship in Gastroenterology at UMass Chan Medical School/UMass Memorial Medical Center. He completed additional fellowship training as the CCFA Visiting IBD Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Before joining UMass Chan/UMMH in the spring of 2022, Dr. Rupawala was co-director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center and faculty at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. He also held hospital appointments at Rhode Island Hospital and Miriam Hospital, in Providence, Rhode Island.
We thank Dr. Rupawala for his innovative leadership of the IBD Center and his commitment to helping his patients have a better quality of life as they face these chronic diseases.