SAIA is honoured to announce that Tina Aswani-Omprakash, MPH, is now our full-time Chief Executive Officer 🎉🎉 Written by Madhura Balasubramaniam, Sharan Khela, Dr. Neilanjan Nandi & SAIA’s Board of Directors Tina is a patient advocate and thought leader par excellence, with several years of experience in spearheading international health advocacy efforts within and beyond the GI space. Tina’s work with Own Your Crohn’s has been groundbreaking for communities of colour, especially the South Asian community, where discussions around inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have historically been clouded by cultural stigmas and misconceptions. Tina brought to light and underscored these hidden cultural considerations that shape healthcare for communities of colour across the world.…
- Crohn's, health equity, Healthcare Disparities, living with IBD, Ostomy, Patient Voice, Stigma, Ulcerative Colitis, Women's Health
- Caregiving, Crohn's, Cultural Stigma, Family Planning, IBD Parenthood Project, invisible illness, living with IBD, Motherhood, Nutrition, Patient Voice, Pregnancy in IBD, Ulcerative Colitis, Women's Health
~OYC Trailblazers~ Tanya’s Pregnancy Journey Living with Crohn’s Disease in India
Written by Tanya Manohar My name is Tanya, and I live in Chennai, India. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1999, a time when little was known about IBD in India. This means that I have segments of intestinal narrowing and scarring throughout my small intestine known as strictures caued by Crohn’s. I had one small bowel resection in 2009. A treatment regimen, comprising Azathioprine and Mesalamine, was the cocktail my Gastroenterologist Dr. Ashok Chacko prescribed to treat my Crohn’s. In combination with a restricted and closely monitored low-fiber diet, this regimen has kept me fairly stable. It has allowed me to live alone in a foreign country, pursue…
- advocacy, Crohn's, diversity, Gastroparesis, health equity, Healthcare Disparities, Healthcare Marketing, living with IBD, Patient Voice, Ulcerative Colitis, Women's Health
MM&M Transform Talks: Prioritizing the Patient Voice
I recently had the opportunity to work with the MM&M Transform conference on a panel discussion on Prioritizing the Patient Voice in anticipation of their conference on September 29th-30th. A panel of 3 of us patient advocates (Tonya Cherie Hegamin, Type 1 Diabetes; Teresa Johnson, Multiple Sclerosis & Heart Disease; and me, Crohn’s Disease & Gastroparesis) discussed why it’s so important to engage patients in healthcare discussions, from digital health to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. At the forefront of our conversation was a topic near and dear to all 3 of us: diversity, inclusion and health equity as well as medical accessibility for patients of color like ourselves. Check out our…