How to Dump Your Digestive Baggage

Guest Bio: Robynne Chutkan, MD

Dr. Robynne Chutkan considers both the art and science of medicine equally essential to achieving a healthy and balanced mind and body. She experienced that essential mix growing up with an Indian surgeon father and a Jamaican dancer/lawyer mother. Her education included intensive study in languages and literature as well as the sciences. As a physician, her primarily plant-based diet, Vinyasa yoga practice and long-distance running are the foundation of her own healthy regimen and she strives to highlight the importance of nutrition, exercise and leisure to her patients. She is dedicated to helping people live not just longer, but better lives.

A member of the faculty at Georgetown Hospital since moving to the area in 1997, in 2004 Dr Chutkan founded the Digestive Center for Women (DCW), an integrative gastroenterology practice that includes nutritional consultation, stress reducing techniques such as meditation, biofeedback and counseling, and exercise physiology. In addition to digestive disorders in women, her clinical areas of interest include inflammatory bowel diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, video capsule endoscopy, nutrition and weight loss. She is a recognized leader in gastroenterology both nationally and internationally and Washingtonian magazine has consistently named her one of the top doctors in her field. Board certified in Gastroenterology, Dr Chutkan serves on numerous committees and boards and is actively involved in patient and physician education. She is a past Governing Board member of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and former Chair of their Training Committee and Public Relations Committee. She has authored dozens of journal articles and book chapters and has been a featured lecturer throughout the United States and internationally.

Dr Chutkan makes regular appearances on The Doctor Oz Show, and has been a frequent guest on The Early Show, The Doctors and local news programs. She was the host of the NIH sponsored series "Clinical Roundtable," a continuing medical education series that was broadcast to academic medical centers throughout the country. She also hosted news-breaks and the popular Body Challenge Updates for Discovery Health Channel. Dr Chutkan is the digestive health blogger for the Dr Oz Blog, a contributor to Sharecare and on the medical advisory board for Ladies Home Journal and the Dr. Oz Show. She has been featured in several articles on GI diseases in the Washington Post, Washington Times, Self Magazine, Healthy Magazine, Yoga Journal, Ladies Home Journal, Fitness Magazine, Women's Health Magazine and the Huffington Post.