Raising Celiac Podcast

Raising Celiac is a podcast co-produced by the Celiac Disease Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Celiac Disease Foundation and is dedicated to raising the standard of education, awareness, and research on celiac disease and related autoimmune conditions. Hosted by Foundation Chief Education and Community Engagement Officer Vanessa Weisbrod, each month the podcast will feature experts from across the United States and around the world to discuss the complexities of this chronic genetic condition and how it intertwines with so many other autoimmune diseases. Season 2 kicks off in 2024. Click here to listen to season 1 episodes.

Every episode is accredited by the Boston Children’s Hospital’s Continuing Education Department for 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for physicians, 0.5 contact hours for nurses, 0.5 ACE CE continuing education credits for social workers, and 0.5 CEUs for Registered Dietitians. To claim credits, please listen to the episodes below and complete the brief corresponding survey for each episode linked here.

4/18/24: Season 2, Episode 2: Best Practices in Biopsies for Celiac Disease

Guest: Dr. Imad Absah, Pediatric Gastroenterologist, Mayo Clinic

This episode looks at best practices in biopsies for celiac disease. Historically, confirmatory biopsies were obtained from the distal duodenum only, rather than the duodenal bulb. However, researchers have observed that some patients with celiac disease have histopathologic mucosal changes limited to the duodenal bulb only. This subtype, called isolated bulb celiac disease, has been estimated to occur in up to 12% of individuals diagnosed with celiac. Thus, to improve the sensitivity of biopsies in diagnosis, updated pediatric and adult guidelines now recommend obtaining both duodenal bulb and distal duodenum biopsies. But how can delayed diagnosis be prevented in the future? Do endoscopists need to separate the biopsies into separate containers for pathology review? Does isolated bulb celiac disease relate at all to the levels of ttg antibodies in the blood? We’ll discuss this and more on this episode.

Learning Objectives: 

  1. Describe the prevalence and characteristics of isolated bulb celiac disease.
  2. Explain how a celiac diagnosis can be missed if a biopsy is not taken in the duodenal bulb. 
  3. Understand best practices for endoscopy to diagnose celiac disease. 

2/15/24: Season 2, Episode 1: Advocacy in Celiac Disease

Guest: Marilyn Geller, Celiac Disease Foundation Chief Executive Officer

This episode features Celiac Disease Foundation CEO Marilyn Geller discussing the importance of advocacy for the celiac disease community.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe the history of advocacy efforts in the celiac disease community
  2. Explain how celiac disease research is funded on a federal level
  3. Understand how health providers can play a role in advancing advocacy issues on Capitol Hill