Kirsten Tillisch, MD

Dr. Kirsten Tillisch is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.  Her clinical and scientific work has focused on increasing our understanding of brain-body interactions, with particular interest in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and chronic pain. She has utilized functional and structural neuroimaging to identify disease relevant central abnormalities in pain syndromes, also utilizing pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to identify treatment effects.  She has demonstrated microbiome-gut-brain interactions in humans, showing the effects of probiotic administration on brain function in healthy women.  This scientific work has informed her views of clinical medicine and health, shifting from a traditional Western disease-based focus towards one that values the whole person and the complex interactions between the individual and the environment.  Her main clinical interest is in advancing the use of evidence based dietary, movement-based, and mind-body interventions to improve health and wellbeing.