I am thrilled to announce that Long Island families concerned about their child’s possible gluten related illness now have a place closer than the city to turn for diagnosis, treatment, management, and guidance: The Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity Center at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Although I missed the opening of this Center on July 10th due to work, I had the privileged of meeting with Director Dr. Anupama Chawla and Registered Dietitian Deborah Salvatore this past Friday.

Dr. Chawla explained that during her experience working as a GI doctor in England when she first started practicing she saw many Celiac Disease patients of every age, and noted that many professionals were not sure how to deal with, or diagnose, the condition. Celiac Disease and related gluten sensitivities became an interest of hers from this point, one she carried with her to her work at the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Over a decade of work with children with GI issues proved that the need for a dedicated team to treat Celiac Disease in pediatric populations was a need that the local community faced, so the Center was developed and officially launched in July to take on that challenge from a multidisciplinary perspective.

According to the Center’s Brochure:

“The Center’s goal, in short, is to accurately diagnose your child’s disorder, then help you manage it with diet, family support, and ongoing follow-up. With the appropriate education and dietary changes, children can live symptom free and return to their normal activities with no restrictions other than the foods they choose.”

Both Dr. Chawla and Dietician Salvatore, as well as all of the current staff, were staff of the Children’s Hospital who transitioned with the development of the Center. Therefore, they are very knowledgeable about the needs and services available in the local community. It was great to hear the depth of treatment that the Center offers to children and their families such as:

1.  An appointment immediately after diagnosis to review the diet and assess the families needs.
2. Extensive follow up to adulthood that monitors growth, nutritional intakes and levels, Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity marker numbers, etc.
3. Direction to and guidance about local support and resources.
4. And Much More

I personally would like to congratulate the Center on it’s opening, and thank them for their services to the community! From what I can tell they are a wonderful group of passionate and dedicated professionals, who will do much good to many children an their families!

The Center is open to new patients, although they also maintain the caseload of children they saw with these conditions before they opened the center specifically, and the number of clients is growing! For further information please see their contact details below: