Advocating for GI Breakthroughs

GIve Rise to Cures exists to educate and provide accessible information for medical professionals, healthcare students, and patients about the importance of the gastrointestinal tract and the need for more funding to go toward rare gastrointestinal conditions.

Christine's Mission

"Many patients battling rare gastrointestinal conditions often feel discouraged and argue that their conditions are overlooked. I want to provide patients with the hope that the development of new therapeutic interventions for their conditions is indeed feasible."

Christine Dutt is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience (BCN) on the pre-health track. As a middle school student, Dutt came across an an online BBC article about a woman in the United Kingdom who was battling a rare gastrointestinal medical condition called trimethylaminuria (TMAU), which creates an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gut microbiome.

As the article outlined, her quality of life suffered greatly because of this condition and, given that there was (and still is) no cure for TMAU, she put herself into isolation.

Her story truly touched Dutt and helped her realize her passion for advocating for patients battling rare medical conditions that are currently untreatable.

Dutt recognizes the need for more funding to go toward studying these disorders, many of which do not currently have therapeutic interventions. Research funding is often overlooked for these conditions because more well-known, common ailments often take precedence for grant funding. Dutt is working hard to stress the importance of raising grant money for the study of these gastrointestinal disorders with the overarching goal of improving the lives of those impacted by them.

GIve Rise's Goals

A rapid increase in grant funding for researching rare gastrointestinal diseases is desperately needed. The GI system affects our overall health in so many ways. Here is how we advocate for the support this research deserves:

We Speak Up

GIve Rise to Cures is a platform where clinicians, patients, and students can come together to become better advocates for funding, treatments, and interventions for rare GI disorders.

We Educate

There are more than 200 rare GI conditions, yet most have no FDA-approved treatment due to limited funding.⁴ We encourage everybody to use this website to learn about these ailments and how they impact daily life.

We Encourage

Sufferers of rare GI disorders need to know that they are not alone in their struggle. We provide tips for patients to be their own advocates while navigating the healthcare system on their road to healing.

We Connect

The information landscape is always changing. GIve Rise to Cures offers the most current facts and data on rare GI disorders. Please consider joining our mailing list to be notified when new information becomes available.

By the Numbers

Any given GI disorder might be considered “rare”, but small numbers add up. That is why advocating for more research funding is critical to the quality of life of so many sufferes.

Rare Diseases¹⁴

Americans Suffer from Rare Diseases ²³

0 +M

Of rare GI conditions without FDA approved treatment ⁴

0 %

Minimum Time It Usually Takes to Develop a Drug ²

0 years

Get to Know Your GI Tract

Your gastrointestinal system contains about 70% of your immune system!¹⁰ It can contribute to everything from brain fog and anxiety, to Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.^{7, 10} Take a tour through this interactive GI tract and learn something new about your body.