Berkeley N. Limketkai, MD, PhD

• Director of Clinical Research, UCLA Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Dr. Limketkai received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. He subsequently completed his internal medicine residency, gastroenterology fellowship, and PhD education at Johns Hopkins University. His doctoral dissertation explored the role of vitamin D in IBD pathogenesis and severity. Given his clinical and research interests in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and nutrition, Dr. Limketkai also pursued advanced training as the Theodore M. Bayless Fellow in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases at Johns Hopkins University and clinical nutrition training through the Nestlé Nutrition Institute.

Prior to joining UCLA, Dr. Limketkai served on the clinical faculty at Stanford University and as IBD physician leads at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He also spearheaded the Gastrointestinal Nutrition Program and initiated the Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) Program at Stanford.

At UCLA, Dr. Limketkai and colleagues are working to further the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases' outstanding patient care, high impact research and education. Their philosophy of care centers around the uniqueness of each IBD patient, addressing their multi-disciplinary and personalized needs.

As director of IBD clinical research, Dr. Limketkai strongly believes in harnessing the synergy between clinical care and research. He is keenly interested in studying the relationship between [mal]nutrition and IBD, identifying novel treatment approaches for IBD, developing evidence-based frameworks for precision nutrition, and applying technology (e.g., digital health, artificial intelligence) for nutrition and gastroenterology.

Dr. Limketkai's other research arm involves large data analyses of clinical outcomes and health services utilization. The primary goal of this endeavor is to better understand the factors that drive favorable or unfavorable outcomes in IBD. Through our multi-institution collaborations, he hopes to generate data that will help shape and improve the future care of IBD patients.