85: Managing the Psychosocial Burden of Celiac Disease with Dr. Anava Wren

Lauren chatted with two of our amazing Reach Beyond Celiac Ambassadors Rochelle and Paige about their experiences as parents of young children with celiac sending their kids back to school. This conversation was fun, informative, and enlightening, as well as supportive—if you’re looking for tips for talking with your child’s teachers, or just to listen to people who understand your experience, this is the episode for you!  Find this episode and all our episodes of Celiac Straight Talk at https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/. Thanks again to Paige and Rochelle for being on the podcast.  

Our social media coordinator Lauren chats with two of our AMAZING Reach Beyond Celiac Ambassadors about their experiences with summer camp. Alyssa and Daniel share their insights about attending summer camp as a person with celiac in both camper and counselor roles. They discuss the pros and cons of bringing your own food, non-GI symptoms flaring up at camp, and how meaningful camp friendships can be.  To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, head to https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/.

Many with celiac disease often report feeling isolated, awkward, and disheartened as they navigate the world on a gluten-free diet. But the future is bright, and there are tools you can use to maneuver the social landscape and cope with the burden of a chronic illness. In this Town Hall celebrating both Celiac Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, Dr. Anava Wren discusses her work on the social and psychological impacts of celiac disease, and shares her top tips for combatting that isolation. Dr. Wren is a pediatric celiac psychologist and Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Stanford University Medical Center. She is also the Director of the GI Psychosocial Services & IBD/Celiac Psychological Health Programs. She has been a leader in Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Center for IBD and Celiac Disease since it was founded in 2020. This Town Hall is possible thanks to our sponsor, Crunchmaster. Crunchmaster crackers are made from simple, wholesome ingredients, and are certified gluten-free. Thank you Crunchmaster! To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, head to https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/.

Beyond Celiac spoke with Australian researcher Dr. Jason Tye-Din about a few of the controversies in celiac disease. In this Town Hall, moderated by Director of Scientific Affairs Amy Ratner and Director of Research and Patient Engagement Kate Avery, MPH, Dr. Tye-Din discusses the safety of eating oats, a potential blood test that doesn’t require the gluten challenge, and monitoring adherence to the gluten-free diet with GIP tests. To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, head to https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/.

Liz (@yeet.that.wheat) has been living with celiac disease for 4 years and creates content focusing on health equity, advocacy, and living a fulfilling gluten free life. She uses her experience as a Black woman with celiac to talk about being gluten free through an intersectional lens. Through social media, she aims to create a supportive community for folks who are navigating living gluten free through educational posts, recipes, product recommendations, restaurant reviews, travel, tips and tricks, and of course, memes.  In this casual conversation, Liz chats about her jump to social media upon her celiac disease diagnosis, and how she hopes her page can help others find community while experiencing a chronic condition. Liz also shares an exciting, nationwide project she is working on. You can follow Liz on Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and soon to be Youtube! Thanks so much to Takeda for sponsoring this episode of Celiac Straight Talk. To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, head to https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/

In this minisode of Celiac Straight Talk, Beyond Celiac CEO Alice Bast speaks with Casey Walters about the challenges of having a young child with celiac disease. Alice’s personal journey as a celiac disease survivor and champion for research in this field, coupled with her prior experience of more than two decades in healthcare business development and marketing, taught her that patients need to be educated and empowered with solid information in order to make decisions about their desired health outcomes. Casey is a PR professional with experience working in the consumer technology space handling media relations, message and platform development, event management and trade show execution, product launches, content creation and development of traditional and social media relations campaigns. Her experience spans a wide variety of consumer and technology brands. To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, visit https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/.   

Amy Ratner joined Beyond Celiac in 2016 as the medical and science news analyst to provide coverage of celiac disease research news. She has extensive experience reporting on and writing about celiac disease. She was editor-in-chief, associate editor and contributing editor for 23 years at Gluten-Free Living magazine, where her work touched on all topics related to celiac disease, including lifestyle, diet, nutrition, and medical and research developments. When Amy’s daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease as a toddler 31 years ago, she was set on a path that combined her commitment to improving life for those with celiac disease with her journalism training. Tune in today to hear Amy and Social Media Coordinator Lauren Wallach discuss how far celiac disease research and access to gluten-free food has come in the last two decades! To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, visit https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/. 

In winter of 2023, Beyond Celiac welcomed Debra Silberg, MD, PhD, FACG as our new Chief Scientific Officer and Jordan Dubow, MD, as our new Chief Medical Officer. In this Town Hall, Dr. Silberg and Dr. Dubow unpack their backgrounds and what’s in store for Beyond Celiac research in 2024, as well as a Q&A segment about celiac disease. Discussions include topics such as the neurological impact of celiac disease, explanations of grant funding, and clinical trials for treatments. This event was possible thanks to our sponsor, Takeda, and the ILLUMINATE trial. Learn more at the Illuminate Study website. To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, visit https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/. 

Arnold Han, MD PhD, of Columbia University, was awarded the 2022 Beyond Celiac and SSCD Early Career Investigator Grant to investigate the role of CD8 T-cells in celiac disease. Thus far, Dr. Han’s innovative research has found more precise ways that gluten sets off damage to the intestine in those who have celiac disease, which he believes could help in the development of innovative approaches to finding a treatment. In our discussion, Han reveals what he’s discovered so far through this research and where he hopes it leads in the future. Special thanks to our friends at Crunchmaster Crackers for sponsoring this event! To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, visit https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/. 

In this episode of Celiac Straight Talk, Beyond Celiac CEO Alice Bast interviews Jackson Dunckel, CFO of AMG, an eco-friendly manufacturing company. Jackson shares his celiac story in a candid conversation, from his delayed diagnosis in 2002 to managing his health today. In particular, Jackson shares his perspective as a long-time diagnosed man managing this serious genetic autoimmune disease.