Interview with Dr. Charles Noah Bernstein
Interview with Dr. Charles Noah Bernstein
Dr. Charles Noah Bernstein is a Professor of Medicine and Head of the Section of Gastroenterology at the University of Manitoba, as well as Director of the University of Manitoba Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical and Research Centre, and of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program.
He graduated from the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Medicine in 1985. In 1989, he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the U of M. From 1985 to 1989, he finished a fellowship in gastroenterology from the UCLA Affiliated Training Program in Gastrointestinal Diseases. In 1992, he became an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Bernstein has fellowship in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology. He joined the Faculty of Medicine at the U of M in 1993 and established the IBD Clinical and Research Centre in 1994.
In 2001, he earned a five year CIHR Investigator Award in part due to the MMSF’s Clinical Research Professorship Award which freed up time for his investigative research. Dr. Bernstein has had continuous external funding from national agencies since 1997.
Dr. Bernstein's main area of study has been inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To this end, he and his colleagues have pursued outcome studies in IBD to enhance the lives of patients with the disease, to improve diagnostic techniques, and to conduct etiologic studies to discover the causes of IBD. One important aspect of Dr. Bernstein’s work has been to develop a population-based epidemiological database and his group has used this database to pursue outcomes and etiological research. Dr. Bernstein’s group has applied the validated definitions created for the Manitoba database to other provincial health databases which has facilitated the estimation of the total burden of IBD in Canada, estimated to be 170,000 persons.
He has published numerous peer reviewed original research articles, editorial reviews, opinion papers, and book chapters. As well, he has been the editor of the Inflammatory Disease Yearbook from 2003 to the present.
"My research career really took off after I received the MMSF Clinical Research Professorship Award. It enabled me to protect some of my time to pursue my research program. I think the Foundation is an excellent example of how limited funding can propel research forward and open doors to national and international awards," he says.
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