Patrick Green, MD

About Patrick Green

With an undergraduate degree in marine biology, a graduate degree in developmental biology and early career employment in stem cell research, Green attended medical school at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, where he developed an interest in internal medicine and gastroenterology. After completing residency and fellowship programs at the University of Miami, he joined the Wake Forest School of Medicine section on gastroenterology in 2015. At Wake Forest, he has an active clinical practice, teaching commitments, and conducts research in IBD therapies, fecal microbial transplantation for recurrent C. difficile infections, as well as in his other areas of research interest such as diet and the microbiome. He is also currently pursuing a master’s degree in education at Johns Hopkins University.

Green considers his industry-sponsored research activities to be a way to enhance the solutions he can offer to his patients, who sometimes have failed conventional medical therapies. Through clinical trials, he can provide his patients new and novel therapies that are otherwise unavailable.

His interests in the roles of diet and the microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease have developed as a direct result of his interactions with patients. To provide solutions that improve quality of life and medical outcomes, Green believes there needs to be much more research in these areas.

With his expertise in gastroenterology, Green is currently involved in studies looking at the role of two different diets in Crohn’s disease, a new form of fecal transplantation for patients who are refractory to treatment for C. difficile infection involving resetting their microbiomes, and several long-term cohort studies following patients on various therapies, to assess safety and efficacy.

With a variety of medications being developed, Green believes that partnership with industry is crucial from an inflammatory bowel disease point of view. He would like to establish collaborations with large companies with many projects in progress, exploring new and existing therapies, and with smaller start-up companies concentrating on developing specific interventions. Multiple industry partnerships will facilitate the ability to offer patients diverse opportunities.

Green sees the resources available at Wake Forest as uniquely suited to support gastrointestinal research, from working on dietary studies to attracting participants via partnerships with area private practices.