After being away from the field for almost 15-years and watching the field lose focus and objectivity, I want to finish what I started 25-years ago and end this lingering controversy. By employing a focused and objective step-by-step series of investigations, I hope to determine if the association of M. paratuberculosis and Crohn's disease is more than simply a mere association and whether or not M. paratuberculsois is the cause of some cases of Crohn's disease.

As a clinical gastroenterologist, in addition to the general support of the project, I am specifically responsible for all clinical aspects of the program including, but not limited to, recruiting other clinical gastroenterologists, obtaining tissue and biopsy materials, recruiting and obtaining patient consent, patient monitoring, and setting up and monitoring clinical trials.

As a molecular biologist with a personal interest in Crohn's Disease, I will provide my years of experience in quantitative real-time PCR and other molecular biologic techniques to the project.