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7.7 – Case Study: From Infusion Suite to Salad
Bar

Sometimes the best way to understand a revolution isn’t
through graphs, pathways, or pipelines—but through the
eyes of a single patient.

Meet Rebecca, a 28-year-old schoolteacher living outside
Minneapolis. She has ulcerative colitis, a form of
inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic
inflammation and ulceration in the colon. Her symptoms—
cramping, urgency, fatigue, blood in her stool—flare
unpredictably, often knocking her out of her routine and
isolating her socially.

Over the past decade, Rebecca has tried everything:

• Steroids that bloated her face and weakened her
bones.
• Immunosuppressants that left her catching every
cold in the classroom.
• Elimination diets that shrank her social life along
with her inflammation.

And then came the biologics.

Life on the Infusion Treadmill

Three years ago, her gastroenterologist prescribed
infliximab, a TNF-alpha-blocking monoclonal antibody. It
changed her life—for a while.

But like so many patients, Rebecca quickly found herself
tethered to the biologics treadmill.

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