David L Suskind, MD

Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research, Aerodigestive Program

On staff since October 2003

Children's Title: Director, Quality Improvement; Co-chair, Nutrition Subcommittee

Academic Title: Professor, Pediatrics

Research Center: Center for Clinical and Translational Research

"As a Pediatric Gastroenterologist working within a tertiary care center, I am all too familiar with the pain and anguish IBD inflicts on my patients and their families. These same families show immense strength and perseverance in the face of such a debilitating disease. Innovative and groundbreaking research is a crucial step in improving the lives of patients and their families. I have had a long-term interest in IBD and the fecal microbiome. My research has focused on the effect of the fecal microbial transplant and diet on inflammatory bowel disease, both of which impact the fecal microbiome. I have concluded studies focusing on the clinical, laboratory and microbiome changes which occur after fecal microbial transplantation as well as on nutritional treatment approaches in inflammatory bowel disease. My research on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) in IBD has shown that patients with active Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis can go into clinical and biochemical remission with diet alone. My studies also examine the impact of the diet on the fecal microbiome composition. Clinically, I have focused my work within Seattle Children's Hospital IBD center. My mission is to improve the quality of care and clinical outcomes for patients with IBD by focusing on the patient and not just the disease they are dealing with."

• Biography

  David Suskind, MD, is Director of Clinical Gastroenterology at Seattle Childrens Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. An expert in intestinal diseases, Dr. Suskind has focused much of his energy into clinical care and research for inflammatory bowel disease.

  He is leading a national effort to integrate nutritional therapy into clinical care for patients with inflammatory bowel disease and to studying the effect of dietary therapy in inflammatory bowel disease. He believes in patient and family empowerment through medical education.

  • Related Pages

  • Nutrition in Immune Balance (NiMBAL)

    NiMBAL was created to support patients, families, healthcare providers and anyone concerned with eating healthier by integrating diet into health care. Explore today.

• Patient Testimonials

  • Kristine Kirkland, WA 07.12.23

    Dr. Suskind has the best bedside manner. You can tell that he genuinely cares about his patients. He always talks directly to my daughter and makes her feel like she is a part of the conversation and not just me as the parent. He listens to us and our concerns and we don't feel like we are put in a box with him. He's creative and solution oriented and we feel seen and heard by him. We are so grateful that we have him as an advocate to walk through this difficult diagnosis with our daughter.

  Recommend David L Suskind, MD

• Awards and Honors

  Award Name	Award Description	Awarded By	Award Date
  SEATTLE TOP DOCTOR - 2022		Seattle Magazine	2022
  Seattle Top Doctor - 2019		Seattle Magazine	2019
  SEATTLE'S TOP DOCTOR - 2018		Seattle Magazine	2018
  SEATTLE'S TOP DOCTOR - 2017		Seattle Magazine	2017
  SEATTLE MAGAZINE TOP DOCTOR - 2016		Seattle Magazine	2016
  SEATTLE MAGAZINE TOP DOCTOR - 2015		Seattle Magazine	2015
  SEATTLE'S TOP DOCTOR - 2015		Seattle Met Magazine	2015
  SEATTLE'S TOP DOCTOR - 2014		Seattle Metropolitan Magazine	2014
  SEATTLE MAGAZINE TOP DOCTOR - 2014		Seattle Magazine	2014
  Seattle Top Doctor		Seattle Magazine	2014
  Seattle Top Doctor		Seattle Magazine	2013
  Pfizer Obesity Visiting Professorship			2009
  Nominated for Family Choice Award			2008
  Medical Staff Honor Role		Seattle Children's	2007
  Pediatric Nutrition Education for Pediatric Residents and Community Physicians, Fund for Excellence, $10,000		Seattle Children's	2007 - 2008
  Nominated for Family Choice Award			2006

• Publications

  Manuscripts in Refereed Journals

  • David Suskind
    Nutritional therapy in pediatric Crohn disease: the specific carbohydrate diet.
    Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition

  Other Publications

  • Lane ER, Lee D, Suskind DL
    Dietary Therapies in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An Evolving Inflammatory Bowel Disease Paradigm.
    29173518 Gastroenterology clinics of North America, 2017 Dec. : 46(4)731-744
  • Braly K, Williamson N, Shaffer ML, Lee D, Wahbeh G, Klein J, Giefer M, Suskind DL
    Nutritional Adequacy of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
    28825603 Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 2017 Nov. : 65(5)533-538 PMCID:PMC5653423
  • Bluestone H, Kronman MP, Suskind DL
    Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infections in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients.
    29040661 Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, 2017 Oct 5
  • Wahbeh GT, Ward BT, Lee DY, Giefer MJ, Suskind DL
    Lack of Mucosal Healing From Modified Specific Carbohydrate Diet in Pediatric Patients With Crohn Disease.
    28825776 Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 2017 Sept. : 65(3)289-292
  • Miller TL, Lee D, Giefer M, Wahbeh G, Suskind DL
    Nutritional Therapy in Very Early-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Case Report.
    28551707 Digestive diseases and sciences, 2017 Aug. : 62(8)2196-2200
  • Lane ER, Zisman TL, Suskind DL
    The microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease: current and therapeutic insights.
    28652796 Journal of inflammation research, 2017 : 1063-73 PMCID:PMC5473501
  • Bishop C, Simon H, Suskind D, Lee D, Wahbeh G
    Ustekinumab in Pediatric Crohn Disease Patients.
    26854655 Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 2016 Sept. : 63(3)348-51
  • Brittnacher MJ, Heltshe SL, Hayden HS, Radey MC, Weiss EJ, Damman CJ, Zisman TL, Suskind DL, Miller SI
    GUTSS: An Alignment-Free Sequence Comparison Method for Use in Human Intestinal Microbiome and Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Analysis.
    27391011 PloS one, 2016 : 11(7)e0158897 PMCID:PMC4938407
  • Suskind DL, Wahbeh G, Gregory N, Vendettuoli H, Christie D
    Nutritional therapy in pediatric Crohn disease: the specific carbohydrate diet.
    24048168 Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 2014 Jan. : 58(1)87-91
  • Mallon DP, Suskind DL
    Nutrition in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.
    20702837 Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 2010 Aug. : 335-9
  • David L. Suskind, MD, Forrest Jespersen, Rona Levy, Ghassan Wahbeh, Dennis Christie, Shelby Langer, David Suskind
    Depression and Anxiety Measures in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel disease (Poster Presentation)
    Digestive Disease Week (DDW), 2010
  • Muraji T, Suskind DL, Irie N
    Biliary atresia: a new immunological insight into etiopathogenesis.
    19929581 Expert review of gastroenterology & hepatology, 2009 Dec. : 599-606
  • Suskind DL
    Nutritional deficiencies during normal growth.
    19931062 Pediatric clinics of North America, 2009 Oct. : 1035-53
  • David L. Suskind, MD, K. Halamay, G. Wahbeh, M. Golchha, T. Chapman, D. Suskind
    Exposure to diagnostic imaging radiation in children under 8 years old with inflammatory bowel disease (oral presentation)
    International Symposium on Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease, 2009
  • David L. Suskind, MD, James E. Heubi, Kenneth DR Setchell, Philip Rosenthal, Sohela Shah, Pinky Jha, Donna Buckley, Wujuan Zhang, David Suskind, Carol Potter, Laura Bull
    Oral glycocholic acid treatment of patients with bile acid amidation defects improves growth and fat-soluble vitamin absorption (poster presentation)
    American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, 2009
  • David L. Suskind, MD, James E. Heubi, Kenneth DR Setchell, Philip Rosenthal, Sohela Shah, Pinky Jha, Donna Buckley, Wujuan Zhang, David Suskind, Carol Potter, Laura Bull
    Oral glycocholic acid treatment of patients with bile acid amidation defects improves growth and fat-soluble vitamin absorption (poster presentation)
    American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, 2009
  • Suskind DL, Murray KF
    Increasing the mutation rate for Jagged1 mutations in patients with Alagille syndrome.
    17661408 Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.), 2007 Aug. : 598-9
  • Suskind DL, Finn L, Wahbeh G, Christie D, Horslen S
    A child with Kabuki syndrome and primary sclerosing cholangitis successfully treated with ursodiol and cholestryamine.
    17033534 Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 2006 Oct. : 542-4
  • Suskind DL, Wahbeh G, Christie D
    Gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
    16819369 Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 2006 July : 1-2
  • Muench MO, Ohkubo T, Smith CA, Suskind DL, Bárcena A
    Maintenance of proliferative capacity and retroviral transduction efficiency of human fetal CD38(-)/CD34(++) stem cells.
    16522167 Stem cells and development, 2006 Feb. : 97-108
  • Suskind DL, Murray K, Christie D
    An unusual case of an ulcerative colitis flare resulting in disseminated intravascular coagulopathy and a bladder hematoma: a case report.
    15471542 BMC gastroenterology, 2004 Oct 7 : 26
  • Suskind DL, Rosenthal P, Heyman MB, Kong D, Magrane G, Baxter-Lowe LA, Muench MO
    Maternal microchimerism in the livers of patients with biliary atresia.
    15285784 BMC gastroenterology, 2004 Jul 31 : 14
  • Suskind DL, Rosenthal P
    Chronic viral hepatitis.
    15272262 Adolescent medicine clinics, 2004 Feb. : 145-58, x-xi
  • Suskind DL, Muench MO
    Searching for common stem cells of the hepatic and hematopoietic systems in the human fetal liver: CD34+ cytokeratin 7/8+ cells express markers for stellate cells.
    14739097 Journal of hepatology, 2004 Feb. : 261-8
  • Muench MO, Suskind DL, Bárcena A
    Isolation, growth and identification of colony-forming cells with erythroid, myeloid, dendritic cell and NK-cell potential from human fetal liver.
    12734573 Biological procedures online, 2002 Jun 11 : 10-23

• Presentations

  Presentation Title	Event	Location	Date
  Evolving Therapies in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Fecal Microbial Transplant and Nutrition	CCFA webinar		2014
  Fecal Microbiome: The Evolving Story of Inflammatory Bowel Disease	Grand Rounds	Seattle Children's Hospital	2013
  Fecal Microbial Therapy in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease	Inflammatory Bowel Disease Symposium	Seattle Children's Hospital	2013

• Research Funding

  Grant Title	Grantor	Amount	Award Date
  Fecal Microbial Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease	Academic Enrichment Fund	$20,000	2012
  Fecal Microbial Therapy in Pediatric Crohn's Disease	Cuyamaca Foundation	$70,000