Dr. Taft is a licensed clinical psychologist and is director of adult behavioral medicine. She has specialty training in health psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Dr. Taft is a leading expert on the psychological and social aspects of chronic digestive illnesses including IBS, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and Eosinophilic GI Diseases. She has over 10 years of extensive experience working with people with chronic illness and has published several articles and three book chapters on the psychological aspects of these conditions.

Dr. Taft is a Research Assistant Professor and Director of Psychogastroenterology Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine where she has researched the psychosocial issues people living with chronic digestive conditions face since 2004. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship within the Center for Psychosocial Research in GI at NU. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2009 after completing a 1-year internship at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago.

Dr. Taft has spoken at both professional and patient education conferences across the United States including Digestive Disease Week, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Congress and Illinois Patient Education Conference, the CURED Foundation, and the Oley Foundation.

Her approach to therapy is to teach clients to be their own therapists and learn skills that will last a lifetime so they can better self-manage issues that come with having a chronic illness. Dr. Taft is certified in medical hypnotherapy.