Dr Robert Fearn

About

• Biography icon plus

  A consultant physician and gastroenterologist, Dr Fearn's NHS practice is at Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where he is the clinical lead for gastrointestinal physiology and clinical nutrition.
  
  He has extensive experience in inflammatory bowel disease, hepatology and therapeutic endoscopy. Dr Fearn has specific expertise in managing disorders of the upper gastrointestinal tract including erosive and non-erosive reflux disease, ulcer-type and functional dyspepsia and other functional gastrointestinal disorders such as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, intestinal dysmotility and irritable bowel syndrome.
  
  A graduate of Leeds University, Dr Fearn undertook his postgraduate training in London and Cambridge. He underwent subspecialty training in Nutrition and Intestinal Failure at St Mark’s Hospital Intestinal Failure Unit and Addenbrooke’s Hospital Intestinal Failure and Intestinal Transplantation unit. He completed an MSc in Sport and Exercise Medicine at the University of Bath and works with a number of professional sports, with a specific focus in sports nutrition and managing gastrointestinal complaints in athletes. He was also awarded a prestigious fellowship on the National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow Scheme in 2014.
  
  Dr Fearn is involved in supervising ongoing research with the elite performance nutrition group at Liverpool John Moore’s University to further elucidate the role of the gut in athletic performance. He is also the chief investigator on a study looking at how novel technologies may improve the care of patients who undergo major abdominal surgery.
  
  Dr Fearn’s approach is to thoroughly evaluate a patient’s presenting symptoms and previous investigations before considering further investigations to exclude ongoing, potentially progressive underlying pathology. Subsequent management involves considering the physiological processes and mechanisms (such as nutritional factors and intestinal physiology) that can contribute to symptoms even in the absence of underlying disease. Working with a multidisciplinary team including dietitians and clinical scientists the aim is to manage symptoms through modifying a combination of medical and non-medical factors.

• Clinical interests icon plus

  Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), clinical nutrition and intestinal failure, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), functional gastrointestinal disorders and gastrointestinal issues related to sports and physical activity