Lilani Perera, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist, has long held a goal of building a true medical home for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). After more than 15 years leading and developing comprehensive inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) programs across the country, she joined BMC to make this dream a reality.
Now, as director of the Crohn’s & Colitis Program, Perera leads a coordinated, team-based care model that supports the physical and psychosocial needs of patients in the clinic, at home, and in the community over the course of a lifelong, chronic inflammatory condition.
Perera’s professional journey started in Sri Lanka, where her education was delayed for several years due to the country’s civil unrest. However, she persevered, earning her medical degree with honors and moving to the United States to complete her internal medicine residency training. She went on to pursue a gastroenterology fellowship, followed by an advanced immunobiology fellowship focused on IBD. In addition to her role at BMC, she is an associate clinical professor of medicine at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and holds several national leadership roles with the American Gastroenterological Association, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, the American Gastroenterological Association’s Women’s Committee, and the American Medical Association
Despite her accomplished career, Perera has never lost sight of her purpose. "My mother always told me to never forget why I went to medical school: to care for the patient," says Perera. "I still remember her words every time I take care of someone."
Perera is working towards her goal of building a true IBD medical home as she leads the multidisciplinary Crohn’s & Colitis Program at BMC, helping patients navigate every aspect of inflammatory bowel disease. The program integrates gastroenterology, colorectal surgery, psychology, nutrition, pharmacy, and nursing, with an emphasis on coordinated care over a patient’s lifetime and across all parts of their life. “We can come up with the most cutting-edge plan, but if they can’t carry it out at home, we are not really serving our patients,” she says.
A top priority for Perera is expanding her team's use of intestinal ultrasound as a point-of-care diagnostic tool for IBD management. "It's a service that allows us to make a clinical decision without having to wait for a repeat colonoscopy, an MRI or a CT scan," Perera explains. She is currently training her team at BMC to bring intestinal ultrasound into routine clinical practice, with the goal of supporting faster, more precise, and less invasive care for patients.
Perera adds that BMC patients have access to the best practices and emerging therapies, as her team participates in multicenter pharmaceutical trials as well as the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s IBD Qorus initiative, a national quality improvement collaborative focused on treat-to-target strategies, process optimization, and reducing preventable hospitalizations and emergency department utilization.
From Sri Lanka to the corridors of BMC, Perera's path has been shaped by an unwavering commitment to her patients. That commitment has led her here, where the IBD medical home she has spent her career building is now becoming a reality for BMC patients.