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While Dr. Erin Barth has spent years traversing the globe, volunteering her time and medical expertise, she is particularly drawn to Southwest Florida. The New Jersey-born gastroenterologist has always had an adventurous and altruistic spirit. While in college, she jetted off to Haiti and Cameroon and traveled to Gabon upon graduating, where she spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. She worked with villagers, educating the community of roughly 200 on hygiene, water sanitation, nutrition and sexually transmitted diseases. After getting her medical degree and a master’s in public health and tropical medicine from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, she served eight years in the U.S. Air Force, part of the time as a staff gastroenterologist in Alaska. She also volunteered at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in the Dakotas, where more than 40 percent of the population lives in poverty, helping physicians with home visits and at immunization clinics.   Barth thinks about returning to Africa to train local physicians on diagnosis and treatments for digestive issues, but for now, she’s rooted here, at Fort Myers’ Associates in Digestive Health. She specializes in inflammatory bowel disease, women’s digestive health, general gastroenterology and colon cancer, and stresses the importance of preventative care, starting with regular colorectal cancer screenings at 45.  People appreciate Barth’s ability to listen. “I hardly ever look at or use the computer when I am in the room with the patients,” she says. She gets all her notes done and reviews labs ahead of time, so she can give patients her undivided attention.   Her attentiveness has proven to change lives. Recently, an elderly woman visited Barth; she had suffered from terrible pains and abnormal bowel movements for months. The formerly active woman had become homebound. Previous physicians weren’t able to identify the issue. After a colonoscopy, Barth diagnosed the patient with ulcerative colitis, a chronic disease of the large intestine that is usually associated with people aged 15 to 30. The doctor prescribed a steroid course and an anti-inflammatory drug, and the patient was able to resume life almost as normal by the next visit. Barth values taking the time to understand a patient’s situation, the root cause of a condition and listening to how they are feeling. “There’s a sense of satisfaction that you’re doing the right thing, and providing the right patient care, no matter where you’re located in the world,” Barth says.  —Nila Do Simon 

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