Janese Laster, MD

Proprietor and Gastroenterologist, Gut Theory Total Digestive Care, Washington DC

Attending Gastroenterologist, George Washington University Hospital, Washington DC

Attending Gastroenterologist, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor ME
 

Co-Editor, "Nutrition, Weight and Digestive Health – The Clinician Desk Reference", published by Springer in 2022

Principal author or co-author of thirteen articles published in peer-reviewed journals

Multiply board certified in Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine, Obesity Medicine and as Physician Nutrition Specialist

Janese Laster, MD earned her Doctorate of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston TX after completing a Psychology Pre-Medicine Bachelor's degree at Spelman College in Atlanta, and followed with an Internal Medicine residency at Georgetown University Hospital, Washington DC.  She then completed fellowships in Gastroenterology at Georgetown, in Clinical Nutrition at the Nestle Nutrition Institute and in Bariatric Endoscopy at HM University Sanchinarro Hospital in Madrid, Spain.  She is multiply board certified in Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine, Obesity Medicine and as a Physician Nutrition Specialist, and since 2018 has worked as an Attending Gastroenterologist at a variety of locations, currently at George Washington University Hospital, Washington DC and at Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor ME.  During this work, she realized that the gastroenterology field was failing to focus patients' attention on the crucial factors of nutrition and weight management even while symptoms persisted, so she opened her Gut Theory Total Digestive Care practice to bridge this divide through medical innovations and mobilizing food as medicine.

Dr. Laster believes she can help patients, starting with the gut, to become the healthiest version of themselves, to reach long term wellness goals sustainably and to mitigate associated weight-related health issues.  The evidence-based approaches she will take depend on the comprehensive medical history and specific personal intentions, but she emphasizes the importance of overall health first and foremost, through detailed personalized nutrition education and counseling, and guided sustainable lifestyle plans, with consistent follow up.  She enjoys the challenge of finding creative ways for patients to enjoy healthier meals while embracing the start of a new and likely unfamiliar lifestyle.  As needed, she may additionally draw upon her expert knowledge of pharmacologic therapy for weight loss, and minimally invasive endoscopic bariatric procedures, such as gastric balloon use and endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty.

Dr. Laster has also been substantially involved with research and scholarly work as well as clinical practice, as the principal author or co-author of thirteen articles published in peer-reviewed journals.  She is Co-Editor of "Nutrition, Weight and Digestive Health – The Clinician Desk Reference", published by Springer in 2022.  She has made numerous poster presentations for conferences of the American College of Gastroenterology, American College of Physicians, and Crohn's and Colitis Congress, and for Digestive Disease Week.