Our mission is to raise awareness about the impact of food sensitivity fear on mental and physical health. We develop education and screening tools to prevent and treat conditioned food avoidance and sensitivity.

Wendy Busse, MSc, Registered Dietitian,
FAST Freedom Program Founder and Director

With a career spanning 30 years, I have had the privilege of working with and learning from hundreds of food-sensitive clients. Initially, my practice was focused on providing direction for restricted diets. Unfortunately, I felt unsettled because the restrictions often led to further sensitivities. Helping clients soften their food reactions and expand their diet was much more fulfilling – because it led to a lifelong, meaningful change in their health.

Learn More About Wendy

C-FAST Screening Tool

I am working with a team to validate a screening tool to identify individuals who may be experiencing conditioned food avoidance & sensitivity. If you would like to be notified about our progress, please enter your email address below. 

Xiao Jing (Iris) Wang, MD

Consultant
Assistant Professor
Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Dr. Wang is an Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology and treats patients with general gastroenterology conditions. Her clinical and research focus are around DGBIs, understanding their development and finding nonpharmacologic ways to treat them.

Jessica Biesiekierski, PhD, RNutr

Senior Research Fellow, Monash University (Australia)
Dr. Biesiekierski specialises in understanding the effects of diet on disorders of gut-brain interactions. Her research aims to improve dietary management of gastrointestinal symptoms through mechanistic insights and clinical outcomes assessing gut-brain signalling and symptom processes.

Eleonora Volpato, PhD

Assistant Professor at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan (Italy)
Dr. Volpato is specifically interested in how psychological factors such as affective states, personality traits, expectations, learning, and social aspects interact with subjective experience and neural processing in chronic disease.

Hannah Hunter, MSc, RD

Allergy Specialist Dietitian, Guy’s Hospital
Ms. Hunter splits her time between outpatient clinics, research, and health professional education. Her research interests include peanut allergy, pollen food syndrome and eosinophilic oesophagitis.   

Madison Simons, PsyD

GI Psychologist, Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute, Cleveland Clinic
Dr. Simons specializes in treating motility related gastrointestinal conditions. She is particularly interested in the precipitants and consequences of dietary modification in digestive disease and the overlap between gynecologic and gastrointestinal conditions.

Megan Petrik, PhD, LP, ABPP

Senior Associate Consultant, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Dr. Megan Petrik is Director of GI Behavioral Medicine at Mayo Clinic. As a GI psychologist, her clinical practice includes delivering brain gut behavioral therapies to patients with disorders of gut brain interaction and other chronic digestive illnesses.    

Avery E. Erickson, MS, RD, LD, CLC

Registered Dietitian | Mayo Clinic
Adjunct Faculty in Nutrition and Dietetics | Viterbo University
Ms. Erickson sees a variety of patient populations, including but not limited to Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis, GI surgery, and nutrition support patients. Her research interests include avoidant and restrictive eating patterns and disorders of gut brain interaction.

Sarah Ballou, PhD

GI Psychology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Dr. Ballou is Director of GI Psychology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She specializes in behavioral therapy for patients with chronic digestive conditions, with a focus on disorders of gut brain interaction and inflammatory bowel disease.

Dr Laurie Keefer, PhD

GI Health Psychologist and Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
Dr. Laurie Keefer has more than 20 years of experience developing and implementing behavioural therapies for chronic digestive disorders, including Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). She currently directs the GRITT Program, an integrated care model for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis patients within the IBD Center at Mount Sinai Hospital. She maintains a clinical practice focused on psychosocial concerns among medically complex IBD.