Laura K. Bianchi, MD
Dr. Laura Bianchi is the newest member of the team at The Endoscopy Center of the North Shore. She brings many years of experience, having been employed at NorthShore University for 16 years before moving to our practice.
Dr. Bianchi has longstanding ties to the Chicagoland area, having grown up in Naperville. Dr. Bianchi knew that a career in medicine was her calling from a young age. She was influenced early on by her mother, a neonatal ICU nurse, and her father, an Italian immigrant who taught her that through hard work anything is possible.
Dr. Bianchi attended undergraduate school at the University of Notre Dame, where she graduated magna cum laude and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She completed medical school at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Internal Medicine residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Following her residency, Dr. Bianchi ventured east to pursue her gastroenterology (GI) fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. She completed her final year there as the Chief GI Fellow. During her fellowship Dr Bianchi gained valuable clinical and research experience working in the Cleveland Clinic’s Hereditary Cancer Clinic.
Dr. Bianchi returned to the Chicagoland area after her training, and built a thriving practice here in Evanston; her clinical area of interest remains GI cancer prevention and inherited GI cancer syndromes. Dr. Bianchi’s patients often take note of her passion for medicine, specifically for GI cancer prevention. CRC is one of the few preventable cancers, and she embraces the opportunity to empower patients to make lifestyle changes that can reduce CRC risk. There is an increasing incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young adults, so her focus on cancer prevention through diet and lifestyle modification, as well as identifying high risk patients who may need earlier screening colonoscopy, is especially important right now.
Dr. Bianchi takes the time to educate patients about the very effective tool that we have to prevent CRC—colonoscopy and works to address any barriers patients may have to pursuing CRC screening. By creating a relaxing environment in the GI lab with music and aromatherapy, Dr. Bianchi works to reduce the anxiety that many patients experience prior to colonoscopy. The spa-like environment of the Endoscopy Center of the North Shore perfectly complements her approach to helping patients relax before their colonoscopy.
Dr. Bianchi has developed a reputation for providing high quality, patient focused care by spending time listening to her patients so that she can understand their symptoms and concerns; guide them regarding any needed evaluation; and educate and empower them to take an active role in their health. Dr. Bianchi has worked alongside Dr. Mehta at Evanston Hospital for over 16 years, and she embraced the opportunity to join his practice because they share the same approach to providing individualized, patient-focused care.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Bianchi enjoys spending time with her family—cooking and playing pickleball with her husband, and traveling to baseball games, track meets and horse shows with her two children.
Selected Publications: During her early years of practice, Dr. Bianchi worked alongside Dr. Hemant Roy and was awarded grants from the National Institute of Health, as well as a private foundation, to pursue their research and clinical goals. Dr. Bianchi and Dr. Roy collaborated on multiple research projects resulting in numerous publications. Their publications included editorials in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which highlighted the need to consider individualizing the approach to CRC screening by taking into account risk factors such as gender, race and lifestyle factors.
