Dr. Kongara completed a six-year accelerated program at the University of Missouri in Kansas City receiving both her B.A. and medical degrees. While there, she was elected to two national honor societies, Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa, and served as president of the American Medical Student Association. She completed her internship and residency at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, NY. During her fellowship in gastroenterology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, she served as an instructor in the Department of Medicine and studied with Joel Richter, M.D., a world renowned expert in reflux disease, and Edy Soffer, M.D., a national expert on colonic dysmotility and irritable bowel syndrome.

In 1999, she was named both Director of the Women’s Support Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders and Director of Gastrointestinal Diagnostic Motility Center at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, NY. She also served as an Associate Professor for the School of Medicine & Health Sciences Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (NY).

In 2004, Dr. Kongara founded the Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Pelvic Floor Center at Winthrop University Hospital and served as its Director for five years. She was named Associate Chief and Director of Clinical Operations for the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition for the hospital in 2006.

Dr. Kongara’s areas of expertise include atypical GERD, esophageal motility disorders, IBS, refractory constipation, colonic motility disorders, and pelvic floor dysfunction. She lectures frequently on these topics and has been widely published in leading journals including the American Journal of Gastroenterology, the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, Digestive Diseases and Sciences, and Practical Gastroenterology.

She is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and is a member of the American Gastroenterology Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the American Medical Association, the American Motility Society and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. She is Board Certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology.

Dr. Kongara joined AGA in 2010 and is the Medical Director of the Southeastern Center for Functional GI and Motility Disorders, a division of Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates.

Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates (AGA, LLC) is the oldest gastroenterology practice in the southeast dedicated to the evaluation and treatment of both digestive and liver diseases, and the detection and treatment of colon cancer. The 56 physicians in the practice see patients at 28 offices throughout metropolitan Atlanta and North Georgia, and perform outpatient procedures at eight state-of-the-art Endoscopy Centers. The practice offers specialized care for patients through several distinct groups, including the Center for Advanced GI Therapeutics, the Center for GI Health, the Center for GI Imaging, Infusion Services, The Liver Center, Nutrition Counseling, the Southeastern Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders and the UC | Crohn’s Treatment Center. In addition, patients have access to clinical trials through the practice’s research division, AGA | Center for Clinical Research. For more information, visit www.atlantagastro.com.

 TOPAS trial for Refractory Fecal Incontinence

The study is investigating the use of the TOPAS™ Sling System For Women, a minimally invasive, self-fixating, polypropylene Type 1 mesh that provides support to the pelvic floor. Dr. Kavita Kongara is performing anal manometries for the study.