Burrill Bernard Crohn with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease. He was elected president of the American Gastroenterological Association in 1932. He received numerous awards and professional honors, wrote extensively for doctors and the general public, and was asked to consult on high-profile patients from all over the US and abroad, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. During his career, Crohn wrote three books, "Affections of the Stomach" (1927), "Understand Your Ulcer" (1943), and "Regional Ileitis" (1947, second edition 1958). He also wrote more than 100 articles for professional journals. When asked why he went into medicine, Crohn said he wanted to
Burrill Bernard Crohn that it was caused by the same pathogen, a bacterium called "Mycobacterium paratuberculosis" (MAP), responsible for the similar condition that afflicts cattle called Johne's disease. However, he was unable to isolate the pathogen—most likely because "M. paratuberculosis" sheds its cellular wall in humans and takes the form of a spheroplast, making it virtually undetectable under an optical microscope. This theory has resurfaced in recent years, and has been lent more credence with the arrival of more sophisticated methods of identifying MAP bacteria. Crohn noted that it can be difficult for physicians to correctly differentiate neuroses from diseases of the organs.