![\"Isabelle](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/morin-oct26.jpg\")
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Baylor junior Isabelle Morin is on a mission to become the person — the expert, the advocate, the champion — that she needed seven years ago when Crohn\u2019s disease abruptly changed her world.<\/p>\n
At Baylor, Morin has found her place. Here, she’s able to contribute to microbiome research in an elite Baylor laboratory, join national student leadership for the Crohn\u2019s & Colitis Foundation, and advocate for her cause (both close to home in Texas, and on Capitol Hill in Washington).<\/p>\n
Her journey to this point, however, took her places she hopes to help future patients avoid.<\/p>\n
Diagnosed at age 12<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Crohn\u2019s disease<\/a> is a chronic, incurable type of inflammatory bowel disease that impacts a person\u2019s entire digestive system. For 12-year old Isabelle, early signs of the disease revealed themselves when she could not keep food (or even sometimes water) down. Her intestines were swelling to the point that she couldn\u2019t eat, causing intense pain. Her weight dropped to 60 pounds, and doctors later shared with her she had been near death. On top of the physical pain, she had to navigate the accompanying emotional challenges and a labyrinthine path to the treatment she needed, all as a middle school student. (You can see more of her story, in her own words, in this video<\/a>).<\/p>\n Over time, Morin found ways to adjust to life with a chronic disease and the accompanying interruptions that come with regular treatment. While in high school, she discovered the Crohn\u2019s & Colitis Foundation<\/a> and became involved with their North Texas Chapter. While participating in a community fundraiser, she made friends who had similar experiences to her Crohn\u2019s journey and felt called to do more. At a gala in Dallas, the then-high school student shared her story.<\/p>\n “Afterwards, a young woman came up to me and told me I had made her feel hopeful and less alone,” Morin says. “That was when I knew that this was just the beginning. I had to keep sharing my story, because it helped someone else feel like they\u2019d be okay.”<\/p>\n Finding her place at Baylor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Already deeply involved with Crohn\u2019s & Colitis Foundation by the time she came to Baylor, Morin took further steps with the organization when she was accepted into their National Council of College Leaders, a group of students nationwide who work to increase awareness, raise money and provide resources for other students to navigate the transition into college. Last summer, she was able to advocate directly with lawmakers at the organization\u2019s “Day on the Hill,” where she advocated for more treatment options for pediatric patients.<\/p>\n
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