Dr. Roger Greenlaw started a solo gastroenterology practice as a hospital-based physician at SwedishAmerican Hospital in July of 1975, becoming the hospital’s first gastroenterologist. Two years later, Dr. William Baskin joined Dr. Greenlaw. Dr. Frakes joined the practice in 1980, the same time a decision was made to establish an independent group practice, Rockford Gastroenterology Associates, Ltd.

The first office building was located at 1345 Charles Street and was one of the first office based diagnostic endoscopy labs in the United States. Services were also added at this time with Saint Anthony Medical Center in 1980. The practice continued to expand as a regional referral practice for state-of-the-art, hospital based therapeutic endoscopy services.

In 1988, the Charles Street location was not adequate to meet our patients’ needs and a long-range planning process resulted in moving into our current building at 401 Roxbury Road in March 1990. This building included a freestanding endoscopy center. In order to meet increasing state and federal requirements, a building and remodeling project was started in 1993 to become a state licensed and Medicare certified Ambulatory Surgery Center that received accreditation with commendation by the Joint Commission Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. In 1997 RGA formed a clinical research department and hired a Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator to participate in national pharmaceutical patient studies. In March 2003 we received accreditation from AAAHC (Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care), and has maintained continuous accreditation ever since.

Rockford Gastroenterology Associates takes pride in having the reputation of being one of the premier gastroenterology subspecialties in the nation. All of our physicians are on the faculty of the University of Illinois College of Medicine - Rockford, assume leadership responsibilities as active staff members at SwedishAmerican, Saint Anthony, and Rockford Memorial hospitals, serve on various church, civic and community organizations, and participate in professional organizations on the national level. We continue to implement the latest technology available in treating our patients with digestive diseases and are responsive to the changes occurring in managed health care delivery systems locally and regionally.