Research

Division Research Overview and Philosophy

The Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition is based within a research university and has the fundamental purpose of discovering and teaching new knowledge about digestive diseases. The Faculty and staff of the Division continually evaluate the critical needs of patients with digestive diseases and utilize all available resources to support the highest qualified physicians to determine the exact medical problem faced by each patient, and to link them with outstanding scientists who are able to solve specific problems that currently have no answers.

The Division is not a freestanding organization. The strengths of the Division include partnership with the UPMC system, which provides state-of-the-art facilities, equipment and ancillary support. The Division's clinical faculty collaborate with world-class faculty from other divisions and departments who provide unique and complementary perspectives and abilities. The Division's research faculty are fully integrated into the enormous research enterprise of the University of Pittsburgh. However, the primary goal and strength of the Division is uniting the physicians and scientists to purposefully and systematically tackle the toughest problems in complex digestive diseases.

There are a number of important academic GI divisions throughout the United States, each with different strengths and focuses. The Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh has chosen to concentrate of complex chronic disorders that involve gene-environment interactions, inflammation, neural maladaptation, and cancer development. Examples of these disorders include liver inflammation and cirrhosis, acute and chronic pancreatitis and inflammatory bowel diseases. The integrated programs systematically study the causes and complications of organ dysfunction including inflammation, fibrosis, organ dysfunction, pain, maldigestion and inadequate nutrient absorption, and cancer predisposition, development, prevention and early treatment.

Clinical trials are organized through one of the seven Center of Excellence. The basic science efforts are organized into Genetics, Immunology, Neurosciences, and Molecular Epidemiology. The major laboratories within the Division are listed below. In addition, the Division has joined the Departments of Anesthesiology and Neurobiology to form a new Comprehensive Pain Center, and helped recruit Professor Gerald Gebhart PhD as the first Center Director. A major focus will be the Visceral Pain and Inflammation Program - VIP Program - to work on digestive disorders characterized by pain.

The research faculty working as part of our Division are listed below. Please also click on Faculty to view the research priorities of other noted Division physician scientists.

Research Faculty

Primary Research Faculty

• Kathryn Albers, PhD
• Anthony Bauer, PhD
• Jaideep Behari MD, PhD
• Klaus Bielifeldt MD PhD
• David G. Binion, MD
• Brian Davis, PhD
• Richard Duerr, MD
• Patricia Eagon, PhD
• Michael Gold, PhD
• Sasha Malin, PhD
• Ian McGowan, MD PhD
• Derek Molliver, PhD
• Stephen J.D. O'Keefe MD, MSc
• Michael Pezzone MD PhD
• Robert Schoen MD MPH
• David C. Whitcomb MD PhD

• Rhonda Brand, PhD
• Gerald Gebhart, PhD
• Mitchell B. Max, MD
• Satdarshan Monga MD
• Juan Ochoa MD

Research Expenditures in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition