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Our Impact

The Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology's ongoing mission is to promote health and a healthy society that enables the achievement of every child's full potential. We fulfill this mission by providing the highest standard of care, advanced clinical programs, innovative training of future health care providers, and state-of-the-art clinical and translational research.

We are the:

  • Only comprehensive intestinal rehabilitation program in North Texas
  • One of the most active pediatric hepatology and liver transplant programs in the nation
  • One of the largest pediatric IBD centers in the nation and a founding member of the ImproveCareNow Network, consulting with patients worldwide
  • Only pediatric intestinal immunology clinic of its kind in North Texas
  • Leaders in endoscopic innovation, research, and training, through our Therapeutic Endoscopy Program, winning the North American Society of Pediatric GI Endoscopy prize four times
  • Founding site for the Pediatric ERCP Database Initiative
  • Only comprehensive celiac disease program in the Dallas-Fort Worth area
  • Home to one of the few ANMS-certified pediatric motility labs in the country, performing the entire range of manometry procedures and other specialized motility studies
  • Only bowel management program in North Texas for kids with simple and complex anorectal malformations
  • Only multidisciplinary abdominal pain program in the area
  • Only aerodigestive disorders management program in the area, with pediatric patients referred from all over the nation

2024 Impact

  • By the Numbers

    By the Numbers

    Faculty and Staff icon

    Faculty

    • 37 faculty
    Fellowships icon

    Clinical

    • 5 clinical sites
    • 34,307 outpatient encounters
    • 9,642 inpatient encounters
    Doctors in Training icon

    Education

    • 4 fellows per year
    • Advanced training opportunities for IBD, motility, and advanced endoscopy
    Clinical Studies Icon

    Research

    • 10 active awards
    • $1,347,980 total
      funding from grants (FY25)
    • 16 active clinical trials
       
    • $101,870 revenue from clinical trials (FY25)
    • 47 publications
    • 2,772 citations
  • Honors and Awards

    Honors and Awards

    Jorge A. Bezerra, M.D.

    • NASPGHAN Shwachman Award

    Luis F. Sifuentes-Dominguez, M.D.

    • Named Texas Children's Hospital Visiting Young Investigator

    Rinarani Sanghavi, M.D.

    • Received UTSW Clinical Excellence Award

    Nonyelum E. Ebigbo, M.D.

    • Named as an American Gastroenterology Society FORWARD Scholar for her microbiome research
    • Received NASPGHAN Young Faculty Investigator Research Award for her work on optimizing precision probiotics in graft verus host disease

    Wenqi Li, Ph.D.

    • Mentored by Pranav Shivakumar, Ph.D.
    • Won the American Association for Study of Liver Diseases Early Career Investigator Award

    Sindhu Pandurangi, M.D.

    • Awarded the 2024 Young Investigator Award/George Ferry Award by NASPGHAN for her work on Precision Phenotyping and Risk Prediction in Biliary Atresia
  • Top Conference Presentation Locations

    Top Conference Presentation Locations

    NASPGHAN Annual Meeting, Hollywood, Florida

    Cedars-Sinai International Advanced Endoscopy Symposium, Los Angeles, California

    Digestive Disease Week, Washington DC

    American Pancreatic Association Annual Meeting, Maui, Hawaii

    Liver Connect, San Antonio, Texas

    European Society for Pediatric GI, Hepatology and Nutrition, Milan, Italy

    American Medical Informatics Association Symposium 2024, San Francisco, California

    World Congress of Pediatric GI, Hepatology and Nutrition, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    AASLD Annual Meeting, San Diego, California

    NACFC 2024, Boston, Massachusetts

  • Top Peer-Reviewed Publications and Book Chapters

    Top Peer-Reviewed Publications and Book Chapters

    Tan S, Santolaya JL, Wright TF, Liu Q, Fujikawa T, Chi S, Bergstrom CP, Lopez A, Chen Q, Vale G, McDonald JG, Schmidt A, Vo N, Kim J, Baniasadi H, Li L, Zhu G, He TC, Zhan X, Obata Y, Jin A, Jia D, Elmquist JK, Sifuentes-Dominguez L, Burstein E. Interaction between the gut microbiota and colonic enteroendocrine cells regulates host metabolism. Nat Metab. 2024 Jun;6(6):1076-1091. doi: 10.1038/s42255-024-01044-5. Epub 2024 May 22.PMID: 38777856

    Ramai D, Pan CW, Troendle DM, Maida M, Facciorusso A, Machicado JD; Pancreatology Working Group. Prevalence of Gastroparesis in Chronic Pancreatitis and Predictive Factors: A Machine Learning Prediction Model. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024 Oct 26:S1542-3565(24)00961-3. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2024.09.023. PMID 39490948

    Pandurangi S, Malik A, Owens J, Valencia CA, Miethke AG; Center for Autoimmune Liver Disease Research Group. Deleterious variants in TNFAIP3 are associated with type II and seronegative pediatric autoimmune hepatitis. J Hepatol. 2024 Jan;80(1):e26-e28. PMID: 37821019; PMCID: PMC11303014.

    Resnicow K, Delacroix E, Sonneville KR, Considine S, Grundmeier RW, Shu D, Faerber JA, Fiks AG, Steffes J, Harris D, Woo H, Proctor T, Wright ME, Shone LP, Barlow SE, Wasserman RC, Siegel R, Stockwell MS. Outcome of BMI2+: Motivational interviewing to reduce BMI through primary care AAP PROS practices. Pediatr Jan 1, 2024. 1;153(2):e2023062462. PMID 38282541

    Miethke AG, Moukarzel A, Porta G, Covarrubias Esquer J, Czubkowski P, Ordonez F, Mosca A, Aqul AA, Squires RH, Sokal E, D'Agostino D, Baumann U, D'Antiga L, Kasi N, Laborde N, Arikan C, Lin CH, Gilmour S, Mittal N, Chiou FK, Horslen SP, Huber WD, Jaecklin T, Nunes T, Lascau A, Longpre L, Mogul DB, Garner W, Vig P, Hupertz VF, Gonzalez-Peralta RP, Ekong U, Hartley J, Laverdure N, Ovchinsky N, Thompson RJ. Maralixibat in progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (MARCH-PFIC): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024 Jul;9(7):620-631. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(24)00080-3. Epub 2024 May 6.

    Cohen S, Yerushalmy-Feler A, Rojas I, et al. Juvenile polyposis syndrome in children: the impact of SMAD4 and BMPR1A mutations on clinical phenotype and polyp burden. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2024; 79: 161-167. doi:10.1002/jpn3.12257