Our Mission & Vision
The Gastroenterology Research Center (GRC) is a pioneering program dedicated to advancing education, research, and clinical care in alignment with UTHealth Houston’s mission. Our primary focus is understanding the crucial role of the digestive tract in health and disease through the integration of translational research, clinical education, patient care, and community partnerships. What distinguishes the GRC is its unwavering commitment to discovering how lifestyle factors—such as diet, alcohol consumption, and circadian rhythms—affect the digestive tract at both local and systemic levels, ultimately influencing overall health. Our goal is to pioneer novel approaches to patient care, bridging the gap from bench to bedside and vice versa.
As the largest interface between the human body and our environment, the digestive tract hosts trillions of microorganisms. It serves as a critical nexus where lifestyle choices intersect with disease processes, including immune dysfunction, metabolic disturbances, and cancer. The GRC will conduct multifaceted research on host-environment interactions, focusing on circadian rhythms and the microbiota axis in multiple organ damage and disease models. This will potentially lead to the discovery of targetable mechanisms and biomarkers that are readily translatable to patient care—from risk assessment and prevention to the development of novel therapeutics. The GRC aims to identify approaches that can transform healthcare and position the institution as a leader in the academic medical system.