Gastroenterology, Hepatology, & Nutrition
Division founder Wallace “Skip” Gleason, MD
The Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, & Nutrition Division was founded in August 1984 by Wallace A. Gleason Jr., MD, the sole faculty member at the time. The division has since grown into a nationally recognized team committed to providing children with the most innovative and effective medical care in a kind and compassionate environment. These experts explore the causes of GI disorders and pioneer new treatments that improve lives. Pediatric GI Faculty aim each day to teach the next generation of caretakers how to better address the digestive problems children experience.
The ten gastroenterologists — eight academic staff and two full-time, clinic-based staff physicians — and six fellows evaluate and treat a wide range of gastrointestinal disorders in clinics, hospitals and endoscopy laboratories. The Pediatric Gastroenterology Division is currently #29 in the US News and World Report Top Children’s Hospitals, ranked ahead of many more populated programs, and is expanding outreach clinics across the growing pediatric population in Greater Houston. There is strong institutional support to continue this growth and develop additional areas, including advanced endoscopy and motility programs.
L-R: GI Faculty at a national conference and Division Director J. Marc Rhoads, MD, (far right) poses with pediatric surgery colleagues with whom the division collaborates frequently.
This versatile group has strengths in many areas, from managing conditions unique to infants, such as colic, vomiting, and growth problems, to addressing complex pediatric issues like short bowel syndrome and chronic liver disease. In older children, our clinicians see pediatric patients with abdominal pain; disorders of gut-brain interaction such as irritable bowel syndrome and cyclic vomiting; inflammatory bowel disease (both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis); acute and chronic diarrhea; ulcer disease; and gastroesophageal reflux.
Professor Yuying Liu, PhD, (left) and J. Marc Rhoads, MD, (middle) pose with Pediatric GI fellows Erini Kostandy, MD, and Zeina Saleh, MD, who won the 2024 Fellows Research Symposium.
The Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship Program is dedicated to recruiting exceptional trainees from across the nation and endowing them with exemplary clinical education and research training. The three-year program provides comprehensive skills in pediatric gastroenterology and hepatology. The wide range of clinical and research facilities, faculty expertise, and diverse pathology within UTHealth Houston, the TMC, and across the clinical sites cultivates a rich training environment in which fellows can thrive.