News & Announcements

JULY 2025: Welcome New IBD Faculty - Dr. Preetika Sinh, MD

JULY 2025: Congratulations to Dr. Amir Zarrinpar – Appointed Stuart and Barbara L. Brody Endowed Chair in Circadian Biology and Medicine!

JULY 2025: Welcome to Chief Fellows Juliana Da Silva & Kelly Torosian

JULY 2025: A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW INCOMING FELLOWS

JUNE 2025: UCSD Gastroenterology Fellowship Graduation.  Congratulations to the class of 2025!

JUNE 2025: Advanced Fellows Farewell Gathering

JUNE 2025:  Congratulations to Dr. Heather Patton – Treasurer, AASLD

MAY 2025: UCSD Alumni & DDW

MAY 2025: 16th Annual Research Symposium

MAY 2025: UC San Diego GI Wins Grand Prize for Improving Access to Care!

APRIL 2025: 13th Annual Advances in Gastroenterology & Hepatology Conference

MAY 2025: Congratulations to Dr. Harrison Penrose – 1st Place at the SDGI Society Fellow’s Research Competition!

MARCH 2025: GI Division Wellness Event - Pickleball

FEBRAURY 2025: Welcoming New Physician Assistant - Mara Custodio & Abha Bosworth

FEBRUARY 2025: Welcoming New Faculty - Eric Low, MD, MPH

JANUARY 2025: Warm Welcome to Dr. Barbara Jung, Our New Dean and Esteemed GI Faculty Member

DECEMBER 2024: 2025 Young Physician-Scientist Award - DR. CYNTHIA HSU

DECEMBER 2024: Welcoming New Leaders in GI Endoscopy at UCSD Health

NOVEMBER 2024: IBD Clinical Research Center Award

OCTOBER 2024: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

OCTOBER 2024: Welcoming New FIRST Program Faculty - Dr. Guillaume Urtecho

OCTOBER 2024: Appointment of Dr. Samir Gupta as Chair of Faculty Mentoring Committee

OCTOBER 2024: Researchers Receive Grant to Refine Assessment of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease- Dr. Rena Yadlapati, UCSD GI

SEPTEMBER 2024: Celebrating Women in Medicine Month: A Tribute to Our Exceptional Women in Gastroenterology and Hepatology

JULY 2024: New Hepatology Faculty - Selena Kuo

JULY 2024: GI Division Wellness Event

JULY 2024: Welcome to Our New GI Fellows!

JUNE 2024: Fellows Graduation

JUNE 2024: Congratulations to Monica Tincopa, MD, for being selected 2024 Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar

MAY 2024: DDW Reception - Washington, D.C.

APRIL 2024: Research Retreat

MARCH 2024: 15th Annual GI Division Research Symposium Poster Award Winners

FEBRAUARY 2024: Welcoming New Physician Assistants - Katherine Beckwith and Jessica Kovall

JULY 2023: New Fellow Welcome Dinner

The Division hosts a New Fellow Welcome Dinner this past July. 

JUNE 2023: Rohit Loomba, MD, Named Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Effective June 2023, Loomba will lead the division at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, building upon a transformational team that shines a light on UC San Diego Health’s tripartite mission. Read the Press Release

Dear Colleagues,

I am both humbled and honored to start this exciting opportunity to serve as the new Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at University of California at San Diego. I am impressed by the passion and expertise you bring to your work and am excited to grow and thrive alongside you as we work to provide the highest quality of care to our patients. I am committed to creating an environment where integrity, collaboration and innovation are all priorities. As we adapt and improve our processes and care models, I am eager to hear from all of you ways to identify best practices and develop strategies to improve access and enhance patient experience. I welcome your input on all aspects of the division that can be shared through either one on one meetings or at group meetings. I look forward to meeting with each of you to advance all of our missions. As I transition into this role please be patient and allow me some time to fully understand the needs of the entire division and align our priorities with the institutional vision. All existing administrative roles served by various faculty will continue in the transition period to allow smooth functioning of the divisional activities.

Rohit Loomba, MD, MHSc
Chief, Division of GI & Hepatology

DDW® Awards 2016

• Dr. John Chang Receives AGA-GRG Young Investigator Award in Basic Science | Read AGA Press Release
• William Sandborn, MD , receives Mentor Award in Immunology, Microbiology and IBD
• Kim E. Barrett, PhD receives Mentor Award in Intestinal Disorders
• C. Richard Boland, MD, AGAF, Chief of Gastroenterology at UC San Diego from 1995 to 2003, receives Julius Friedenwald Award | Read AGA Press Release

Drs. John Chang, Pradipta Ghosh, Bernd Schnabl Elected to American Society for Clinical Investigation

All three are Associate Professors of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology. Visit their laboratories:

• Chang Lab
• Ghosh Lab
• Schnabl Lab

U.S. News & World Report ranks UC San Diego Medical Center's Gastroenterology & GI Surgery services in the top 25 in the nation for 2015-2016.

Gastroenterologists at UC San Diego Health are nationally recognized for their innovative care of people with gastrointestinal and liver diseases.

We recognize how life-altering living with digestive disease can be. The Division of Gastroenterology works in multidisciplinary teams of specialists including endoscopists, oncologists, surgeons and radiologists.

Dr. Thomas Savides a 2015 Top Doctor

Congratulations to Dr. Thomas Savides, Professor of Clinical Medicine, Clinical Service Chief and Chief Experience Officer for UC San Diego Health, who was named one of San Diego's 2015 Top Doctors in the annual survey by the San Diego County Medical Society and San Diego Magazine.

Dr. Irine Vodkin Wins Top Honors at SDGI Fellows' Research Forum

Gastroenterology transplant hepatology fellow Irine Vodkin, MD, received the top rating for her presentation at the 2015 San Diego Gastroenterology Society Annual Fellows' Research Forum on March 18.

In the photo at left, Dr. Vodkin is pictured on the right with (from left) Drs. Wilson Kwong and Parambir Dulai.

First Chief Experience Officer for UC San Diego Health: Dr. Thomas Savides

Congratulations to Dr. Thomas Savides, who has been appointed the first Chief Experience Officer for UC San Diego Health.

"We are excited to have Dr. Savides champion employee engagement and patient experience so that we can exceed our patients' expectation in everything we do," said Paul Viviano, former CEO of UC San Diego Health and Associate Vice Chancellor for UC San Diego Health Sciences.
More

In Memoriam: Martin F. Kagnoff, MD, 1914 - 2014

Beloved faculty member Martin Kagnoff, MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and Director of the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology, passed away November 14, 2014.

• Read the Department of Medicine memorial
• Read the memorial by Lars Eckmann, MD, Kim E. Barrett, PhD, and John Carethers, MD, published in the March, 2015, issue of Gastroenterology

Drs. Sandborn, Savides Selected for San Diego Top Doctors List 2014

Congratulations to Dr. William Sandborn and Dr. Thomas Savides , who are named once again on the San Diego Top Doctors list .

Gastroenterologists at UC San Diego Health are nationally recognized for their innovative care of people with gastrointestinal and liver diseases. We recognize how life-altering living with digestive disease can be. The Division of Gastroenterology works in multidisciplinary teams of specialists including endoscopists, oncologists, surgeons and radiologists.

U.S. News & World Report ranks our gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery services in the top 50 in the nation.

Dr. John Chang Receives 2011 NIH Director's New Innovator Award

John Chang, MD, has received a 2011 NIH Director's New Innovator Award for his project, "Understanding the Basis for Cellular Diversity During Adaptive Immunity."

Dr. Chang's proposal will study fundamental mechanisms by which cell fate is determined during immune responses against microbes. Dr. Chang's research group will receive $2.3 million over the next five years for the study.

Dr. Chang was among 49 scientists nationwide to receive the prestigious award this year, which funds research projects "that challenge the status quo with innovative ideas that have the potential to propel fields forward and speed the translation of research into improved health for the American public." The study could have implications for improved vaccine strategies and suggest new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease.

The NIH Director's New Innovator Award addresses two important goals: stimulating highly innovative research and supporting promising new investigators. As part of NIH's commitment to increasing opportunities for new scientists, it created the NIH Director's New Innovator Award to support exceptionally creative new investigators who propose highly innovative projects that have the potential for unusually high impact. This award complements ongoing efforts by NIH and its institutes and centers to fund new investigators through R01 grants and other mechanisms.

The NIH Director's New Innovator Award program is different from traditional NIH grants in that it is designed specifically to support unusually creative new investigators with highly innovative research ideas at an early stage of an investigator's career when they may lack the preliminary data required for an R01 grant.

The UCSD TV Production " Colon Cancer Screening - Health Matters" with Thomas J. Savides, MD, aired October 18, 2012.