Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Chief: Steven M. Cohn, MD, PhD

UVA’s Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, under the leadership of Steven M. Cohn, MD, PhD, fosters interdisciplinary approaches to patient care and offers integrated services for the complete range of digestive disorders. A major mission of the division is promoting innovation in clinical care of patients with complex digestive diseases. In FY 2015, it participated in many ongoing, multicenter clinical trials in the areas of inflammatory bowel disease, hepatitis C, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, artificial liver, outcomes in living-related donor liver transplantation and fecal microbiota transplantation for clostridium difficile colitis.

Another goal of the division is the evaluation and integration of new procedural technologies into the care of patients with complex digestive health problems. For certain digestive diseases, advanced endoscopic techniques are supplanting surgical procedures as the preferred mode of treatment, and division faculty are on the leading edge of this change. For example:

• UVA is one of the first sites in the U.S. to offer endoscopic submucosal dissection as a therapy for early-stage gastric cancers.
• UVA has recently introduced peroral endoscopic myotomy, a new endoscopic approach to treating patients with achalasia that avoids the need for surgery on the lower esophagus.

The availability of such technologies and clinical trials allows UVA Health System to offer options for care of patients that are not available at other health centers in the region.

During FY 2015, the division continued to broaden its clinical services with the recruitment of new clinical faculty and provision of clinical service at new sites, including the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center and the Monticello Community Surgery Center. Clinical and translational research programs continue to expand, while the division remained deeply committed to its educational mission as well. Faculty members value highly their roles as teachers, mentors and preceptors in undergraduate medical education, and for the residency and fellowship programs.