Amosy Ephreim M'koma MD, PhD, MS

Dr. Amosy Ephreim M'Koma, MD, MPhil, PhD, ASCRS, ISUCRS, is an entrepreneur and Tenured Full Professor of Surgery, Surgical Sciences, Pathology, & Cancer Biology at Meharry Medical College. He serves as Principal Investigator in the Department of Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience, and Pharmacology and holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the Division of General Surgery, Colon and Rectal Surgery in Nashville. Dr. M'Koma is an accomplished academic surgeon-scientist whose career is dedicated to education, surgical training, translational biomedical research, & the clinical management of digestive system diseases.

Dr. M'Koma earned his Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Kharkiv Medical Institute in Ukraine and completed postgraduate surgical training and residency at Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge in Stockholm, Sweden. He is Board Certified in General Surgery by the Swedish National Board of Health & Welfare. He subsequently earned both a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and a PhD in Surgery from Karolinska Nobel Institute. During this period, he served as a surgeon within the Stockholm County Council health system (Stockholms läns landstings hälso- och sjukvårdssystem).

After relocating to the United States, Dr. M'Koma joined Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, Department of Colon & Rectal Surgery as a Clinical Research Fellow. He was subsequently recruited to Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellow in Urologic Surgery and Cancer Biology and later appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of General Surgery, Colon & Rectal Surgery, Section of Surgical Sciences.

Dr. M'Koma’s research focuses on gastrointestinal diseases, particularly the surgical management of Ulcerative Colitis &Familial Adenomatous Polyposis. His work has significantly advanced understanding of the restorative physiology of intestinal continuity following pouch surgery, the restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch–anal anastomosis (RPC-IPAA), including postoperative metabolic and functional adaptations. His translational research integrates MALDI mass spectrometry, proteomics, and recombinant single-chain antibody technologies to identify molecular biometric fingerprints that improve diagnostic precision in Colorectal Inflammatory Bowel Disease (CIBD).

Since joining the Meharry–Vanderbilt Alliance in 2010, Dr. M'Koma has led collaborative cross-institutional programs focused on developing noninvasive and accurate diagnostics for CIBD. As Principal Investigator, he discovered a novel biosignature biomarker, human α-defensin 5 (DEFA5), enabling ASSURED (Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid and Robust, Equipment-free, and Deliverable) instant diagnosis of CIBD subtypes. This discovery addresses a long-standing clinical challenge in differentiating CIBD phenotypes and has important implications for precision diagnostics, therapeutic target discovery, and drug development. These innovations are protected by three Granted United States patents held by Meharry Medical College, with ongoing translational validation and clinical development.

His research also extends to CIBD-associated colorectal cancer, supported by the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center GI SPORE program. Dr. M'Koma received competitive Project Grants from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (2007–2010) and National Institutes of Health funding (2010–2017). Since 2017 he has served on many peer-review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the United States Department of Defense, reflecting national recognition of his scientific expertise. He has presented his research widely at leading national and international colorectal surgery and biomedical science conferences.