Gary Lichtenstein MD, FACP, FACG, AGAF

Gary R. Lichtenstein, MD, is the Vice Chief, Division of Gastroenterology, Development and Philanthropy; Emeritus Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program, and Professor of Medicine in the Gastrointestinal Division of the Department of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Lichtenstein earned his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, New York. He then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He also served a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

His current research interests encompass investigational therapies for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, and his research has had a significant focus on the safety of current and future medical therapy. He has also focused his research on the natural history of disease. Dr. Lichtenstein has received numerous research grants focusing on these areas and has served as the national/international principal investigator evaluating novel agents for therapeutic trials in the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

A Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), the American College of Physicians, and the American College of Gastroenterology, Dr. Lichtenstein is listed in Best Doctors in America (inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]) and has served as Medical Secretary for the American Board of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology Section. He holds membership and committee positions in many professional societies at a national level, including the AGA where he has served as Vice Chair of the Clinical Practice Committee and Practice Economics Committee and where he has served as Chair of the Clinical Practice Committee; the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy where he has served on the committee on training; and the American College of Gastroenterology where he has served on the Education Committee, Programs Committee, and Nominations Committee. He recently served as a member of the research committee. He has been the chair of numerous abstract review committees for IBD for the American College of Gastroenterology and the AGA, and has served as section chair and moderator for numerous sessions at Digestive Disease Week.

Dr. Lichtenstein has received numerous awards, including the National Scientific Achievement Award from the National Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), for his clinical work and research. In 2020, he was the recipient of the AGA’s top academic clinician award (the AGA Distinguished Clinician Award in Academic Practice). He received the award for the top specialist in the University of Pennsylvania Health System (the Louis A. Duhring Award) as well as the top teaching award in all of the University of Pennsylvania (the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award). Additionally, he has received the medical school teaching award (the Penn Pearls Award), the Department of Medicine house staff teaching award (the Donald B. Martin Teaching Award), and the Gastroenterology Division teaching award (the Sidney Cohen Teaching Award).