John I. Allen MD,MBA,AGAF

Dr. Allen is the Clinical Chief of Digestive Diseases. He practiced for 30 years at the University of Minnesota and then in a large single specialty gastroenterology group (Minnesota Gastroenterology) in the Twin Cities. He has an special interest in colon cancer prevention and genetic risk evaluation. He has an MBA from the University of St Thomas in Medical Group Mangement and currently is President-Elect of the American Gastroenterological Association.

Dr. Allen graduated with honors from Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 1973. At Rice, he held numerous swimming records and received the Bob Quinn Award for Outstanding Scholar Athlete. He attended medical school at the University of New Mexico, graduating in 1977. His internship, residency and specialty training in gastroenterology were completed at the University of Minnesota. After his fellowship ended in 1980, Dr. Allen joined the academic faculty in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, where he achieved the honor of becoming an Associate Professor of Medicine. While at the University he published numerous papers about nutrition, alcoholic liver disease and colon cancer.

Dr. Allen joined Minnesota Gastroenterology in 1991. There, he continued his clinical research about colon cancer prevention and cancer genetics in conjunction with scientists at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Allen continues to speak nationally and internationally about colon cancer and quality performance in gastroenterology. He has published over 50 articles on various aspects of gastroenterology research and practice and is currently editing a book on quality in colonoscopy.