Research Advances
With more than $5 million in external research funding relating to gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, Nationwide Children's Hospital is a national leader in generation of new knowledge relating to these fields.
Major research initiatives include studies on gastrointestinal motility; intestinal injury in premature infants; functional abdominal pain; inflammatory bowel disease; hepatitis C; feeding disorders; and the role of growth factors in intestinal development. A multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to clinical care and research drive the world-class operations of this division.
Below is a list of our researchers and their research interests. Be sure to click on each link to learn more about their research.
John Barnard, MD
Dr. Barnard is President of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics. He is a Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Barnard’s NIH-funded research program focuses on regulation of intestinal epithelial growth by transforming growth factor beta.
Gail E. Besner, MD
Dr. Besner is a Professor of Surgery and is a member of the Center for Perinatal Research of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Her research interests involve a growth factor known as heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor, HB-EGF, a growth factor that Dr. Besner identified in the early 1990s.
David R. Brigstock, PhD
Dr. Brigstock is studying the role of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in fibrotic diseases. His main research efforts are currently focused on liver and pancreatic fibrosis but has collaborative efforts that focus on other organ systems such as the lung, intestine, heart and skin.
John Campo, MD
Dr. Campo is an investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice, Chief, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, The Ohio State University and OSU-Harding Hospital, Chair, Department of Psychiatry, and Medical Director, Behavioral Health Services, Nationwide Children's Hospital. His clinical and research interests include functional abdominal pain and other medically unexplained physical symptoms in children and adolescents, the association between physical and psychiatric illness, and the delivery of behavioral health interventions in primary care. Watch our video
Wallace V. Crandall, MD
Dr. Crandall serves as Director of the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Nationwide Children's Hospital and is an expert in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and celiac disease. Dr. Crandall’s research focuses on understanding the relationship between inflammation, genetics, stress, social functioning and other psychosocial factors in children with IBD.
Carlo Di Lorenzo, MD
Dr. Di Lorenzo is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Di Lorenzo has been among the first clinical investigators to assess the diagnostic value of antroduodenal and colonic manometry and to use the electronic barostat to assess visceral sensitivity in children.
Steven H. Erdman, MD
Dr. Erdman is the Director of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship Program and supervises all educational activities for the Division of Gastroenterology at Nationwide Children's Hospital and is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. His clinical and research interests are in the area of hereditary colorectal cancer and the polyposis syndromes in children and young adults.
Sudarshan R. Jadcherla, MD
Dr. Jadcherla is a Principal Investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research conducting innovative research on neonatal feeding disorders. Dr. Jadcherla is interested in elucidating the mechanism of feeding problems in infants. Understanding the feeding mechanism using the technique of pneumohydraulic water perfusion micromanometry and provocation testing at the bedside is the highlight of these methods.
Laura Mackner, PhD
Dr. Mackner is a Principal Investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health. Her primary research is in the area of adolescent adjustment to chronic illness and the interaction of biopsychosocial factors that contribute to optimal adjustment, particularly in adolescents with gastrointestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Hayat M. Mousa, MD
Dr. Mousa is the Medical Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Neuromuscular Gastrointestinal Disorders at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Mousa has active trials studying acid and non-acid gastroesophageal reflux in children, and is currently conducting a trial studying the health consequences of sleep disorders in obese children and its association with gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Jaya B. Punati, MD
Dr. Punati is an attending physician in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Nationwide Children's Hospital and an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Her research interests include intestinal mast cells in patients with motility disorders.
G. Nicholas Verne, MD
Dr. Verne is Director of the Division of Digestive Health at the Ohio State University Medical Center. His research interests include neurobiology of functional gastrointestinal disorders and irritable bowel syndrome.
Christopher M. Walker, PhD
Dr. Walker is Director of the Center for Vaccines and Immunity at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. His research focuses primarily on the immunology and pathogenesis of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in humans and chimpanzees, the only animal model for HCV. HCV infects about 200 million people worldwide and is a major cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Jackie D. Wood, PhD
Dr. Wood is a Professor of Physiology and Cell Biology and Internal Medicine at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. His research interests include Neurogastroenterology, Neurophysiology/Neurobiology of the Enteric Nervous System, Gastrointestinal Motility, Intestinal Secretion, Enteric Neuroimmune Interactions, Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Enteric Neuropathy.
The Research Institute
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital is dedicated to enhancing the health of children by engaging in high quality, cutting-edge research according to the highest scientific and ethical standards. Learn more»
