NEW YORK (September 10, 2021) – Dr. Robert S. Brown, an outstanding physician-scientist who combines clinical care with research focused on improving outcomes for patients with liver diseases, has been named chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, effective Aug. 1.
Dr. Brown will oversee a division that has more than doubled the number of clinicians and researchers over the last five years. This growth has resulted in an enhanced clinical experience—with state-of-the-art care provided at NewYork-Presbyterian David H. Koch Center—and expansion in many areas of research. Division investigators conduct cutting-edge clinical and basic research on a variety of gastrointestinal conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, gut inflammation and the microbiome, liver disease, hepatitis C infection, irritable bowel syndrome and motility disorders, and gastrointestinal cancers such as liver, colorectal, esophageal and pancreatic cancers.
In his new role, Dr. Brown will further strengthen the division’s mission to provide excellence in clinical care, grow its research programs and mentor and train the next generation of junior faculty and fellows specializing in gastroenterology and hepatology. Dr. Brown joined Weill Cornell Medicine’s full-time faculty as clinical chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2015 after having served in an adjunct faculty capacity since 1999. He succeeds Dr. David Cohen, who served as chief since 2016.
Dr. Brown is an expert in liver diseases, including alcohol-related liver disease, which affects up to 20 percent of the population, chronic hepatitis C infection, which affects an estimated 2.4 million Americans and cirrhosis, a scarring of the liver that is the third most common disease-related cause of death in the United States. He co-founded the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, a joint program with Columbia University Irving Medical Center, in 1998. Dr. Brown will continue as medical director of this program, the largest for liver transplantation in New York City.
"Bob is an exemplary physician, investigator and leader whose contributions to understanding and treating liver disease are driven by his dedication to providing the very best care for patients," said Dr. Anthony Hollenberg, the Weill Chair of the Weill Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and physician-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "He is the ideal choice to lead the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and I look forward to working with him as we continue to advance this area of medicine, providing innovative care to our patients."
"Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center have been my homes in part for the last 22 years and completely for the last six years,” said Dr. Brown, who is also the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. "My aim is to accelerate the strong growth of the division, strengthening clinical care and research in the areas of inflammatory bowel disease and the microbiome, liver disease, liver cancer, gastrointestinal and esophageal diseases and hereditary gastrointestinal cancer syndromes.”
The division, led by Dr. Brown, includes the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health and the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, as well as general gastroenterology, advanced and therapeutic endoscopy, hepatology and transplant hepatology. He will also expand the division's collaborative relationships with the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the Center for Advanced Digestive Care and the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Center for Metabolic Health. For example, scientists in the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease work with physicians at the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, seeking new insights into the root causes of inflammatory bowel diseases and related conditions and translating the findings to innovative strategies for prevention and treatment.
About Dr. Robert S. Brown
Dr. Brown received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, his medical degree from New York University and his master’s in public health from the University of California, Berkeley. After completing his medical degree, he fulfilled internships in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and completed a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of California San Francisco.
Dr. Brown served as an attending physician at Moffit-Long Hospital, University of California Medical Center, San Francisco and North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, followed by continuing attending physician roles in New York, which began at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Irving University Medical Center in 1998 and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in 2000. He was an associate professor at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1998 to 2008 and the Frank Cardile Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics (in Surgery) from 2008 to 2015. At Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Brown has been a professor of medicine since 2015 and served as vice chair of mentoring and academic development in the Department of Medicine from 2018 to 2021.
Dr. Brown has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles published in leading, peer-reviewed journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, the American Journal of Transplantation, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and JAMA Surgery. He has also held editorial and editorial board roles for several premier journals in the hepatology field, including his current position as Editor-In-Chief of Liver Transplantation since February 2020.
Dr. Brown has received numerous awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Transplant Physicians, the Senior Attending Teaching Award at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the American Liver Foundation New York chapter Physician of the Year. He is co-founder and vice president of the Empire Liver Foundation, which works in collaboration with the New York City Department of Health to improve the healthcare of patients with liver diseases.
Dr. Brown has received several major grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for liver disease research. He was recently awarded a grant supporting Weill Cornell Medicine as a scientific and data collection center within the Liver Cirrhosis Network. The grant will expand collaborations with colleagues at multiple centers focused on conducting basic, translational and clinical research into new diagnostic and treatment approaches for patients with cirrhosis. Dr. Brown will also continue his research into improving outcomes for patients with gastrointestinal and liver diseases facing issues related to disparities and access, funded by a philanthropic gift.
NewYork-Presbyterian
NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive, integrated academic healthcare systems, encompassing 10 hospitals across the Greater New York area, more than 200 primary and specialty care clinics and medical groups, and an array of telemedicine services.
A leader in medical education, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is the only academic medical center in the nation affiliated with two world-class medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. This collaboration means patients have access to the country’s leading physicians, the full range of medical specialties, latest innovations in care, and research that is developing cures and saving lives.
Ranked the #1 hospital in New York and the #7 hospital in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals rankings, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is also recognized as among the best in the nation in the U.S. News Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Founded 250 years ago, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has a long legacy of medical breakthroughs and innovation, from the invention of the Pap test to pioneering the groundbreaking heart valve replacement procedure called TAVR.
NewYork-Presbyterian’s 48,000 employees and affiliated physicians are dedicated to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care to New Yorkers and patients from across the country and around the world.
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Weill Cornell Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine Weill Cornell Medicine is committed to excellence in patient care, scientific discovery and the education of future physicians in New York City and around the world. The doctors and scientists of Weill Cornell Medicine — faculty from Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Weill Cornell Physician Organization — are engaged in world-class clinical care and cutting-edge research that connect patients to the latest treatment innovations and prevention strategies. Located in the heart of the Upper East Side’s scientific corridor, Weill Cornell Medicine’s powerful network of collaborators extends to its parent university Cornell University; to Qatar, where Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar offers a Cornell University medical degree; and to programs in Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Weill Cornell Medicine faculty provide exemplary patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Queens and NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Weill Cornell Medicine is also affiliated with Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.