FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 6, 2003
Contact: Bill Seilerbseiler@umm.edu 410-328-8919
Ellen Beth Levitt eblevitt@umm.edu 410-328-8919

AWARD-WINNING TEACHER AND RESEARCHER SELECTED TO HEAD GASTROENTEROLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Jean-Pierre Raufman, M.D., Jean-Pierre Raufman, M.D., has been appointed head of the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Raufman comes to Baltimore from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, where he was the Jerome Levy Professor of Medicine and head of gastroenterology.

Dr. Raufman's research and clinical interests are focused on gastric gland secretions, bile acids, peptic ulcers and hepatitis C. He is chair of the Gastroenterology Teaching Project for the American Gastroenterological Association. He has received outstanding teaching awards from medical students and residents at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and from former students at SUNY-Brooklyn, where he was named Outstanding Educator of the Clinical Faculty.

"Dr. Raufman's experience will be a major asset as we work to grow our clinical and research programs. He is an excellent scientist who has had research programs funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs since the beginning of his career," says William L. Henrich, M.D., professor and chair of the department of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and chief of the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

"At the same time, he's a very fine physician, with a wide range of expertise in the care of patients with diseases of the digestive system," adds Dr. Henrich.

Several factors led to Dr. Raufman's decision to come to the University of Maryland, including the academic excellence of the School of Medicine. "I was attracted by the high quality of its faculty, residents and students and the institution's commitment to medical research," he says.

The focus on excellent patient care at the University of Maryland Medical Center appealed to him as well. "The best research grows out of patient contact, learning what problems patients have, hearing their concerns, and then translating that into studies that will lead to improved treatments and medical devices," Dr. Raufman says. He adds that he hopes to build on both the research and clinical programs already in place.

Dr. Raufman earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and trained at Montefiore Hospital, both in Bronx, NY. He completed a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, followed by a medical staff fellowship in the Digestive Disease Branch of the National Institutes of Health. He has published more than 125 scientific articles and 18 book chapters, and has lectured at national and international professional meetings.

In his new role, Dr. Raufman also becomes the Moses and Helen Golden Paulson Professor of Gastroenterology, an endowed professorship that honors the late Moses Paulson, M.D. Dr. Paulson graduated from the UM School of Medicine in 1921 and was a recognized gastroenterologist in Baltimore.

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