David C. Whitcomb, MD, PhD

Professor David C. Whitcomb, MD, PhD, earned both his MD and PhD degrees from the Ohio State University, completed an internal medicine internship and residency program at Duke University, and a gastroenterology fellowship at Duke University. Since joining the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh in 1991, Dr. Whitcomb built world-class molecular genetics and neuroscience laboratories to study diseases of the pancreas. He served as Chief of the Nutrition Support Service, and Chief of Gastroenterology at the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System (University Drive), and is Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh. He founded and directed the Center for Genomic Sciences (now the Genomic and Proteomic Core Laboratories of the University of Pittsburgh) beginning from 1995 to 2001. He has received numerous awards, including election to the prestigious American Society for Clinical Investigation (“Young Turk”).

Dr. Whitcomb conducts basic and translational research with a focus on pancreatic diseases. His laboratory group discovered the gene causing hereditary pancreatitis and causes of other pancreatic disease. In addition, he leads several research projects on alcoholic pancreatitis and pancreatic physiology. He has published over 100 manuscripts and co-edited three books on pancreatic diseases. He served as a Counselor for the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA), the American Pancreas Association and the International Association of Pancreatology, and as Chairman of the Pancreatic Disorders Section of the AGA and President of the American Pancreatic Association. He is an Associate Editor for Pancreas, Pancreatology, Digestive Diseases and Sciences and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He serves as a peer reviewer for a number of scientific journals, and serves as a grant reviewer for the NIH, VA, DOD and other organizations. He co-founded the Collaborative Alliance for Pancreatic Education and Research (CAPER)  and serves on national and international committees for the major gastroenterology and pancreatic societies including the National Pancreas Foundation