Dr. Ali Keshavarzian is a Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, and Molecular Biophysics & Physiology at Rush University Medical Center. He is Director of the Division of Digestive Diseases, the Josephine M. Dyrenforth Chair of Gastroenterology, and the Vice Chairman of Medicine for Research Affairs at Rush. He graduated medical school in 1976 from Tehran University in Iran, and did his post-graduate training in London and Maryland. He was a faculty member at Loyola University from 1986 to 1999, before moving to Rush. He has published 220 peer-reviewed articles and has been funded by NIH since 1986, and he currently serves as principle investigator or Co-PI on several NIH-funded research grants. He is a clinician scientist with expertise in the management of patients with complex inflammatory bowel disease.

Dr. Keshavarzian's primary focus of research is better understanding the impact of environmental factors on intestinal barrier integrity and the role of disruption of intestinal barrier in pathogenesis of intestinal and systemic diseases. More specifically, he has been studying the effects of alcohol on the intestine to determine the mechanisms through which alcohol affects intestinal epithelial cells. He employs a translational research approach using in vitro cell models, in vivo animal models, and human studies to investigate the effects of alcohol on intestinal barrier function, bacteria composition and the mechanism of endotoxemia in alcoholics. His goal is to identify therapeutic targets to prevent and treat gut bacteria-triggered intestinal and systemic inflammatory pathologies.