Meet The Team
Endoscopy Directors
David P. Nunes, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Interim Chief of Gastroenterology
Director of Hepatology
Dr. Nunes' main research interest is the study of the role of mucins and trefoil proteins in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstone disease. Trefoil proteins are a class of low molecular weight proteins which are thought to play an important role in mucosal protection and restitution following mucosal injury. They are co-secreted with mucins, and important interactions with mucins result in increased viscosity and hence a mucosal protective effect. The increase in mucin viscosity may be important in the pathogenesis of gallstones by impairing gallbladder emptying. Furthermore, specific trefoil protein lipid interactions may also facilitate cholesterol nucleation as the sequences of these proteins have similarities to those described in the non-glycosylated and lipid binding domains of both human and bovine mucin. Current research efforts by Dr. Nunes are focused on the bacterial (and possibly yeast) expression of these proteins in an effort to further characterize the important interactions between trefoil proteins and mucins and their potential role in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstone disease. Such interactions are also being studied in a variety of other mucosal diseases, e.g. inflammatory bowel disease, peptic ulcer disease, etc. Therefore, analysis of these proteins should give important insights into a wide variety of diseases. Dr. Nunes has designed a number of clinical studies investigating the treatment of hepatitis C with alpha interferon, including the role of interferon as an anti-fibrotic agent using both novel and established serum and urinary markers of fibrogenesis as well as combination interferon/ribavirin therapy. Dr. Nunes maintains a broad interest in gastroenterology but has developed a particular interest in hepatology and currently has separate gastroenterology and hepatology clinics.
David R. Lichtenstein, M.D.
FACG Director of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
Associate Professor of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Dr. Lichtenstein received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, where he later became a chief resident in internal medicine. He was a research fellow and clinical fellow in gastroenterology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Lichtenstein returned to Duke University Medical Center as an interventional endoscopy fellow. Soon after he became an attending gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Dr Lichtenstein is currently the director of endoscopy at Boston Medical Center, and is a staff physician in the section of Gastroenterology at both Boston VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts and Quincy Medical Center in Quincy, Massachusetts. He directs a state-of-the-art Endoscopy Center with dedicated facilities for performing ERCP, endoscopic ultrasonography, laser therapy, argon plasma coagulation, enteroscopy, nutrition conduits, photodynamic therapy, manometry and breath testing. He participates in all aspects of the GI clinical teaching program, pancreaticobiliary service, colorectal cancer screening program, and The Center for Digestive Disorders. He supervises Gastroenterology Fellowship training in advanced endoscopic procedures and is responsible for evaluating and implementing new endoscopic technologies. His main research activities focus on the development and application of endoscopic approaches for diagnosing and managing gastrointestinal hemorrhage, pancreaticobiliary tract disorders, and gastrointestinal malignancies.
At Boston Medical Center, Dr Lichtenstein is coordinator of the endoscopy quality improvement committee, a member of the X-ray safety committee, the technology assessment committee, and committee for the Center for Digestive Disorders. He lectures on various topics in the field of Gastroenterology at national and international meetings. He also published more than 100 original reports, book chapters, and invited reviews in such journals as the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Gut, Journal of American Medical Association, and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Lichtenstein was elected secretary-treasurer, board member, and then president of the New England Endoscopy Society. He has served on the Research Committee for the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and was recently nominated to serve on the Standards of Practice Committee and the ERCP Section of the Annual Scientific Program Committee for Digestive Disease Week of the ASGE. Dr. Lichtenstein is also a member of the American Gastroenterological Association and serves as a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology. He was elected by his peers to be included in the listings in the "Best Doctors of America" and the Boston Magazine issue "Best Doctors of Boston".
Medical School: University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia, PA (1985)
Residency: Duke University Medical Center
Fellowship: Gastroenterology, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston
Expertise/Interests: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Endoscopy, Pancreatic and Biliary Tract Disorders
Christopher Huang, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Medical Director, The Endoscopy Center of Brookline
Dr. Huang joined the faculty of the Section of Gastroenterology in 2004. After earning his medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Dr. Huang completed his internal medicine residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, and then did his gastroenterology fellowship at the Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Huang's clinical interests include the gastrointestinal management of bariatric surgery patients, therapeutic biliary endoscopy, enteral stenting, endoscopic ultrasound, and colorectal cancer prevention. He is also pursuing an interest in Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery. His research interests include the role of hyperplastic polyps in colorectal cancer development, and he is currently conducting a study on the risk factors for hyperplastic polyps with malignant potential. Dr. Huang has served on the Patient Care Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology and the Postgraduate Education Committee of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He currently serves as GI rotation director for the medical residency ambulatory block.
Physicians
Uri Avissar, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine
Wanda Blanton, MD Instructor of medicine
Charles Bliss, Jr., MD FACP, Assistant Professor of Medicine
Christopher Huang, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine, Medical Director
David Lichtenstein, MD Associate Professor of Medicine FACG Director of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy at BMC
Caroline Loesser, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine
Hannah Miller, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine
Ansu Mammen Noronha, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine
David P. Nunes, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Interim Chief of Gastroenterology Director of Hepatology
Marcos C. Pedrosa, MD Associate Professor of Medicine
Paul Schroy, III,MD,MPH Professor of Medicine Director of Clinical Research for the Section of Gastroenterology
Sharmeel Wasan, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine