Dr. Dermot McGovern is a gastroenterologist and clinician scientist with an interest in the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). He completed his medical degree at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London and a gastroenterology fellowship and PhD at the University of Oxford. He moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where he is currently a Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Science, the Director of Translational Medicine at the F. Widjaja Inflammatory Bowel Disease Institute, and he also directs the Cedars-Sinai Precision Medicine Initiative. Dr. McGovern holds the Joshua and Lisa Greer Endowed Chair in IBD Genetics and was honored to be elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Association of American Physicians (AAP), the Royal College of Physicians, London, and was recently awarded The Sherman Prize.

Dr. McGovern’s clinical interests include the extra-intestinal complications of IBD and the overlap between IBD and other immune-mediated and metabolic diseases. His group has received funding from the NIH, The Helmsley Charitable Trust, the European Union, The Litwin Foundation, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. His group’s overall research aims are to identify molecular signatures associated with the clinical heterogeneity observed in IBD. To achieve this, the McGovern lab utilizes advanced analytic and AI capabilities to decipher data generated using cutting edge technologies including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics and now extending to single cell technologies. ‘The goal of his group is to influence clinical practice and improve the quality of life for people with IBD by identifying biomarkers and novel opportunities for therapeutic intervention. The group have contributed to significant advances in this area by identification of biomarkers associated with disease progression; immunogenicity to anti-TNFs; life-threatening toxicity to thiopurines; and VEO IBD genes among others. His group collaborated in the identification of a novel therapeutic target that is currently in phase 3 studies having demonstrated benefit for people with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease in phase 2 studies. Dr. McGovern has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers.