Hanauer honored with named professorship

Stephen Hanauer, Professor in the Gastroenterology Section in Medicine, has been named the first Gastrointestinal Research Foundation Professor in Medicine in Honor of Dr. Joseph Kirsner, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor in Medicine, effective Sept. 15. The position will be renamed the Joseph B. Kirsner Professor in Medicine, should Kirsner, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, retire.

A specialist in the causes and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, Hanauer, 47, is one of the nation’s leading academic gastroenterologists.

He is currently chairman of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s gastrointestinal drug advisory committee, chairman of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s Clinical Alliance, vice chairman of the International Organization for IBD, and a member of the research committees of the American Gastroenterological Association and the American College of Gastroenterology. He serves on the editorial boards of several leading medical and specialty journals, including the American Journal of Medicine and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

A native of Chicago, Hanauer earned his B.S. with honors from the University of Michigan and his M.D. with honors from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He came to the University of Chicago in 1977 to begin his internship in internal medicine. He completed his residency in 1980, a GI fellowship in 1982 and then joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in Medicine, rising to Professor in 1993.

Since 1983, Hanauer has served as director of the Logan Center for GI Research, and since 1993, as co-director of the IBD Research Center. This year, he became director of the newly created Inflammation Center, which brings together scientists from many disciplines to study the role of inflammation in many disease settings.

The author of seven books, more than 30 monographs, more than 50 book chapters, a dozen audiotapes and 90 original articles, Hanauer has directed several nationwide clinical trials of new IBD medications and is routinely selected as one of the best doctors in his specialty in the country.