We are honored to welcome Matthew Odenwald, MD, PhD, as a Scientific Advisor to the GI Research Foundation. Dr. Odenwald joins Dr. David T. Rubin and Dr. Eugene B. Chang in helping guide our scientific vision and priorities and identifying opportunities where the organization can make the greatest impact in digestive diseases research.
Matt is an exceptional physician-scientist and represents precisely the kind of innovative, rigorous, and forward-looking investigator whom the GI Research Foundation has always sought to support and champion. —David T. Rubin, MD
Dr. Odenwald brings deep expertise as both a physician and scientist. After graduating summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis, he earned both his PhD and MD from the University of Chicago, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. He went on to complete the University of Chicago Physician Scientist Development Program, including an accelerated Internal Medicine residency and Gastroenterology fellowship, followed by a fellowship in Transplant Hepatology. During his training, he also served as Chief GI Fellow.
Today, Dr. Odenwald is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of Chicago Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and a transplant hepatologist caring for patients across the spectrum of liver disease.
His research reflects the kind of innovative, translational science the GI Research Foundation is committed to advancing. Working at the intersection of liver disease, the gut microbiome, epithelial biology, and regenerative medicine, Dr. Odenwald is investigating how changes in the intestinal microbiome and its metabolites influence chronic liver disease and its complications—and how those discoveries can ultimately lead to new approaches to treatment.
The GI Research Foundation recognized the promise of Dr. Odenwald’s research early, providing $70,000 in support from 2024–2026 for his work characterizing novel bile acids in patients with liver disease. We are especially proud to welcome a researcher whose work GIRF has helped advance back to the organization in this important leadership role.
Beyond his scientific accomplishments, Matt shares the values that have defined the GI Research Foundation and the University of Chicago Medicine for generations: intellectual curiosity, scientific rigor, collaboration, mentorship, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of our patients. I know that he will bring tremendous energy and insight to GIRF as we think together about the most promising areas of digestive disease research and how our organization can have the greatest impact. —David T. Rubin, MD
Dr. Odenwald succeeds Dr. Michael Charlton in this advisory role and will bring an important liver-focused perspective while helping the GI Research Foundation continue to support bold ideas across the full spectrum of digestive diseases.