Alpini appointed university distinguished professor

Gianfranco D. Alpini, Ph.D., professor of medicine and medical physiology at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, has been appointed as a university distinguished professor. The title, which is bestowed in perpetuity, is among the highest honors awarded to Texas A&M University faculty members.

Alpini joined the faculty of the Texas A&M College of Medicine in 1994. He also serves as co-director of the Digestive Disease Research Center at Scott & White Healthcare and a research scientist with the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of the Studies of Rome, “La Sapienza.” He completed postdoctoral training at three highly prestigious liver units: Mount Sinai Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York City and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is a Research Scientist and the holder of the Endowed Nicholas C. Hightower Centennial Chair in Gastroenterology. Over his career, he has made novel contributions to the science of cholangiocytes (epithelial cells that line the bile duct), the biliary system, melatonin synthesis, clock gene regulation, and the understanding of the role of secretin, a hormone that regulates secretions of the stomach and pancreas and other functions. His work has led to the development of therapies for specific cholangiocyte/biliary disorders including a biliary and liver cancer, liver regeneration, primary sclerosing cholangitis and primary biliary cirrhosis. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters as well as more than 300 abstracts. He is a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association and serves as an editor or on the editorial board of a number of prestigious scientific journals. His research team was recognized with a prestigious Research and Development Award for Veterans Administration Scientists by the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States and he received a Doctorate of Research in Experimental Clinical Hepatology Honoris Causa from the University of Rome.

Visit TAMUtimes for the full story on the seven newly appointed distinguished faculty.