David Alpers, M.D.

 

David Alpers is the William B. Kountz Professor of Medicine in Geriatrics, Co-Director of the Center for Human Nutrition, and Pilot and Feasibility Program Director for the CNRU at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis.  He also serves as co-director of the Nutrition Support Service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis.  Dr. Alpers received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School, and his house staff training in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA.  After two years as a research associate at the National Institutes of Health he completed a fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and was a junior faculty member at Harvard Medical School for 5 years.  He was the chief of the GI Division at Washington University Scbool of Medicine from 1969-1996.   Since 1998 he has served as the co-director of the Center for Human Nutrition, and director of the pilot & feasibility studies of the Washington University CNRU. In addition, since 1998 he has served part time as a senior consultant to R&D (gastrointestinal, pain, and anti-inflammatory drug development) for GlaxoSmithKline.

 

Dr. Alpers served the American Gastroenterological Association as chair of the Research Committee, director of the Undergraduate Teaching Project, and as President (1990-91). In 1997 he was awarded the Friedenwald medal by the AGA for a lifetime of contributions to the field of gastroenterology. He has served as editor for the Am J Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiol (1991-1997), and for the Small Intestine and Nutrition sections of Current Opinion in Gastroenterology (1996-present). He was associate editor of the J Clinical Investigation and of Annual Reviews of Nutrition, and is currently associate editor of the Textbook ofGastroenterology (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, T. Yamada, editor in chief), now in its 4th edition. He is senior author of the Manual of Nutritional Therapeutics (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 4th edition). He served on the editorial board of the J Biological Chemistry from 1998-2003.

 

Dr. Alpers' research activities include the biology of the vitamin B12 binding proteins and of intestinal alkaline phosphatase in fat absorption. His clinical research has focused on psychiatric aspects of functional bowel disorders.