Thomas Wallach , MD

Dr. Thomas Wallach is a pediatric gastroenterologist and translational researcher focused on intestinal epithelial barrier homeostasis and regulation. He is currently Chief of Pediatric GI, Fellowship Director of Pediatric GI, and heads a research lab at SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

Dr. Wallach is a graduate of Pomona College and the Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed his pediatrics residency at Columbia University, and his fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at the University of California San Francisco. Clinically, Dr. Wallach focuses on gastrointestinal pain disorders, known as diseases of gut-brain interaction. He also has interests in early childhood nutrition and inflammatory diseases. He has a particular interest in addressing the absence of under-represented and minoritized groups in medicine in general, and research particularly.

Dr. Wallach's research has centered around use of novel translational technologies to address underserved populations and conditions, including substantial use of RNA sequencing approaches, both bulk and single cell. Dr. Wallach led the team which identified the first reported case of persistent intestinal epithelial SARS-CoV2 infection, as well as the group which has been assembling data characterizing associated symptoms as well as clinical/histopathological associations. His work also incorporates other large data projects, including LLM/ML work aimed at developing novel screening tools, and population and epidemiologic work aimed at utilizing novel computational resources, especially for exposing and alleviating health disparities.

Education

• Undergraduate: Pomona College
• Medical School: Medical College of Wisconsin
• Internship: Columbia University
• Residency: Columbia University
• Fellowship: University of California San Francisco 

Research Interests

• Environmental enteropathy, health disparities, intersection of environment and health, research education

• Kummerlowe C, Mwakamui S, Hughes TK, Mulugeta N, Mudenda V, Besa E, Zyambo K, Fleming I, Vukovic M, Doran B, Bramante JT, Uchida AM, Garber JJ, Ordovas-Montanes J, Gartner Z, Shalek AK, Kelly P, Wallach T. “Single-cell profiling of environmental enteropathy reveals signatures of epithelial remodeling and immune activation in severe disease.” Science and Translational Medicine, 2022
• Zhu KJ, Suttner B, Knee J, Capone D, Moe CL, Stauber CE, Konstantinidis KT, Wallach TE, Pickering AJ, Brown J. “Elevated fecal mitochondrial DNA from symptomatic norovirus infections suggests potential health relevance of human mitochondrial DNA in fecal source tracking” Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 2022
• Arostegui D, Castro K, Schwarz S, Vaidy K, Rabinowitz S, Wallach T. “Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein Presence in the Intestinal Epithelium of a Pediatric Patient 3 Months After Acute Infection”. JPGN Reports, 2022

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