Michael A. Pezzone, MD, PhD
Michael A. Pezzone, MD, PhD
Dr. Michael Pezzone is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition, and Pharmacology & Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is also Chief of Gastroenterology at UPMC Mercy.
Dr. Pezzone’s clinical practice encompasses all aspects of gastroenterology including functional bowel and motility disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases, liver diseases, pancreaticobiliary disorders, and the neurobiology of pain relating to these disorders.
Dr. Pezzone attended Cornell University as an undergraduate where he majored in both Chemistry and Biochemistry. While at Cornell, he successfully completed an honors thesis studying structure-activity relationships in glycosidase inhibitors looking at the mechanisms of carbohydrate metabolism. Dr. Pezzone continued his education through studies of an autoimmune basis of schizophrenia and developed an interest in immune function and auto-immune disorders as a Mellon Fellow in Psychiatry at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and as a member of the Division of Immunopathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
After his first 2 years of medical school, Dr. Pezzone spent 3 years in the laboratory of Bruce Rabin, MD, PhD, obtaining his PhD from the Department of Pathology studying the neural and endocrine effects of stress upon the immune system. After completion of medical school, Dr. Pezzone completed both a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UPMC. He then began to apply his interests in brain-immune interactions and stress to the gastrointestinal and lower urinary tracts. Dr. Pezzone has received funding from the National Institute of Health in the form of a Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award and an R01. He also participates in several clinical trials and investigator-initiated pharmaceutical trials.
Dr. Pezzone’s current research interests include:
- Novel methods to modulate pain including neuromodulation
- Novel methods to control inflammation in the colon and bladder
- Modulation of mast cells and their role in visceral pain
- Macrophage phenotype modulation in tissue regeneration and down regulation of inflammation
- Role of ECM (extracellular matrix) in the management of ulcerative colitis
- The role of glial cells and the peripheral nervous system in the development of malignancy in chronic inflammatory states
- Chronic pelvic pain and the overlap of chronic pelvic pain disorders
- Development of pain biomarkers