Chris Liacouras MD

Chris A. Liacouras is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Attending Gastroenterologist in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and Co-Director of the Center for Pediatric Eosinophilic Disorders and the Exton Specialty Center for The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Liacouras received his bachelor's degree at The Johns Hopkins University in 1981 and his medical degree from Harvard University in 1985. He subsequently completed his internship and residency in pediatrics along with his fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He then became an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 1991, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2000 and became a full Professor in 2006.

Dr. Liacouras assumed a leadership position as the Director of the Gastroenterology and Nutrition Diagnostic Endoscopy Suite and made significant clinical and operational improvements pediatric endoscopy. He authored a number of papers on the style and delivery of invasive gastrointestinal sedation and treatment. Dr. Liacouras was a pioneer in community satellite development, starting satellites in Chester County, Exton and Lehigh Valley. He was named Medical Director of the CHOP Exton Subspecialty Center in 1996. In response to the substantial clinical needs of patients requiring enteral access, Dr. Liacouras established the Pediatric Enteral Access Center (PEAC) in 1998. This multispecialty resource has substantially improved the quality of care given to patients with special nutritional needs. Each year, he sees more than 2000 outpatients and performs over 400 endoscopic procedures.

In 2000, he was named the medical director of the CHOP Clinical Trials Organization (which conducts and oversees a large number of industry and NIH based clinical trials). He served as the Chairman of NASPGHAN's Endoscopy and Procedures Committee and the Chair of the Pediatric Section of the ASGE from 2005-2008. Dr. Liacouras helped to develop a Center for Pediatric Eosinophilic Disorders at CHOP for which he has been the Co-Director since 2004. He was a National Councilor for NASPGHAN. He currently participates as a member of TIGERS (The International Gastrointestinal Eosinophilic Researchers).

Academically, Dr. Liacouras has authored over 100 peer reviewed papers and more than 150 chapters. He has published several textbooks entitled Clinical Pediatric Gastroenterology, The Requisites: Pediatric Gastroenterology. and Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Since 1996, he established both a national and international reputation for his work in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and its therapy. Prior to 1996, this was completely uncharted ground. Since that time Dr. Liacouras has performed innovative and clinically important research in this area. He is one of the world experts on this disease. He has written a chapter on EoE in almost every major Pediatric Gastrointestinal textbook published. In addition, he has given numerous National and International lectures on the topic. He has also served as a consultant for various formula companies and many pharmaceutical companies which hope to expand research for eosinophilic GI diseases. He has produced several documentaries and newspaper articles for the national media including 2 television interviews on the subject of EoE. Finally, he has consulted for various pharmaceutical companies and the and has served on a variety of medical advisory boards for EGID's. He was a lead author for Guidelines on Eosinophilic Esophagitis that were published in 2007 and were updated in 2011.He was also a lead author for the AGREE manuscript published in 2017.