D. Brent Polk, MD, is chair of the department of pediatrics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and chair of pediatrics and vice dean for Child Health at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is a member of the American Pediatric Society, American Gastroenterological Association and North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition. He serves as chair of the AGA Institute Council and National Institutes of Diabetes Subcommittee.
Dr. Polk previously served as chief of the D. Brent Polk Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, director of the Digestive Disease Research Center and a tenured professor of pediatrics and cell and developmental biology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Dr. Polk is actively involved in research and the lab he runs is currently studying the regulation of the growth and development of the intestine as it relates to injury, inflammation, regeneration and associated cancer. He has served as an ad hoc journal reviewer for a number of journals, including the American Journal of Pathology, Cancer Research, European Journal of Immunology and Gastroenterology.
Dr. Polk earned his medical degree at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and completed his residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital. He completed his fellowship at Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine.