Mercedes Martinez, MD

Dr. Erika Berman Rosenzweig, Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at Columbia University Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the CTEPH Program at CUMC, is considered an international expert in the field of pulmonary hypertension. She has tremendous clinical and research experience in the fields of adult and pediatric pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Rosenzweig is widely published and has devoted remarkable efforts toward clinical research on the study of novel treatments and genetic causes of pulmonary hypertension as well as novel approaches to mechanical support for patients with end-stage pulmonary hypertension. She has been an active member of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) and is currently on the Board of Trustees of the PHA, Immediate past Chair of the Scientific Leadership Council of the PHA, past Chair of the Review Committee for PHCC PH Center Accreditation Program, and past Editor-in Chief of the medical journal Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension. Dr. Rosenzweig was recently appointed to be on the Scientific Board of the World Symposium on PH Association.

I am a pediatric gastroenterologist who strives to provide comprehensive care for children in the context of their families. I specialize in conditions that affect the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)—both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. As Director of the Pediatric IBD Center at Columbia and former director of Pediatric GI Inpatient Services at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, I collaborate with a team of experts who regularly tackle the most unique and complex challenges in medicine. If your child is experiencing a routine condition, we will treat it as the most important condition your family has faced. We combine advanced techniques of diagnosis—in the lab and through state-of-the-art endoscopy and comprehensive imaging—with targeted treatment that includes both medication and advanced procedures. I am naturally an educator, of children and families and also of medical students, residents, and fellows. I lead the training of future healthcare professionals in both the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Institute of Human Nutrition. I also serve in local and national efforts to improve the care of gastrointestinal diseases. I am the vice chair of the Clinical Care and Quality Committee of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and former co-chair of the greater New York chapter Healthcare Professional Engagement Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. In these roles I have collaborated with colleagues across many institutions to make fundamental improvements in medicine across the country. Finally, I am committed to advancing pediatric medicine and facilitating innovation. My research focuses on improving the ways in which we deliver care, spanning specialized techniques of endoscopy to targeted treatments in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. I am the recipient of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Advanced Fellowship in Pediatric Endoscopy award.

I am privileged to have achieved my lifelong goal of becoming a pediatric gastroenterologist, more specifically a pediatric neurogastroenterologist. I have a special interest and expertise in disorders of the gut-brain interaction, including motility disorders, which involve the movement of food through the GI tract, and functional disorders, which involve interactions between the brain and GI tract that affect motility. These conditions can be debilitating and yet they remain challenging to treat effectively. My team and I evaluate and treat children and adolescents using advanced, state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic techniques with multidisciplinary approach. Some of the conditions we treat are dysphagia, achalasia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, chronic nausea, gastroparesis, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic abdominal pain, severe constipation, fecal incontinence, and anorectal disorders. We think of our patients and their problems holistically and take pride in developing personal connections with patients and their families. My goal is to deliver compassionate, respectful, evidence-based, and humanistic care to children with gastrointestinal diseases. I co-direct many multidisciplinary clinics, including the Gastrointestinal Motility Center, Esophageal Atresia Clinic, Aerodigestive Program, and Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Program, and I work closely with pediatric surgeons, pulmonologists, cardiologists, ear nose throat (ENT) specialists, psychologists, and language pathologists to provide the most comprehensive care to children with complex GI medical conditions. I also take great pride in educating medical students, residents, fellows, and other providers. I have mentored several GI fellows who have joined other institutions across the county and are currently working to establish multidisciplinary clinics and expand access to care for functional and motility disorders. In addition to my clinical and education roles, my team and I conduct multiple clinical research projects focusing on functional and motility disorders. I work on clinical trials which allow our patients to have access to therapeutics that are not otherwise offered to children. This work has led to numerous presentations at national meetings and publications in high impact gastroenterology journals—all with the mission of improving children’s health and advancing the science of gastrointestinal motility and functional gastrointestinal diseases.