Maria L Escolar, MD - Center Development/Learning

While working in a German Neuroscience/Anatomy setting overseas, I was introduced to human medicine. I chose to pursue the hands on approach to relieve human suffering. My approach to care is straightforward: Encourage and empower patients to make necessary changes to improve their own quality of life. My goal is to help patients negotiate an increasing complex healthcare world. I am a firm believer that the world would be a better place with a song, home-cooked food, well-written poetry and a good run. My heat beats faster around performing music, using voice, guitar and piano skills. I enjoy spending time staying physically active in sports with my two growing sons.

My current research emphasizes mechanisms by which resident bacterial subsets stimulate protective vs inflammatory mucosal immune responses. I use established and novel gnotobiotic murine models to identify protective vs aggressive resident bacterial subsets and to determine their mechanisms of action. We explore functional consequences of microbial communities in selectively colonized gnotobiotic mice and following fecal transplants using murine or human donors. Major initiatives explore therapeutic potential of existing and novel bacterial consortia in preclinical models, including humanized mice colonized by pooled IBD fecal transplants. The effect of diet on bacterial metabolic function/bacterial interaction are recent areas of interest. Parallel translational studies in IBD patients explore microbial biomarkers that identify risk of recurrence after Crohn’s disease surgery and onset of pouchitis after colectomy for ulcerative colitis. Mentoring and, career development are very meaningful activities for me. Fellowship training one-on-one in my laboratory and by directing a Basic Science T32 program and mentoring junior faculty are priorities.