Steven Brant, MD

Steven Brant is a professor at the Department of Medicine and the Division Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Since 1996, Dr. Steven Brant’s research has been primarily focused on the genetics of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

He was a key participant in identifying NOD2 as the first gene for Crohn’s disease, and the second and third highest-risk genes, IL23R and ATG16L1. He also identified the master transcription factor gene NFKB1 as a risk gene for ulcerative colitis. Dr. Brant performed the first population genetic studies of Crohn’s disease risk genes.

He was also the first to show that IBD in African Americans has a genetic basis, the first to demonstrate genetic polymorphisms associated with IBD in African Americans, and co-led recent IBD admixture linkage and genome-wide association studies to identify novel IBD risk loci and genes in the African American population. He also led studies that identified health disparities in the management and treatment of IBD in African Americans. Since 2002,

Dr. Brant has been the principal investigator of one of the six Genetics Research Centers of the NIH-NIDDK IBD Genetics Consortium (IBDGC), a consortium that has been a leader in the identification and characterization of IBD risk genes. Dr. Brant, in collaboration with investigators at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, has developed highly innovative studies to critically evaluate the hypothesis that specific viral and bacterial infections can “trigger” CD in genetically susceptible individuals and is also identifying causes for the markedly high incidence of IBD in children with the genetic disorder, chronic granulomatous disease.