Prof. David T. Rubin MD
About David Rubin
Prof. David T. Rubin is the Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pathology at the University of Chicago Medicine, where he also serves as Chief of the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center. He has held a faculty position at the University of Chicago Medical Center since July 2001. In addition to his primary appointments, he is an associate faculty member at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, an associate investigator at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a member of the University of Chicago Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics. He is current Chair of the International Organization for the Study of IBD and immediate past Chair of the National Scientific Advisory Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. His clinical practice spans inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer prevention, intestinal ultrasound for IBD, and medical ethics, with clinic locations at Chicago River East, Northbrook, and Hinsdale.
Prof. Rubin’s research is focused on disease modification in inflammatory bowel disease, encompassing clinical trial design, novel measures of inflammation, prevention of adverse outcomes, and quality of life in IBD. His therapeutic areas of depth include ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, colorectal cancer prevention, and high-risk cancer syndromes. His methodological contributions span the development and validation of novel endpoints and biomarker approaches for IBD trials, including intestinal ultrasound as a trial endpoint, histologic and endoscopic composite endpoints, and fecal calprotectin as a surrogate measure of mucosal healing. He has been a named contributor to international consensus documents on the use of intestinal ultrasound in IBD trials and on MRI for luminal Crohn’s disease trials and clinical practice.
His translational work bridges clinical research methodology and regulatory endpoint development. He is an author on the 2019 and 2025 ACG Practice Guidelines for ulcerative colitis, and his published work addresses treat-to-target strategies in IBD, comparative effectiveness of advanced therapies, and the impact of novel biologics and small molecules including vedolizumab, ustekinumab, guselkumab, tofacitinib, and upadacitinib. His laboratory research encompasses colorectal cancer and the molecular biology of IBD-associated neoplasia.
Prof. Rubin’s research is focused on disease modification in inflammatory bowel disease, encompassing clinical trial design, novel measures of inflammation, prevention of adverse outcomes, and quality of life in IBD. His therapeutic areas of depth include ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, colorectal cancer prevention, and high-risk cancer syndromes. His methodological contributions span the development and validation of novel endpoints and biomarker approaches for IBD trials, including intestinal ultrasound as a trial endpoint, histologic and endoscopic composite endpoints, and fecal calprotectin as a surrogate measure of mucosal healing. He has been a named contributor to international consensus documents on the use of intestinal ultrasound in IBD trials and on MRI for luminal Crohn’s disease trials and clinical practice.
His translational work bridges clinical research methodology and regulatory endpoint development. He is an author on the 2019 and 2025 ACG Practice Guidelines for ulcerative colitis, and his published work addresses treat-to-target strategies in IBD, comparative effectiveness of advanced therapies, and the impact of novel biologics and small molecules including vedolizumab, ustekinumab, guselkumab, tofacitinib, and upadacitinib. His laboratory research encompasses colorectal cancer and the molecular biology of IBD-associated neoplasia.
Prof. Rubin has extensive experience as a clinical trial investigator and steering committee member in IBD. Active trials at his institution include a prospective multicenter trial to determine the efficacy and outcome of the UCRI biomarker panel and algorithm to detect mucosal healing in moderate to severe ulcerative colitis patients, a study assessing the efficacy and safety of afimkibart (RO7790121) for induction and maintenance therapy in moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis, a treat-to-target endoscopic remission study in patients with IBD in symptomatic remission, a study of vedolizumab with tofacitinib in adults with ulcerative colitis, a study of vedolizumab with adalimumab or ustekinumab in adults with Crohn’s disease, and a treatment study for moderate to severe refractory Crohn’s disease.
His operational trial authorship includes named contributor roles on the GALAXI-2 and GALAXI-3 Phase III trials of guselkumab for Crohn’s disease (Lancet 2025, PMID: 40684778), the ATTRACT study on comparative effectiveness of tofacitinib vs upadacitinib for acute severe ulcerative colitis (Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2026, PMID: 40721074), and multiple real-world and registry studies of advanced IBD therapies. He has also contributed to FDA and EMA guidance comparison work on drug development in ulcerative colitis.
Prof. Rubin is an author on more than 600 articles on the management of IBD, with 1,645 publications listed on ResearchGate and 34,782 citations. He has twice received the ACG’s Governor’s Award of Excellence in Clinical Research (2003 and 2013), received the Sherman Prize for Excellence in Crohn’s and Colitis in 2020, the UChicago Michael Reese Lectureship Award in 2023, and the UChicago Arthur H. Rubenstein Mentorship in Academic Medicine Award in 2023. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the ACG Online Education Universe and is senior editor of Sleisenger and Fordtran’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease (12th edition) and an editor of Curbside Consultation in IBD (3rd edition). He is current Chair of the International Organization for the Study of IBD and immediate past Chair of the National Scientific Advisory Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. He is board certified in gastroenterology and is a member of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the American College of Physicians, and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.
Prof. Rubin completed his undergraduate training at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, graduating with a B.S. in Honors Biology in 1990. He earned his MD with honors at The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1994, where he also completed his residency in internal medicine in 1997 and his fellowship in gastroenterology in 2001, as well as a fellowship in clinical medical ethics at the same institution. He has held his faculty position at the University of Chicago Medical Center since July 2001 and has remained at the same institution throughout his entire postgraduate training and academic career, progressing to his current named chair professorship.