My longstanding clinical interest is the evaluation and management of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and esophageal motility disorders. Multidisciplinary clinical care is provided in the Heartburn and Dyspepsia Program of the AeroDigestive Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The Heartburn and Dyspepsia Program has been established to provide patients with a variety of diagnostic and treatment approaches for GERD (esophageal/extraesophageal) and its complications; peptic ulcer disease and esophageal motility disorders. Diagnostic tests performed include esophageal manometry, ambulatory pH monitoring and Multichannel Intraluminal Impedance (MII) combined with pH monitoring (MII-pH). Additional diagnostic and interventional procedures are performed in the state-of-the-art endoscopy suite. In addition to medical management, the multidisciplinary approach includes evaluation for endoscopic antireflux therapy with plication and evaluation for minimally invasive surgery for GERD (Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication) and achalasia (Laparoscopic Heller myotomy) as warranted. 

An active educational research initiative is a collaborative project aimed at developing an interactive virtual esophagus that demonstrates automatic behavior reflective of underlying normal and diseased physiological functions and models motility and clinical management strategies. Use of the virtual esophagus may provide a novel and optimal teaching opportunity to allow a trainee to query the esophagus, diagnose esophageal diseases, perform treatments and observe the results of treatments, thus enhancing trainee understanding of esophageal diseases and allowing for rehearsal of medical decision-making prior to patient care. My clinical research interests include the evaluation of the utility of diagnostic tests in GERD management and in predicting treatment outcomes.