James Lewis, MD, MSCE, is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Senior Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, LDI Senior Fellow, Vice-Chief for esearch (Clinical) in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Chief of Gastroenterology at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Lewis has been actively involved in clinical research related to inflammatory bowel diseases for more than 20 years. His reserach includes epidemiology studies focusing on optimal choice of therapies and treatment patterns and investigator-initiated multicenter clinical trials of medications and behavioral interventions, particulalry related to dietary patterns. His work has been funded by the NIH, AHRQ, CDC, PCORI, and numerous foundations and corporate sponsors. Dr. Lewis is the lead scientist for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation’s IBD Plexus Research Program. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. In 2016, he received the Sherman Prize for Excellence in Crohn’s and Colitis.