Thomas J. Layden, M.D.

Positions
Professor of Medicine, and Chair, Department of Medicine
Staff Physician, University of Illinois Hospital
Staff Physician, West Side VA Medical Center

Address
Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, 840 S. Wood Street (M/C 787), Chicago, IL 60612

Clinical Interests

I am interested in taking care of patients with various forms of liver disease, including those that occur as a result of viral infection, or are drug-induced, alcohol releated, etc.

The UIC Liver Program is supported by a pharmacist and specially trained nurse practiconers that help perform clincial trials of new agents used to treat pateints with chronic hepatitis B and C infection.

We are fortunate to have an expert Therapeutic Radiology Program at the UIC Medical Center that is active in the use of new minimally invasive techniques including transjugular liver biopsy,portal pressure measurements, and the non-surgical approach for creating a porto-systemic shunt by TIPS.

Basic Research

My basic research in the laboratory deals with how esophageal cells maintain cellular pH in the presence of an acid load (i.e., acid-reflux diseases). My laboratory has detected the pH membrane transporters that are responsible for cellular pH regulation. By using molecular biological techniques, our group has demonstrated the molecular forms of these transporters present in both rabbit and human esophageal cells. Our current research is focusing on how acidification of the esophageal mucosa leads to cell proliferation and the development of Barrett's esophagus.

I am also interested in studying the kinetics and characteristics of hepatitis C using advanced modelling techniques.

Education and Training

Medical School: Loyola University, Maywood, Illinois
Residency: Barnes Hospital of Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Fellowship: University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois