Garth R. Swanson, MD, MS, AGAF

Garth R. Swanson, MD, MS, AGAF, is a Professor of Medicine and currently serves as the Division Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is a practicing gastroenterologist and physician-scientist with a specialty in managing complex patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Dr. Swanson's overall translational research program is primarily focused on the impact of environmental factors, like alcohol or circadian misalignment, on the gastrointestinal barrier homeostasis, gut-derived inflammation, and the microbiome. He completed a K23 grant in which the focus was the interaction between alcohol consumption and circadian disruption on intestinal barrier function in alcoholics and night shift workers. Dr. Swanson currently has two R01s examining the impact of circadian misalignment and chronotherapy in Inflammatory bowel disease.

Dr. Swanson is an active mentor to residents, fellows, masters, and Ph.D. students who rotate in his lab. Dr. Swanson was instrumental in establishing the Rush Crohn's and Colitis Center at RUMC in 2018, which includes the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Multidisciplinary (IBD) Clinic, which he used to Co-Direct with Surgery and multidisciplinary (combined medical and surgical) inpatient consults in IBD service. The establishment of this multidisciplinary clinic in Inflammatory Bowel Disease has helped advance state-of-the-art and cutting-edge treatments in a coordinated care center for patients facing a complex medical and surgical disease. He completed a Master's in Clinical Research at Rush University, was formally the Director of the Rush Crohn's & Colitis Center, the Director of the Clinical Chronobiology Unit and the Associate Director of the Rush Center for Integrated Microbiome and Chronobiology Research at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL.