UCLA School of Medicine 1976
Dr. Melvin B. Heyman, chief of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, specializes in treating children with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and nutrition-related problems. He earned a medical degree at UCLA and completed a pediatric residency at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center. He also completed postdoctoral training in nutrition, earned a master's degree in public health, and completed a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at UCLA. In 1981, he joined UCSF, where he organized the pediatric nutrition support service and established protocols for pediatric gastroenterology.
A UCSF professor of pediatrics, Dr. Heyman is chair of the executive committee of the Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition section of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He also serves on many local and national committees, including the American Academy of Pediatrics' Task Force on Prevention of Obesity in School Health (POSH), and the National Board of the National PTA. Dr. Heyman has an active role in teaching at all levels. He is the principal investigator for the NIH Training Grant that funds the Training Program in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at UCSF.
Dr. Heyman's research has been oriented towards clinical problems in pediatric patients with nutrition and/or gastroenterologic issues. He was one of the first investigators to reveal the importance of nutrition support in sickle cell anemia, helped to develop procedures in the diagnosis of hepatobiliary problems in infants, and has been actively pursuing novel treatments for children with inflammatory bowel disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
His research has been funded by the NIH, by foundation grants, and by pharmaceutical and formula industry support. His recent research has been evolving into investigation of obesity in infancy and in school age children. With other members of COAST, he is looking at the effects of acculturation in the Latino and the Chinese populations in San Francisco. He is also very actively involved in developing strategies to improve nutrition and physical activities in public schools.