Our Faculty
Division Chief
Steve Schwarz, MD
Dr. Steve Schwarz is a distinguished clinician with decades of experience. Dr. Schwarz is a highly decorated provider, having previously been awarded the American Academy of Pediatrics Charles Murray award recognizing an outstanding clinician, educator, and scientist who has made significant contributions to the field of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. Dr. Schwarz is generally not taking new patients, but is available for consultation upon request. .
Training: Dr. Schwarz attended Yale University, followed by completing his medical education and Pediatric Residency at Columbia University. He completed gastroenterology fellowships at Stanford University and Columbia University.
Expertise: Dr. Schwarz has practiced, researched, and led the field of pediatric gastroenterology for decades. He has broad expertise in nutrition, inflammatory disease, and allergic disease.
Thomas Wallach, MD
Dr. Thomas Wallach is a physician scientist and pediatric gastroenterologist currently taking new patients. Video introduction and informational videos are available here.
Training: Dr. Wallach attended Pomona College, and completed his medical education at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He then completed a pediatric residency at Columbia University right here in New York, followed by an extended research fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he engaged in research focused on the regulation of the intestinal epithelial barrier, as well as advanced training in pain medicine.
Expertise: Dr. Wallach is an expert on diseases of the intestinal epithelial barrier, with a specific focus on diseases of gut-brain interaction like irritable bowel syndrome, or other non-inflammatory causes of abdominal pain. Having trained at UCSF, a preeminent research site in inflammatory bowel disease and liver transplant center, he also has notable expertise in IBD, celiac disease, and liver diseases.
Special Services: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, IB-Stim trans-auricular therapy for abdominal pain, pain management
Simon Rabinowitz, MD, PhD
Simon S Rabinowitz, PhD MD has been the Vice Chairman of Pediatrics at Downstate for ten years while he continues to see new patients with gastrointestinal, hepatic, pancreatic, or nutritional complaints. He is currently taking new patients.
Training: Dr. Rabinowitz grew up in Brooklyn, and after graduating from Stuyvesant High School and Vassar College, he earned his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He completed his education in the PhD to MD program in Miami in 1983. He returned to NYC where he did his Pediatrics and his Pediatric Gastroenterology training at Mt Sinai.
Career: Dr. Rabinowitz served as the founding director of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Downstate in 1987. After leading the Downstate division for 12 years, he was recruited to LICH as the Vice Chair of Pediatrics and then became the Chairman of Pediatrics and Program Director for the Pediatric residency at St Vincent, Staten Island from 2003-2011. Throughout these years he maintained an active practice, attracting challenging children with digestive and nutritional diseases to share with his trainees. He has written about failure to thrive. malnutrition, gastroesophageal reflux, gastritis, Hepatitis C, intestinal polyps, and eosinophilic esophagitis.
Recognition: Dr. Rabinowitz’s expertise has been recognized by New York Magazine, Castle Connolly, Who’s Who in Medicine, and others for the quality of his work. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Gastroenterological Association and has consistently taught young doctors an empathetic approach to their patients. He specializes in children with complicated problems who are in need of a diagnosis, or of a second opinion to improve their growth or quality of life.
Special Services: Endoscopic Ultrasound, ongoing studies in eosinophilic esophagitis.