Biography

Maria T. Abreu, M.D., completed her medical degree at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, where she served as Student Council President and was inducted into the Iron Arrow Honor Society. Her postdoctoral training included an internship and residency in medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts; clinical and research fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and training in molecular and cancer biology at UCLA. She was an Associate Professor of Medicine with Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYC, prior to returning to the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine as Chief of Gastroenterology and Professor of Medicine. Dr. Abreu is a Diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examiners, the American Board of Internal Medicine, and the American Board of Gastroenterology and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She served as Chair of the Underrepresented Minorities Committee of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and is now Chair of the Immunology, Microbiology & Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IMIBD) Section of the AGA Institute Council. She is a member of the AGA Public Affairs and Advisory Committee, 2014 AGA Institute Council Chair, the American College of Gastroenterology’s Women’s Committee, and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). She is the 2014 President for the Board of the Florida Chapter of the CCFA and in 2009 was recognized for her education, support, and advocacy for this organization. Dr. Abreu was selected Co-Director of the AGA’s 2011 Spring Postgraduate course and she is also the 2014 President of the Florida Gastroenterology Society. Dr. Abreu was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2010 and she is listed in Castle Connolly as one of America’s Top Doctors. Dr. Abreu has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters and reviews. Additionally, she serves as an editorial board member for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Gastroenterology & Hepatology News; editor for the Journal of Immunology; Associate Editor of Journal of Crohn’s & Colitis and reviewer for several journals. She was a standing member of the National Institutes of Health Gastrointestinal Mucosal Pathobiology Study Section (GMPB) and is a member of the CCFA Research Initiatives Committee. Her research interest includes host-bacterial interactions and the role of toll-like receptor signaling in intestinal inflammation and colon cancer. Her translational work has focused on genotype-phenotype relationships in inflammatory bowel disease and prediction of response to medical therapies. Dr. Abreu is a frequent speaker at national and international symposia on basic science and clinical topics.

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