Matthew D. Coates, MD, PhD

About Me

I am a gastroenterologist who cares for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other digestive disorders. I joined the faculty of Penn State College of Medicine in 2015 and currently serve as Director of Research for the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. In addition, I helped to develop and currently serve as Director of the Penn State Gastroenterology Data Registry and Biorepository, a resource that promotes collaboration and research on digestive diseases.

I earned my MD and PhD degrees at The Robert Larner College of Medicine at The University of Vermont, where I secured a Ruth L. Kirchstein NRSA Fellowship to study how the neurotransmitter serotonin impacts IBD and other digestive conditions. I also completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at UVM. I then underwent fellowship training in gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where I was selected as a NIH T32 fellow to investigate the underlying causes of abdominal pain in IBD. After serving for two years as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Pittsburgh VA Medical Center, I joined Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine.  

My long-term research interests focus on the impact that IBD and other inflammatory digestive disorders have on neural and endocrine signaling in the body. I also study how these factors affect key functions of the gastrointestinal tract, including pain perception. Among other active research projects, I was recently awarded a NIH (NIDDK) R01 grant to study the relationship between a particular sodium channel (NaV1.8) and abdominal pain perception in IBD and other related conditions.