Rate My Professor Christopher Gayer

Christopher Gayer, MD, PhD, FACS, FAAP, serves as Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. At Children's Hospital Los Angeles, he is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery, Co-Director and Surgical Director of the Colorectal and Pelvic Anomalies Program, and surgical liaison for the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program. He also directs the Pediatric Surgery Fellowship Program. Dr. Gayer earned his MD and PhD in anatomy and cell biology from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in general surgery at Wayne State University, followed by a pediatric surgery fellowship at Children's Hospital of Michigan. He joined CHLA in 2012. Board-certified in general and pediatric surgery by the American Board of Surgery, he holds memberships in the American College of Surgeons, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Pediatric Surgical Association, and other organizations including the Association for Academic Surgery and Society of University Surgeons.

Dr. Gayer's clinical interests include neonatal surgery, necrotizing enterocolitis, intestinal dysmotility, inflammatory bowel disease, and colorectal disorders. His research, funded by the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, focuses on signaling pathways in inflammatory intestinal disorders, particularly the nuclear farnesoid X receptor (FXR), a bile acid receptor that regulates intestinal epithelial barrier function and innate immunity. His laboratory at The Saban Research Institute utilizes animal models of acute injury, necrotizing enterocolitis, and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as enteroid and macrophage cultures, to study FXR's role in barrier dysfunction and inflammation. Key publications include "FXR deletion attenuates intestinal barrier dysfunction in murine acute intestinal inflammation" (American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 2024); "Utility of colonic manometry in children with Hirschsprung disease" (Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 2024); "The Post-Operative Handoff: Perceptions and Preferences of Pediatric Hospitalists and Surgeons" (Hospital Pediatrics, 2024); "The Pathophysiology of Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) in the GI Tract: Inflammation, Barrier Function and Innate Immunity" (Cells, 2021); "Decreased secondary faecal bile acids in children with ulcerative colitis and Clostridioides difficile infection" (Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 2021); and "Differences in Serum Alkaline Phosphatase Levels in Infants with Spontaneous Intestinal Perforation versus Necrotizing Enterocolitis with Perforation" (Neonatology, 2020). Dr. Gayer mentors high school, college, medical students, and surgical fellows in research and education.