Rate My Professor Eric Esrailian

Eric Esrailian, MD, MPH, is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He holds the position of Chief of the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, Director of the Melvin and Bren Simon Digestive Diseases Center, and the Lincy Foundation Chair in Clinical Gastroenterology. Dr. Esrailian earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in integrative biology with a minor in English. He received his MD from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 2000, completed an internal medicine residency at USC University Hospital from 2001 to 2003—where he was named intern, junior resident, and senior resident of the year—and finished his gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA in 2006. He also obtained an MPH from UCLA School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in 2005 and completed the Executive Program in Management at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Board certified in internal medicine since 2003 and gastroenterology since 2006, he served on the Medical Board of California from 2010 to 2011 after appointment by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Dr. Esrailian's research and academic interests include disease areas in gastroenterology and internal medicine, biomedical innovations, value in health care, medical education, patient-centered care initiatives, and connections between health and human rights. His key publications encompass 'Noninvasive Colorectal Cancer Screening Tests Help Close Screening Gaps During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic' (Gastroenterology, 2021), 'Trends in Esophageal Cancer Mortality and Stage at Diagnosis by Race and Ethnicity in the United States' (Cancer Causes & Control, 2021), 'Patient Experience and Satisfaction with an e-Health Care Management Application for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases' (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021), 'Low-Value Proton Pump Inhibitor Prescriptions Among Older Adults at a Large Academic Health System' (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2019), and 'Development and Validation of an Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Monitoring Index for Use With Mobile Health Technologies' (Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2016). He has received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2025, the Benemerenti Medal from Pope Francis in 2021, designation as a UCLA Optimist in 2017, the Lincy Foundation Chair in 2012, and Super Doctors Southern California recognition from 2015 to 2026. Dr. Esrailian co-founded and served as founding president of the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, launched the UCLA Leaders of Tomorrow series in 2020, and participates in UCLA strategic planning and community engagement efforts, including membership on the UCLA COVID-19 Health Equity Research and Advisory Committee.