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Rima Fawaz, MD

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology & Hepatology)
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Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology & Hepatology)

Biography

Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, Dr. Rima Fawaz received her undergraduate and medical degree at the American University of Beirut. She then completed her pediatric residency at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, Gastroenterology fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center and her Pediatric Transplant Hepatology fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Once she completed her training, Dr. Fawaz moved to Boston to work in the Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Mass General Hospital for Children for 3 years before transitioning to Boston Children’s Hospital for 11 years to devote more time to the care of transplant patients. At Boston Children’s Hospital, she was appointed as the Medical Director of Intestinal and Multivisceral Transplant Program, spending much of her time treating complex patients with end stage liver disease and intestinal failure referred both nationally and internationally. Dr. Fawaz enjoys teaching and was part of the core faculty to staff fellow clinics. She was also an invited core faculty of the GI pathophysiology course at Harvard Medical Course for 10 weeks. Her enthusiasm and dedication to teaching has been recognized twice when she was awarded the Gastroenterology Attending of the Year award by the GI fellows at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Fawaz was recruited to Yale School of Medicine and appointed as the Medical Director of Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplantation in September 2019. At Yale, Dr. Fawaz is the site investigator for an INH sponsored study about treatment of immune medicated acute liver failure in children and is a co-investigator for the Wilson’s disease registry. She is also the site investigator for multiple studies involving pediatric liver transplant and cholestasis in children.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

MD
American University of Beirut (1996)

Research

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Rima Fawaz's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

2022

2021

2019

2011

2010

Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Clinical Care

Overview

Rima Fawaz, MD, is the medical director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program and says the best part of her job is giving patients a new lease on life.

“It’s a happy field,” Dr. Fawaz says of transplant hepatology. “It’s truly the gift of life. In pediatric liver transplant, 60 to 70% of the causes are either inherited or something you are born with. Only a small fraction is something acquired, like from an infection. When we transplant, the outcomes are excellent with survival at 80% for patients 20 to 30 years later, which is astounding.”

Thanks to advances in anti-rejection medications, children who receive liver transplants today are able to live normal, healthy lives, Dr. Fawaz says. “Whereas it used to be about keeping them alive, now we are focused on long-term outcomes and finding the perfect balance of giving them just enough medication to prevent rejection, but also not harming any other organs from the medications,” she says.

In children, the main reason for liver transplant is biliary atresia, a congenital condition in which the bile ducts inside or outside of the liver do not develop properly. “This accounts for 40 to 50% of all liver transplants in pediatrics. The child cannot grow and life is so unhappy,” Dr. Fawaz says. “Then you transplant them, and you turn back time. Life returns. The kids typically do so well that we see them once or twice a year. It’s amazing.”

Dr. Fawaz is involved in several research efforts, including a study on acute liver failure funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Clinical Specialties

Pediatric Gastroenterology & Hepatology; Transplant Hepatology

Fact Sheets

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Board Certifications

  • Pediatric Transplant Hepatology

    Certification Organization
    AB of Pediatrics
    Original Certification Date
    2006

  • Pediatric Gastroenterology

    Certification Organization
    AB of Pediatrics
    Original Certification Date
    2003

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Locations

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Events

Dec 202413Friday
  • Everyone
    Joseph Lim, MD - Michael H Nathanson, MD, PhD - Matthew McConnell, MD - Anahita Rabiee, MD, MHS - Vandana Khungar, MD, MSc - Mengfei Liu - Lamia Y. K. Haque, MD, MPH - Michael Schilsky, MD - Jonathan Dranoff, MD - Basile Njei, MD, MPH, PhD - Kristine Drozd, MSN, NP-C - Guadalupe Garcia-Tsao, MD, FRCP - David N. Assis, MD - Marina Silveira, MD - Bubu Banini, MD, PhD - James Lorenzen Boyer, MD, FACEP, FAASLD - Tamar Taddei, MD - Simona Jakab, MD - Uyen To, MD - Mario Strazzabosco, MD, PhD - Rima Fawaz, MD

    Yale Liver Update

    The Anlyan Center
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