Dr. Benjamin D. Gold is a popular clinician with a loyal following of patients. Dr. Gold is one of those rare “quadruple threats” who can do it all: research, teach, provide excellent clinical care to his patients, and manage healthcare programs involving research or clinical-care delivery.
Dr. Gold received his medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC. He completed an internship and a residency in Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, where he also completed his research fellowship at the Research Institute as a Medical Research Council of Canada Research Fellow.
He went into private practice in 2009, joining GI Care for Kids after more than 17 years in academic medicine. Prior to joining CCDHC, Dr. Gold had an outstanding traditional academic career at Emory University where he had been an endowed Chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology, a tenured Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology and the Director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.
Dr. Gold is a national leader in the pursuit of critical questions regarding the epidemiology and pathobiology of acid-related diseases in children, in particular, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and other esophageal disease (i.e. Eosinophilic Esophagitis, EoE). He has been a key organizer and participant in all of the national and trans-Atlantic, clinical practice guidelines for treatment of pediatric H. pylori infection. He was former Medical Director of the Helicobacter pylori Laboratory at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, facilitated setting up anti-microbial resistance testing of H. pylori infections at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and has been involved in NIH-funded studies of the impact, transmission, and epidemiology of H. pylori in children living in the U.S., as well as in other countries, and the impact of this gastric pathogen in underserved populations in the world (Bolivia, Guatemala, and Tanzania).
In addition, 2005, he established the Aerodigestive Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and has been the Director of Quality for this multidisciplinary center that now follows almost 300 fragile, medically-complex children with Aerodigestive disease. He is the co-Director of GI Care for Kids site for the Improve Care Now Quality Improvement Collaborative which follows almost 1,100 children with IBD, and, is co-investigator on multiple national pediatric inflammatory bowel disease consortia as well as the evaluation of dietary approaches (i.e. specific carbohydrate diet; SCD) in the management of pediatric IBD. He was a member of the FDA panel establishing GRAS status for Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium probiotics, and he has been actively involved in characterizing the gut microflora and its relationship to diet and the development and management of IBD, as well as GI allergy and eosinophilic esophagitis, EoE. Dr. Gold has diligently served the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) in numerous capacities including being committee chair, being elected to counsel, and was formerly the NASPGHAN President-elect.
Dr. Gold has published over 170 peer-reviewed manuscripts, over 45 book chapters, and over 70 manuals, videos, webinars, teaching aids and other CME, CEU related enduring materials. Dr Gold is a sought-after lecturer on upper GI disease in children, as well as, is an international thought leader on pediatric esophageal disease (gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD; eosinophilic esophagitis, EoE), Helicobacter pylori infection, as well as gut-microbial interactions leading to intestinal inflammation, allergy and immune-mediated disease, including pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis).
Dr. Gold has been married to his beautiful wife, Wanda, for over 35 years and has two accomplished, talented children. His son, Christopher, is a brilliant and gifted young man, experienced in mixed martial arts, a graduate of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, is married with a 5 month old child, and currently a software developer in Atlanta. His daughter, Bryana, is a beautiful, outgoing, multilingual, accomplished soccer player with national and international professional experience who received her degree in journalism from George Washington University, a graduate degree from the University of London, and is living abroad pursuing careers in journalism and sports management.