Mike Fallon, M.D.

Professor of Medicine

Phone: 205-975-5676

E-mail: mfallon@uab.edu

Dr. Fallon received his B.S. from Vanderbilt University and his M.D. from the University of Virginia.  His residency in internal medicine was completed at Yale, where he also was Chief Resident in Medicine and completed his Fellowship in Digestive Diseases.  He remained at Yale as an Assistant Professor of Medicine until relocating to UAB in 1995, rising to the rank of Professor of Medicine in 2005.  Dr. Fallon is the Director of the Section of Hepatology at UAB and the Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Birmingham VA Medical Center.  He has received numerous awards for academic distinction and teaching, including Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, Alpha Omega Alpha, Physician Scientist Award and many Outstanding Teacher Awards.

Dr. Fallon's research interests focus on understanding the pathogenesis of vascular alterations in chronic liver disease.  A major investigative effort in his laboratory is directed to characterizing endothelial cell dysfunction in the pulmonary vasculature in cirrhosis, changes that result in vasodilatation and the hepatopulmonary syndrome.  His clinical research interests include the diagnosis and therapy of the hepatopulmonary syndrome and the prevention and treatment of complications of chronic liver disease.  In recent studies, he is investigating the role of intestinal macrophages in the loss of mucosal integrity and paracellular function that accompanies cirrhosis and results in bacterial translocation .

Selected Publications

1.  Fallon, M.B., Mennone, A. and Anderson, J.M.  Altered expression and immunolocalization of the tight junction protein ZO-1 after common bile duct ligation.  Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiol. 33):C1439-47, 1993.

2.  Fallon, M.B., Nathanson, M.H., Mennone, A., Saez, J. and Anderson, J.M.  Altered expression and function of hepatocyte gap junctions following common bile duct ligation.  Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiol. 37):C1186-94, 1995.

3.  Fallon, M.B., Gorelick, F.S., Anderson, J.M., Mennone, A., Saluja, A. and Steer, M.  Effect of cerulein hyperstimulation on the paracellular barrier of rat exocrine pancreas.  Gastroenterology. 108:1863-72, 1995.

4. Fallon, M.B., Abrams, G.A., Hou, Z. and Luo, B.  Common bile duct ligation in the rate: A model of intrapulmonary vascodilatation and the hepatopulmonary syndrome.  Am. J. Physiol. 272 (Gastrointest.. Liver Physiol. 35): G779-84, 1997.

5.  Fallon, M.B., Abrams, G.A., Lou, B. Hou, Z., Dai, J. and Ku, D.D.  The role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in the pathogenesis of a rat model of hepatopulmonary syndrome.  Gastroenterology. 113:606-14, 1997.

6.  Luo, B., Abrams, G.A. and Fallon, M.B.  Endothelin-1 in the rate bile duct ligation model of hepatopulmonary syndrome: correlation with pulmonary dysfunction.  J. Hepatol. 29:571-8, 1998.

7.  Zhang, M., Luo, B., Chen, S. and Fallon, M.B.  Endothelin-1 stimulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase. A pathogenetic mechanism in experimental hepatopulmonary syndrome.  Am. J. Physiol. 277 (Gastrointest. Liver Physiol.) G944-53, 1999.

8.  Zhang, J., Ling, Y., Luo, B., Tang, L., Stockard, C.R., Grizzle, W.E. and Fallon, M.B.  Analysis of heme oxygenase-1 and nitric oxide synthase alterations in experimental hepatopulmonary syndrome.  Gastroenterology 125:1441-51, 2003.

9.  Luo, B., Tang, L., Wang, Z., Zhang, J., Ling, Y., Feng, W., Sun, J.Z., Stockard, C.R., Frost, A.R., Chen, Y.F., Grizzle, W.E. and Fallon, M.B.  Cholangiocyte endothelin 1 and transforming growth factor beta1 production in rat experimental hepatopulmonary syndrome.  Gastroenterology. 129:682-95, 2005.

10.Tang, L., Luo, B., Patel, R.P., Ling, Y., Zhang, J. and Fallon, M.B.  Modulation of pulmonary endothelial endothelin B receptor expression and signaling: implications for experimental hepatopulmonary syndrome.  Am. J. Physiol. 292:L1467-72, 2007.