Dr. Brand is a Professor of Medicine and a physician-scientist with an extensive background in pancreatic diseases mainly focused on the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and cystic lesions of the pancreas. He also has research interests involving familial pancreatic cancer and other hereditary GI disorders. He is leader of the University of Pittsburgh’s Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Gene-Environment Registry (PAGER). The biospecimen repository developed as part of the PAGER study is nationally recognized and serves as an excellent resource for multiple NIH/NCI funded projects along with national and international collaborations with outside researchers. He is a key contributor to the Early Detection Research Network, especially in research related to pancreatic cancer and cystic neoplasms and is currently funded in the network as a principal investigator to lead both a multi-center Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Validation Center and Biomarker Developmental Laboratory.
Dr. Brand's clinical practice focuses on the management of pancreatic cancer, cystic lesions of the pancreas and patients with other gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. As director of the Hereditary GI Tumor Program, Dr. Brand specializes in the management of individuals at high risk for the development of colon cancer, pancreatic cancer and other GI malignancies. Dr. Brand works closely with Genetic counselors who have an expertise in the evaluation individuals with a GI cancer predisposition based on personal and family history.
- BS, University of Michigan, 1983
- MD, University of Michigan, 1987
- Residency, Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, 1990
- Fellowship, Gastroenterology, University of California San Francisco, 1993
Education & Training
Lynch, H.T., Brand, R.E., Lynch, J.F., Fusaro, R.M., Kern, S.E. Hereditary factors in pancreatic cancer. Journal of hepato-biliary-pancreatic surgery. 2002; 9(1): 12-31.
Lynch, H.T, Deters, C.A, Lynch, J.F, Brand, R.E. Familial pancreatic carcinoma in Jews. Familial Cancer. 2004; 3(3-4): 233-40.
Lynch, H.T., Deters, C.A., Synder, C.L., Lynch, J.F., Villeneuve, P., Silberstein, J., Martin, H., Narod, S.A., Brand, R.E. BRCA1 and pancreatic cancer: pedigree findings and their causal relationships. Cancer genetics and cytogenetics. 2005; 158(2): 119-25.
Brand, R.E., Lynch, H.T. Genotype/phenotype of familial pancreatic cancer. Endocrinology and metabolism clinics of North America. 2006; 35(2): 405-15.
Uttam, S., Bista, R.K., Staton, K., Alexandrove, S., Choi, S., Bakkenist, C.J., Hartman, D.J., Brand, R.E., Liu, Y. Investigation of depth-resolved nanoscale structural changes in regulated cell proliferation and chromatin decondensation. Biomedical optics express. 2013; 4(4): 596-613.
Brand, H., Diergaarde, B., O'Connell M.R., Whitcomb, D.C., Brand, R.E. Variation in the y-glutamyltransferase 1 gene and risk of chronic pancreatitis. Pancreas. 2013; 42(5): 836-40.
Stan, S.D., Singh, S.V., Whitcomb, D.C., Brand, R.E. Phenethyl isothiocyanate inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in a MIAPaca2 xenograft animal model. Nutrition and cancer. 2014; 66(4): 747-55.
Hartman, D.J., Krasinskas, A.M., Uttam, S., Staton, K., Bista, R., Rizvi, S., Slivka, A., Brand, R., Liu, Y. Assessment of nuclear nanomorphology marker to improve the detection of malignancy from bile duct biopsy specimens. American journal of clinical pathology. 2014; 141(6): 884-91.
Brand, R.E. Decade in review-pancreatic diseases: advances in understanding and care of pancreatic diseases. Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology. 2014; 11(11): 650-2.
Wilcox, C.M., Yadav, D., Ye, T., Gardner T.B., Gelrud, A., Sandhu, B.S., Lewis, M.D., Al-Kaade S., Cote, G.A., Forsmark, C.E., Guda, N.M., Conwell, D.L., Banks, P.A., Muniraj, T., Romagnuolo, J., Brand, R.E., Slivka, A., Sherman, S., Wisniewski, S.R., Whitcomb, D.C. Chronic pancreatitis pain pattern and severity are independent of abdominal imaging findings. Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology: the official clinical practice journal. 2015; 13(3): 552-60.
- Named to “Best Doctors” for specialty in Gastroenterology, Best Doctors, Inc., 2010-2022
- Recipient of the First Annual Moore Memorial Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research, National Hirschberg Foundation, 2011
- Named to “Pittsburgh Magazine Top Doctors”, Pittsburgh Magazine, 2012-2022
- Excellence in Healthcare Honoree, National Pancreas Foundation, 2019
