Robert J. Rothbaum, MD

Robert J. Rothbaum, M.D., is professor of pediatrics and clinical director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. Young patients near and far benefit from his expertise in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease and his holistic approach to the social, psychological and financial aspects of each patient’s situation.

Rothbaum earned his bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1972 and his medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1976. He then completed his pediatric training at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Following a pediatric gastroenterology fellowship at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, he joined Washington University’s faculty in 1982 and rose to the rank of professor in 1999.

As a result of Rothbaum’s efforts as division clinical director, patient waiting times in his subspecialty are among the nation’s lowest. Among his many other contributions is the Children’s Direct Line — which typically gives community doctors direct access to pediatric-subspecialist attending physicians in less than five minutes. Most notably, he is coursemaster for the Practice of Medicine at the School of Medicine.

The elected president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Rothbaum created the interactive online Total Parenteral Nutrition (TNP) calculator, used in medical settings as distant as the Middle East, and wrote the hospital’s diet manual, which has been widely adopted elsewhere. He is founding medical director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Summer Camp, which annually attracts more than 60 children with inflammatory bowel diseases from throughout the Midwest. Nationally, he has been a major force behind collaborative efforts to study children with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

His numerous honors include the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s Physician of the Year Award, the School of Medicine’s prestigious Goldstein Leadership Award in Medical Student Education and Teacher of the Year Award, and the 2008 Founders Day Distinguished Faculty Award.