James P. Franciosi, MD

Message of Hope for Kids with EoE

Since 2008, I have had the privilege to care for children and teens with Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Eosinophilic GI Diseases (EGID).  Our mission is to find ways to reduce the symptoms of EoE and EGID and to speed advances and innovations for the patients who need them.  

My background includes extensive training in general pediatrics and pediatric gastroenterology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and Nemours Children's Hospital, Florida. 

I serve as the chief for the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Nemours Children's Hospital, Florida in Orlando. Our team has written more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, presented our research at national and international meetings, and received multiple externally funded grants. We also developed the first validated outcome metrics for EoE, called the PedsQLEoE module, and the Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) Symptom Score (PEESS v2.0). 

We dedicate ourselves to bringing advances to the field of pediatric EoE. Specifically, our center has launched a successful transnasal esophagoscopy program (TNE), and we use the EndoflipTM device. Our forward-thinking approach and pioneering spirit fuel our advancement in EoE research and drive and inspire us to understand the disease in the whole patient experience, not just in their EoE journey.

We are conducting a novel Food Additive Removal Diet for EoE. Working together with research scientist Dr. Ed Mougey in the area of PPI pharmacogenomics and clinical outcomes. Building on our prior work with Proton Pump Inhibitor medications, we discovered novel CYP2C19 and STAT6 genetic variants that may, in part, explain the inter-individual variability in response to PPI medications. Our longer-term goal is to identify additional genetic predictors of PPI therapy response at EoE diagnosis before patients begin treatment so that treatment adjustments can be made to maximize the probability of response to PPI therapy.