In 1978, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School and received the Leon Reznick Memorial Prize for outstanding research, followed by residency training in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
[10] As Chief Academic Officer, he led a $1 billion research enterprise as well as graduate medical education at both hospitals.
[11] In 2008, Podolsky became the third President of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,[12] where he is a professor of Internal Medicine and holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D.
His laboratory has identified and characterized the functional actions and molecular mechanisms of trefoil peptides, which are central to sustaining mucosal integrity and facilitating repair after injury has occurred.
In conjunction with studies defining basic mechanisms regulating epithelial function, Podolsky’s laboratory has provided insights into the role of these processes in intestinal inflammatory diseases.