John Abramson, M.D.
Dr. Abramson has resided in the Philadelphia area for practically all his life and graduated from Lower Merion High School in 1961. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Temple University, College of Liberal Arts, in 1965, and then attended Villanova University Graduate School, from 1965 through 1967. He graduated from Temple University School of Medicine in 1971, and then spent three years as a resident in internal medicine at Abington Memorial Hospital. He went on to a fellowship in gastroenterology at Lankenau Hospital, completing his training in 1976. He is board certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology, and he is an active member of the American Gastrointestinal Association, and is a Fellow in the American College of Gastroenterology. Dr. Abramson is also Chief, Section of Nutrition, Lankenau Hospital, since 1985. He also has participated in numerous publications on a variety of gastrointestinal disorders.  Dr. Abramson joined the staff of Lankenau Hospital in July of 1976.

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Emmie J. Amerine, MSN, CRNP
Emmie Amerine is a Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner. Nurse Practitioners are registered nurses with advanced academic and clinical experience who diagnose and treat acute and chronic illness. Nurse Practitioners perform advanced or specialized functions in collaboration with physicians.

Ms. Amerine received a nursing degree from Temple University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Administration from Eastern College. She completed the Master of Nursing and Adult Nurse Practitioner program at Gwynedd Mercy College. She is nationally certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as an Adult Nurse Practitioner, and the Certification Board for Urologic Nurses and Associates as a Urology Nurse Practitioner.

Ms. Amerine has been an author and contributing editor for several nursing journals and medical publications. She has been a guest speaker at national nursing conferences, as well as at local community and support groups.

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Matthew R. Astroff M.D.
Dr. Astroff attended the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1972-1976. He graduated from Emory University School of Medicine summa cum laude as the number one ranked student in his medical school class in 1980. Dr. Astroff then went on to a Residency in Internal Medicine and a Fellowship in Gastroenterology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a Board-Certified Gastroenterologist. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1976, and to Alpha Omega Alpha as a third-year medical student. He has worked as an emergency room physician. Dr. Astroff joined the staff of Paoli Memorial Hospital in July, 1986. He has served on many boards at Paoli Hospital and Main Line Health. Dr. Astroff is the Medical Director of Main Line Endoscopy Centers.

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Stuart S. Barish M.D., F.A.C.G.
Dr. Barish received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan with distinction in 1985. He graduated from Hahnemann University Medical School in Philadelphia in 1989 and completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Hahnemann University Hospital in 1992. Dr. Barish completed a three year Fellowship in Gastroenterology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit in 1995.

Upon completion of his Fellowship he moved back to the area and he was Managing Partner of Gastroenterology Associates of Delaware County for ten years. He is a Board Certified Gastroenterologist. He is a Fellow of The American College of Gastroenterology (F.A.C.G.), and a member of The American College of Physicians, American Gastroenterology Association, and American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Dr. Barish is an Active Member of the Medical Staffs of Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media and Crozer – Chester Medical Staff in Upland since 1996. Dr. Barish was listed as a “Top Doctor” in Gastroenterology by Main Line Today 2009.

Dr. Barish lives in Delaware County and is married with two children. He is an avid runner including Marathons.

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Vikram Barpujari, M.D.
Dr. Barpujari was born in India.  He is a graduate of Madras Medical College, India.  Following his graduation, Dr. Barpujari completed his initial training in the United Kingdom before coming to the United States. 

Dr. Barpujari did his residency in Internal Medicine and his fellowship in Gastroenterology at Lankenau Hospital.  After completion of his fellowship, he worked briefly at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown before moving to Riddle Memorial Hospital.  He has been working at Riddle Memorial Hospital since 2001.
He is board certified in Gastroenterology.  He is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Gastroenterology Association, and the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

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Norman M. Callahan, III, D.O.
Dr. Callahan is originally from York, Pennsylvania, and attended Ursinus College, graduating in 1983 with a B.S. in biology. Upon graduating. he was commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and served on active duty from 1983 to 1986.

After receiving his degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1991, he served a rotating internship at Suburban General Hospital in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In 1995 he completed his internal medicine residency at the Lankenau Hospital, followed by a two year gastroenterology fellowship at the same institution.

Dr. Callahan is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterologic Association, and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

Dr. Callahan practiced in Lewes, Delaware prior to joining Main Line Gastroenterology Associates. He is married and has two sons.

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Bob Etemad, M.D.
Dr. Etemad was born in Philadelphia and raised in Villanova. He went on to attend Swarthmore College as a biology major with a concentration in education, followed by medical school at Temple University School of Medicine. He went on to complete his internal medicine and gastroenterology training at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.  After a year of advanced endoscopy training at the Medical University of South Carolina, he served  as Director of Endosonography at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for two years before going to Ochsner Clinic Foundation where he served as Chairman of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology as well as the Medical Director of Endoscopy for more than 6 years. Upon returning to Philadelphia, he served as full time faculty at Jefferson Medical College as Director of Interventional Endoscopy for approximately one year before coming to Main Line Gastroenterology.

Dr. Etemad has served on numerous national committees and has published in the area of interventional endoscopy.  His chief areas of expertise include diseases of the pancreas and bile ducts, endoscopic ultrasound, ERCP, and endoscopic procedures related to gastrointestinal malignancy and its prevention. He will continue research with Main Line Gastroenterology. He is married to Mandana Sharif Etemad, a dentist who trained at the University of Pennsylvania.  They have three children and live in Radnor.

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Steven J. Goldstein, M.D.
Dr. Goldstein is originally from the Charleston, South Carolina area.  He attended the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.  He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Medical College of Pennsylvania, now part of the Hahneman system.

Dr Goldstein was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where he practiced Internal Medicine.  He also practiced Emergency Medicine in the Philadelphia area.  He returned to the Medical College of Pennsylvania where he completed his fellowship in Gastroenterology in 1983. 

Dr. Goldstein has practiced gastroenterology in Chester County since 1983, previously at Brandywine Hospital where he was Chief of Gastroenterology.  He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.  He is a member of the American Gastroenterological Association, the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Dr. Goldstein resides in Chester County with his family.

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Mary Keirsey, MSN, CRNP
Mary Keirsey, MSN, CRNP is an Adult Nurse Practitioner certified by the (ANCC) American Nurses Credentialing Center. She received her RN degree from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelors Degree of Nursing from Immaculata University. She received a Master of Science Degree in Nursing from Villanova University. Mary worked as an ICU nurse prior to joining the practice. She has co-authored several articles for Nursing 2006.

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Jacques Khoury, M.D.
Dr. Khoury was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He graduated from LaSalle College with honors and went to St. Joseph's Jesuit Medical School in Beirut. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Lankenau Hospital and remained there for a fellowship in gastroenterology. After his fellowship, he spent four years at Presbyterian Hospital as an instructor in gastroenterology supervising the GI fellows. He began his private practice in gastroenterology in 1980 in Drexel Hill and has been a staff member of Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, where he has been actively involved in teaching the medical residents.

Dr. Khoury is board-certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Gastroenterology Association, the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the Bockus Society, and a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology. He has also participated in numerous publications on a variety of gastrointestinal disorders.

Dr. Khoury is fluent in several languages including English, French, Arabic, and Armenian. He is married and has three daughters.

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Rupal Kothari, D.O.
Dr. Kothari was raised and educated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Temple University where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in electrical engineering in 1992. She then received her medical degree and completed her residency in internal medicine at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2000. In 2003 she completed her three-year fellowship in gastroenterology at Lankenau Hospital, a Thomas Jefferson affiliate. Dr. Kothari had been active in research and had numerous publications on such topics as esophageal motility, nutrition and colonic permeability, hepatitis C and colitis.

Dr. Kothari is board certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology. She is an active member of American Gastroenterology Association, American College of Gastroenterology, and the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

Dr. Kothari joined the staff at Paoli Hospital in July 2003.

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Keith J. Laskin, M.D.
Dr. Laskin received his B.A in biology from Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude in 1979. He attended New York University School of Medicine, and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He came to Philadelphia in 1984 where he served his residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital. Dr. Laskin remained at Temple for a fellowship in gastroenterology where he concentrated on research involving Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. As a fellow, he earned the Sol Sherry Award for Clinical Research, and the coveted Komarov Prize awarded to one Philadelphia area research fellow annually for outstanding research. Dr. Laskin has published articles on inflammatory bowel disease and on the use of laser treatment for esophageal cancer.  Most recently, he has been involved in research on new treatment for celiac disease.

He is board-certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology and is presently an active member of the American College of Physicians, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the American College of Gastroenterology.

Dr. Laskin has served on various hospital committees since he joined the medical staff of Paoli Memorial Hospital in 1989.

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Oscar E. Laborda, M.D., F.A.C.G.
Dr. Laborda was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He attended the Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires).  He was an instructor at the El Salvador School of Medicine in Buenos Aires.
He completed an internship at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore and a two-year residency in Internal Medicine at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
He also completed a fellowship in Hepatology at the Boston Veterans Hospital, Boston University program in Boston, Massachusetts.
He then completed a Gastroenterology fellowship at Griffin Hospital, Yale University program in New Haven, Connecticut.

Lastly, Dr. Laborda completed a residency in Gastroenterology at Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  For multiple years he was a clinical instructor for the University of Pennsylvania at PUPMC.
He joined the Riddle Medical Staff in 1984.

Dr. Laborda is former President of the Medical Staff at Riddle Memorial Hospital, former Vice Chairman of the Medical Department and also interim Chairman.  He served as Chairman of Medical Education at Riddle for over twenty years, as well as serving on several other committees including the Riddle Physicians Association, the joint Riddle-Jefferson UH committee and also the joint Board of Directors-Administration-Medical Staff committee.  He also served on other committees, including but not limited to, the Pharmacy committee, the By-Laws committee where he served as Chairman, the Surgical committee, the Executive committee, the Quality Control committee and the Dietary committee where he also served as Chairman.
He is a member of the American and the Pennsylvania Medical Associations and served on the board of the Delaware County Medical Society.  He is an active fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology, an active member of the Bockus Gastroenterology Association, the American Gastroenterology Association, the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the Pennsylvania Gastroenterology Association and the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Laborda is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, both in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.
He has three daughters, and his hobby is dancing.

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Giancarlo Mercogliano, M.D.
Dr. Mercogliano was born in Italy and raised and educated in the Philadelphia area. He speaks Italian fluently. He graduated from LaSalle College in 1979 with honors. After graduating from Hahnemann University Medical School in 1983, he started his residency in internal medicine at Lankenau Hospital. Dr. Mercogliano remained at Lankenau Hospital for a fellowship in gastroenterology. Since completion of his fellowship in 1988, Dr. Mercogliano has been on staff at the Lankenau Hospital. Dr. Mercogliano is board certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology. He is an active member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Gastroenterology Association, American College of Gastroenterology, the Bockus Society and the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Dr. Mercogliano is actively involved in teaching and training internal medicine residents and gastroenterology fellows. He is the Director of the Gastroenterology Fellowship program at the Lankenau Hospital.

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Gary A. Newman, M.D.
Dr. Newman attended Tufts College in Medford Massachusetts, graduating in 1975, Summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and the recipient of the Biology and Chemistry prizes. He attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society. He did his internship and residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in 1983 went on to a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut.

Dr. Newman has been in practice at Lankenau Hospital since 1985 and is board certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology. He is a member of the American Medical Association and the American College of Gastroenterology and is a Clinical Associate in Gastroenterology at Jefferson Medical College. He was the Gastroenterology editor for the Internal Medicine Bulletin, published by W.B. Saunders, and is the author of the section on Gastroenterology in the textbook Medicine, published by Lippincott.

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Anil Sharma, M.D.
Dr. Sharma received his B.A. from Rutgers College in 1994.  In college, he graduated with honors, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1994, and was awarded the prestigious title of Henry Rutgers Scholar.  He then attended UMDNJ- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey.  In 1998 he came to Philadelphia to do his residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Gastroenterology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.  As a fellow he was awarded the coveted Komarov Prize, awarded to one fellow annually in the Philadelphia area for outstanding research.  Dr. Sharma has published articles on peptic ulcer disease.

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James J. Thornton III, M.D.
Dr. Thornton, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Washington and Jefferson College in 1960. He graduated from Temple University School of Medicine with honors in 1964, where he was also elected to membership in Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Fraternity. Following a year of internship at The Lankenau Hospital in 1965, he served two years in the United States Navy, including a one year tour in Vietnam with the Fifth Marine Regiment. Following military service, he returned to The Lankenau Hospital for a residency in internal medicine from 1967-1970, and a fellowship in gastroenterology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital from 1970-1972.

He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. He is an active member of the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology. Dr. Thornton has been an active member of the medical staff of The Lankenau Hospital since 1972, and Chief of Gastroenterology since 1987.

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Richard D. Tolin, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Tolin received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University and his M.D. from Tufts University Medical School.  He completed a residency in internal medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and pursued a fellowship in gastroenterology at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.  While at Temple, Dr. Tolin also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in nuclear medicine and was Assistant Professor of Medicine before joining the staff of Paoli Memorial Hospital in 1978. Dr. Tolin is board certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology and is a member of the American Gastroenterological Association.  He was elected Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1984.

Since coming to Paoli, Dr. Tolin has served as Chairman of the Health Education Committee, the Research and Education Committee, the Morbidity and Mortality Committee, the Nutrition Committee, and the Quality Assurance Committee.  He is currently a member of the Physician Advisory Group.  He was Secretary-Treasurer of the Department of Medicine from 1984-1990, and served as Chairman of the Department of Medicine from 1990 to 1998. He also has served as Campus Chief of the Department of Medicine at Paoli, and as Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology for Main Line Health.

Dr. Tolin has published extensively on gastrointestinal motility disorders and inflammatory bowel disease.

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Michael Wolfson, M.D.
Dr. Wolfson was born in Philadelphia and raised in the area. He attended the Pennsylvania State University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 1995. Dr. Wolfson was a member of the first combined medical school class of the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. After receiving his MD in 1999, he completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Temple University Hospital. Dr. Wolfson then went on to a 3-year clinical fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. During fellowship, he pursued research in esophageal function testing and motility.

Dr. Wolfson is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine. He is an active member of the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the American College of Gastroenterology, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He joined the Medical Staff of Paoli Hospital in 2005.

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Marc A. Zitin, M.D.
Dr. Zitin was born in the area, growing up in Penn Valley and Wynnewood. He graduated from Harriton High School and went on to attend Middlebury College in Vermont. Dr. Zitin graduated from Middlebury in 1981 cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in biology and minoring in modern European history, writing a thesis on the Weimar Republic in Germany. Subsequently, Dr. Zitin attended Hahnemann University Medical School and graduated in 1985. During his medical school years, Dr. Zitin worked with Dr. Joseph DiPalma, studying pharmacology in laboratory animals.

Dr. Zitin went on to complete his residency training at Lankenau Hospital in 1988. His fellowship in gastroenterology was also completed at Lankenau Hospital in 1990. Dr Zitin has been in private practice since July, 1990, specializing in gastroenterology and nutrition at both Lankenau Hospital. Dr. Zitin is Board Certified in internal medicine and Board Eligible in gastroenterology. He is a Chairman of the Mortality Committee at Lankenau Hospital. He belongs to a number of national societies. Dr. Zitin is married and has three children. His interests include tennis, golf and snow skiing.