Affectionately called “DocStars,” The Cary Council’s Early-Stage Research Grant recipients are leading medical progress forward. Since its founding in 2015, The Cary Council has awarded 24 Early-Stage Research Grants worth $1.2 million. To date, that initial investment has garnered more than $30 million in follow-on funding. Luis Sifuentes-Dominguez, M.D., received the Early-Stage Research Grant from The Cary Council in 2018 for his project defining the role of the neuroendocrine system in intestinal inflammation and inflammatory bowel disease.
2025 Update from Luis Sifuentes-Dominguez, M.D.
Luis Sifuentes-Dominguez, M.D., is an Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children’s HealthSM who studies chronic inflammatory conditions of the digestive tract, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively referred to as inflammatory bowel disease or IBD. In 2020, The Cary Council awarded Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez an Early-Stage Research Grant to support the investigation into the underlying genetics related to IBD development. His program focuses on studying children who are diagnosed with IBD at a young age and families with multiple affected members. Since being named a DocStar, Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez has published research in the journals eLife, Science and Nature and received follow-on funding totaling $1.4 million from the National Institutes of Health and private foundations. As he says, “it’s really thanks to [The Cary Council’s] award that my work has been able to mature and flourish.”
Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez’s work has burgeoned in many ways since receiving funding from The Cary Council, including through the development of novel mouse models to study intestinal function. One of these models focuses on metabolism and body weight, examining how specific cells in the colon interact with bacteria and influence hunger cues. In 2024, Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez and his lab published a paper in the journal Nature Metabolism summarizing the findings of that research. Additionally, his team is studying treatment options for babies and young children with a severe, often fatal form of diarrhea. Currently, the standard treatment for these children is intravenous nutrition; however, Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez and his team are working to develop a personalized, therapeutic treatment strategy to help these patients achieve full recoveries.
Despite his many successes, Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez notes the challenges of conducting scientific research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, navigating the in-person demands of research using mouse models was particularly difficult. Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez highlights how resilience and support within his team and the larger UT Southwestern community helped the lab persevere. As he states, “It was through team power that we really got through it.” Dr. Sifuentes-Dominguez intends to continue recruiting talented individuals to his lab to conduct further research on metabolism, the genetic determinants of IBD, and early-onset IBD. His hope is that “perhaps all of this will help translate into novel therapies for a number of conditions that affect large amounts of the population.” As he notes, his work couldn’t be possible without financial support: “[Science] does not exist without philanthropy, and I’m very happy, humbled, and grateful for the support of The Cary Council.”
Meet All of the DocStars
Learn more about all of the researchers who have been awarded The Cary Council’s Early-Stage Research Grant.
