Dr. Targan is a proponent of integrated science leading to personalized medicine. He is considered the originator of the concept of disease heterogeneity in IBD and the identification and use of biomarkers to stratify phenotypically distinct subpopulations for diagnosis, prognosis, and targeted therapeutic selection in IBD.

Targan is credited with the discovery that TNF-a is elevated in Crohn’s disease mucosa. This finding was subsequently translated to clinical studies of therapeutic TNF-a suppression reported in a landmark clinical trial reported in the New England Journal of Medicine and mark the advent of the age of biologic therapy for IBD.

In 1978, he began his career at UCLA School of Medicine. In 1992, he moved his laboratories and practice to establish the IBD Center at Cedars-Sinai, which has grown from eight to more than 130 members today.

Dr. Targan has cared for thousands of IBD patients from California and around the world. He has trained four generations of medical students, interns, residents and fellows. It has been said that every patient with IBD and every physician treating patients with IBD has been impacted or influenced by Dr. Targan’s work.

Dr. Targan has achieved singular success in receipt of continuous extramural funding for his research and is among the top 5% of all NIH funded investigators. With well over 300 peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Targan has published in nearly every influential scientific journal, including The New England Journal, Science and Nature.

In 2009 Dr. Targan received the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s Scientific Achievement award, and was named a Cedars-Sinai Pioneer in Medicine in 2014. In 2017, Dr. Targan was awarded the Sherman Prize for Excellence in Crohn’s and Colitis for his exceptional and pioneering achievements.