Roopa Vemulapalli, M.D.

Roopa Vemulapalli, M.D.

Medical Director, Digestive Disease Clinic

  • Internal Medicine - Digestive and Liver Diseases
  • Celiac Disease
  • Gastroenterology

Biography

Roopa Vemulapalli, M.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of small bowel diseases and has special expertise in managing celiac disease, short bowel syndrome, hereditary gastrointestinal cancer syndromes, and related conditions.

Dr. Vemulapalli earned her medical degree at Kakatiya Medical College in India and completed a residency in internal medicine at Chicago’s Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital. She received advanced training through a clinical nutrition fellowship at the University of Chicago Hospital and a gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship at UT Southwestern.

Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in gastroenterology, she joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2010.

Dr. Vemulapalli serves as Medical Director of UT Southwestern’s Digestive Disease Clinic. She is also Co-Chair of the Access Working Group for the Ambulatory Operations Council and a member of the EMR Optimization Physician Group Committee.

Additionally, she is a member of the American College of Gastroenterology, the Texas Medical Association, and the Texas Society for Gastroenterology and Endoscopy.

Her research interests include small bowel imaging, double balloon enteroscopy, autoimmune gastritis, and colon cancer. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer for Nutrition and Dietetics, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Journal of Investigative Medicine, and ACG Case Reports.

Dr. Vemulapalli has been included in D Magazine's Best Doctors list every year since 2018, and she is one of Becker’s Healthcare’s 10 Gastroenterologists to Know for 2021.

Meet Dr. Vemulapalli

Gastroenterologist Specializing in Small Bowel Disease

From irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to chronic acid reflux to celiac disease, many people suffer from small bowel disorders to varying degrees. UT Southwestern Medical Center gastroenterologist Roopa Vemulapalli, M.D., specializes in evaluating and treating a wide variety of these problems.

Dr. Vemulapalli’s areas of expertise include IBS, gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and tumors, ulcers, constipation, celiac disease, short bowel syndrome, and hereditary GI cancer syndromes.

In addition to performing screening and diagnostic colonoscopies and upper endoscopies, Dr. Vemulapalli has special expertise in advanced endoscopic procedures such as capsule endoscopy and balloon- and spiral overtube-assisted deep enteroscopy.

Her comprehensive, individualized approach to care helps restore health and well-being to many of her patients.

“I’m able to help a significant number of our patients get relief from the abdominal ailments that have plagued them for many years,” Dr. Vemulapalli says.

“I strive to improve my patients’ quality of life, and I derive immense satisfaction from being able to do that.”

Ongoing advances in gastroenterology enable Dr. Vemulapalli and her colleagues to continue making lives better.

“We’re now able to examine the small intestine using deep enteroscopy, for example, and new drugs for managing symptoms are continually being developed,” she says. “Advances like these, as well as current research in celiac disease and hereditary and nonhereditary colon cancer syndromes, are just some of the many exciting things going on in the field.”

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Education & Training
  • Fellowship - UT Southwestern Medical School (2007-2010), Gastroenterology/hepatology
  • Medical School - Kakatiya Medical College, India (1993-1999)
  • Fellowship - University of Chicago Hospital (2005-2007), Clinical Nutrition
  • Residency - Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital (2003-2005), Internal Medicine
  • Internship - Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital (2002-2003), Internal Medicine
Professional Associations & Affiliations
  • Chair, Women in GI Committee, Texas Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (2021)
  • Board Member, Texas Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (2021)
  • Academic Task Force Committee, Texas Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (2021)
  • Member, Texas Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (2019)
  • Member, Texas Medical Association (2016)
  • Member, Texas Indo Physician Society (2013)
  • Member, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (2007)
  • Member, American College of Gastroenterology (2005)
Honors & Awards
  • D Magazine Best Doctor 2018-2022
  • 10 Gastroenterologists to Know 2021, Becker's Healthcare
  • We Care in IBD Travel Grant 2006, American College of Gastroenterology
  • Naomi Nakao Gender-Based Research Award 2006, American College of Gastroenterology
Books & Publications
Research
  • Autoimmune gastritis
  • Colon cancer
  • Double balloon enteroscopy
  • Gastroenterology
  • Small bowel imaging

Clinical Focus

  • Celiac Disease
  • Gastroenterology
  • Hereditary gastrointestinal cancer syndromes
  • Short bowel syndrome
  • Small bowel diseases

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Q&A by Dr. Vemulapalli