Dr.Combes obtained his A.B. Degree from Columbia College (1947) and his M.D. Degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (1951). After completing his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia, he completed three years of postdoctoral training with Stanley E. Bradley at Columbia, and one year at University College Hospital Medical School in London before joining the faculty of medicine at UT Southwestern in 1957. In the area of hepatology, Dr. Combes has special interests in autoimmune liver disease, including autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis. He also has long-standing interests in liver diseases occurring during pregnancy. For the past decade, Dr. Combes has been heavily committed to assessments of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and methotrexate in the treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). He has been principal investigator (PI) of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical trial of UDCA versus placebo in the treatment of PBC; and since 1993, has been PI of an NIH-supported multicenter trial of UDCA plus methotrexate versus UDCA plus placebo in the treatment of PBC. This latter trial is slated to continue through 2006-2007. Dr. Combes is also involved in more basic studies concerned with the immunopathogenesis of PBC.
