John-Paul Berauer, MD

Triple board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and American Board of Internal Medicine in general pediatrics as well as pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition and pediatric transplant hepatology, Dr. John-Paul Berauer joined Valley Children’s Specialty Medical Group as its first pediatric hepatologist in 2023, providing expertise in the treatment of acute and chronic liver and pancreaticobiliary diseases.

Dr. Berauer earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine before completing his residency in pediatrics at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, where he served as chief resident, a deeply personal and meaningful experience that created a strong sense of belonging and connection to his community, having been born at an Advocate Health Care hospital himself. He went on to complete clinical and research fellowships in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition as well as pediatric transplant hepatology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, the largest academic medical center in the Southeast U.S. Seeking to provide a full complement of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures to children, Dr. Berauer completed advanced endoscopic training in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) at the Pentax Training Center in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a proud member of the World Endoscopy Organization.

As a pediatric hepatologist, Dr. Berauer specializes in treating children with diseases and disorders affecting the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, and pancreas, including acute liver failure, acute and chronic pancreatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, biliary atresia, fatty liver disease, jaundice, liver and pancreatic tumors, portal hypertension, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and rare metabolic diseases.

As an advanced endoscopist, Dr. Berauer possesses specialized skills and knowledge in complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including esophagogastroduodenoscopy, colonoscopy, ERCP, endoscopic ultrasound, endoscopic foreign body removal, endoscopic polypectomy, endoscopic control of variceal and nonvariceal GI bleeding, endoscopic balloon dilation, endoscopic placement of transpyloric feeding tubes and catheters, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and percutaneous liver biopsy.

Active in his professional community, Dr. Berauer is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. His primary research has focused on the study of cholestatic liver diseases in childhood. Working as a co-investigator within the NIDDK-sponsored Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN), he pioneered investigations into abnormal ciliary structure and function in the etiopathogenesis of biliary atresia through whole genome sequencing. He has shared his expertise through a number of lectures both in the U.S. and internationally, and his work has been published in various book chapters, abstracts and peer-reviewed journals including Hepatology. He has also served as a volunteer camp physician for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America for more than a decade.