Laurence S. Bailen, MD, AGAF, serves as Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Medical Director of the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit at Mass General Brigham–Newton-Wellesley Hospital. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, where he has held a faculty appointment for more than 25 years.
Dr. Bailen received his BA from Cornell University in 1989 and his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) in 1993, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and received the Louis Weinstein Prize for academic achievement in clinical medicine. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital (Harvard Medical School) and his fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts–New England Medical Center. He is board certified in gastroenterology and was named a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGAF) in 2026.
Since joining Newton-Wellesley Hospital in 2003, Dr. Bailen has assumed progressively senior leadership roles, culminating in his appointment as Medical Director of the Endoscopy Unit in 2021 and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2022. He has been engaged in hospital governance and medication safety, chairing the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and co-chairing the Medication Safety Committee for more than a decade, and has served on numerous credentialing, search, and quality assurance committees across the institution.
Dr. Bailen maintains a full clinical practice with expertise spanning inflammatory bowel disease, biliary and pancreatic disease, colon cancer screening, and advanced interventional endoscopy.
Dr. Bailen has directed medical school coursework in gastrointestinal pathophysiology since 2001 and currently serves as Course Director for the Gastrointestinal System course for first-year students at Tufts. He has been recognized as an Outstanding Tufts University School of Medicine Pre-Clerkship Educator nearly every year since 2008 and has received multiple TUSM Senior Class Excellence in Teaching Awards, several Locke Awards for Excellence in Inpatient Education at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and the Milton and Natalie Zucker Prize for Innovation in Medical Education at TUSM.
Beyond his clinical and academic work, Dr. Bailen is a member of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. He served as President of the Tufts Medical Alumni Association (TMAA) from 2012 to 2014 and is a current member of the TMAA Executive Council.
Laurence Bailen, M93