Headshot of a balding man with light skin tone and grey hair wearing a blue and white striped dress shirt and gold-colored tie under a dark suit jacket against a wall of bamboo leaves

Frank Sinatra, MD

Attending Physician
Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of USC

In 1976, Dr. Frank Sinatra joined the full-time faculty at USC School of Medicine and established the first pediatric gastroenterology program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he served as director of the division until 1992. In 1988 he also assumed directorship of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Los Angeles County+U.S.C. Medical Center, a position he held until 2009. Dr. Sinatra is currently a professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine at USC and is the assistant dean for Faculty Development.

Dr. Sinatra has contributed more than 100 articles, abstracts, book chapters and invited monographs to the pediatric and gastroenterology literature. His primary areas of research interest include liver disorders in infancy and childhood, gastrointestinal problems in the neonate and nutritional complications of gastrointestinal and liver disorders. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Perinatology and Pediatrics in Review and on review panels and data safety and monitoring boards for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was a member of the American Board of Pediatrics for over 30 years and has served as a visiting professor throughout the United States, Canada and Central America.

An eight- time recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the students of the Keck School of Medicine, he was awarded the Master Teacher designation. Dr. Sinatra is a recipient of the Morris and Mary Press Humanism Award and the Distinguished Service Award from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award from the Keck School of Medicine. He has been consistently listed in Best Doctors in America, America’s Top Doctors and Los Angeles Super Doctors and was elected to membership in the prestigious American Pediatric Society.

Clinical Interests

Gastrointestinal and liver disorders in infants and children.

Education

Medical School

University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

Internship

Children's Hospital Los Angeles: Pediatrics

Residency

Children's Hospital Los Angeles: Pediatric; Children's Hospital Los Angeles: Chief Pediatric Resident

Fellowship

Stanford University Hospital: Pediatric Gastroenterology

Accomplishments

Certification

Pediatrics: American Board of Pediatrics; Pediatric Gastroenterology: Sub-board of Pediatric Gastroenterology

Memberships

American Board of Pediatrics; North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition; American Academy of Pediatrics; Western Society for Pediatric Research; Los Angeles Pediatric Society; American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (Education Committee); Southern California Society for Gastroenterology.

Publications

Sinatra FR: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in pediatric patients. J Parenter Enter Nutr (In Press)

Kelly DA, Haber B, Gonzalez-Peralta RP, Murray KF, Jonas MM, Molleston JP, Narkewicz MR, Sinatra FR , Lang T, Lachaux A, Wirth S, Shelton M. Te HS, Pollack H, Deng W, Noviello S, and Albrecht JK: Long-term follow-up of pediatric patients with chronic hepatitis C who were treated with interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirinl. J Hepatology (In Press)

Wu SS, Chao CS, Vargas JH, Sharp HL, Martin MG, McDiarmid SV, Sinatra FR and Ament ME: Isoniazid-related hepatic failure in children: a survey of liver transplantation centers. Transplantation 84:173-179, 2007.

Research

Research interests include: Liver disorders in infancy and childhood, gastrointestinal problems in the neonate and nutritional complications of gastrointestinal and liver disorders. Ongoing research includes: Treatment of chronic viral hepatitis in children and adolescents and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children.