Dear Member of the GRG:
First I wish everyone a happy New Year.
It is with great pleasure that I write to update you on our society's various activities in the past year and planned activities for the coming year. I am delighted to report that membership participation in many of these activities, such as responses to our recent survey and suggestions for topics for the Spring Symposium, have been excellent. The GRG, often in partnership with the AGA Institute, continues to be instrumental in organizing several highly successful workshops and symposia, including the annual Methodologies in Healthcare Outcomes in Gastroenterology directed by Jay Goldstein and Glenn Eisen. Consistent with its mission to support the career development of junior (young) investigators, the GRG/AGA continues to provide the Young Investigator Basic Research and Clinical Science Awards, as well as Fellows Travel Awards to the annual Digestive Disease Week® (DDW). Importantly, The GRG has been responsible for organizing the highly successful annual Spring Symposia with state-of-the-art lectures given by leaders in various GI fields. Looking to the future, I am hopeful that GRG will continue to thrive as an organization that supports basic and clinical GI research and the career development of junior GI investigators.
This newsletter will serve to summarize some of the events within last year and the upcoming initiatives and programs for DDW 2008 in San Diego. I hope that these activities will serve to demonstrate that the GRG is alive and well. Again, we need your input and feedback on how the GRG can best serve your needs and those of the young investigators in our field. Moreover, I would ask you to encourage and support your junior colleagues to apply for this year's Young Investigator Awards and Fellow Travel Awards (please refer to our website at http://www.gastroresearch.org for detailed information about applications).
Thank you for all your support over the years and I look forward to seeing you at the DDW.
Sincerely Yours,
Vincent W. Yang, MD, PhD
President
Highlights of GRG Activities in 2007 DDW
Winners of GRG/AGA Young Investigator Awards
Basic Research Award
Jonathan P. Katz, MD
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Clinical Science Award
Neena S. Abraham, MD, MSCE, FASGE
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
GRG/AGA Fellow Travel Awards
The GRG is immensely indebted to the generous support of Rifat Pamukcu, MD, Ex-Officio, and CEO of Midway Pharmaceuticals, Inc., who has made continuous financial contribution to fund this program since its inception. In 2007, the following fellows received $500 each for traveling to DDW:
Linda Feagins, MD, University of Texas Southwestern; Dharmalingam Subramaniam, MD, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center; Mirajul Kazi, PhD, Johns Hopkins University; Neelima Reddy, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Mohamad Othman, MD, University of New Mexico.
GRG Spring Symposium
The 2007 Spring Symposium was organized by Andy Neish, MD, with the title “Understanding the Dialog: The Microbial-Host Interaction.” Thanks to the following four speakers, this year’s symposium was an astounding success with more than two hundred audience members in attendance.
James B. Kaper, PhD
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Bacterial cell-to-cell signaling in the gastrointestinal tract
Ruth E. Ley, PhD
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
Ecological and evolutionary forces shaping microbial diversity in the human intestine
Hans-Christian Reinecker, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston
Dendritic cells: the commanders-in-chief of mucosal immune defenses
Andrew S. Neish, MD
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta
Commensal bacterial modulation of intestinal epithelial signaling pathways
Planned GRG Activities in the DDW®2008
Award Programs
As before, the GRG will grant two Young Investigator Awards including GRG/AGA Young Investigator Basic Research Award and GRG/AGA Young Investigator Clinical Science Award. We are now accepting nominations until March 21, 2008. Please visit the following Web page for details of the nominating process and encourage your junior colleagues to apply: http://www.gastroresearch.org/grgawards.htm.
Thanks to Rifat Pamukcu’s continuous support, the GRG is offering two travel grants to trainees: GRG/AGA Fellow Travel Awards and GRG/AGA Abstract of the Year Award. The deadline for submitting an application is March 21, 2008. Please visit http://www.gastroresearch.org/travelgrants.htm. for details of the application process and again, encourage and support your fellows to apply.
2008 GRG Spring Symposium
We have lined up a very exciting schedule for the 2008 GRG Spring Symposium, which will take place on Sunday, May 18, 2008, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the San Diego Convention Center. This symposium is organized by Rhonda Souza, MD, a member of our steering committee who will also serve as chair at the symposium.
The title of the symposium is Senescence, Aging and Cancer and will feature three prominent speakers. I hope that you can attend this important meeting of our society.
Peiqing Sun, PhD
Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
Oncogene-induced senescence
Jerry Shay, PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas
Replicative senescence
Judith Campisi, PhD
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
Aging: balancing regeneration and cancer
Other GRG Sponsored Activities
13th Annual Methodologies in Healthcare Outcomes in Gastroenterology: A Workshop Symposium
Co-Directors: Jay Goldstein, MD; Glenn M. Eisen, MD, MPH
For the past 13 years, the GRG has sponsored an annual two-day workshop entitled Methodologies in Healthcare Research Outcomes in Gastroenterology: A Workshop Symposium in conjunction with the AGA Institute. This meeting provides interested individuals and gastroenterology trainees with instruction in the common research tools utilized in the broad field of outcomes research and emphasizes the exciting career opportunities in academic clinical research. Each year, the course is very well received by trainees and is a “must attend” meeting for any individual considering a career in outcomes/health-services related research. Focused on individualized mentoring, this workshop allows for close interaction for the faculty and attendees in a comfortable and informal setting. Unique features of the course are that the GRG sponsors trainee scholarships to facilitate attendance and all trainees are encouraged to present their research in various stages of development. This year the thirteenth annual Methodologies in Healthcare Outcomes in Gastroenterology: A Workshop Symposium was held Nov. 9-10, 2007, in Hollywood, FL. The course had over 80 attendees, featured 15 faculty members and was a great success. One of the course highlights was the second annual Bernard S. Bloom, PhD Memorial Lecture, presented by J. Sanford Schwartz, MD, the Leon Hess Professor of Medicine and Health Management & Economics, School of Medicine & The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Dr Schwartz’s talk was entitled “Assessment of Medical Innovation: Improving Clinical Decision Making and Care.” The attendees were additionally and uniquely honored by the attendance of Bernie’s wife, Elayne Bloom who thanked the course leadership and the GRG for the development of the Lectureship in Dr. Bloom’s honor. We look forward to 2008’s course, which will take place in November.
The First Japan-US Collaboration Conference in Gastroenterology
Organizers: Toshifumi Hibi, MD; Collaborator: Eugene Chang, MD
This meeting was held on Nov. 16, 2007 at Tokyo, Japan. It was participated by investigators from Japan and the U.S. Several GRG members including Gene Chang, Jonathan Kaunitz and myself also attended. The meeting was a highly interactive and collaborative in nature and included oral presentations by junior Japanese and American investigators on topics of shared interests. It is anticipated that the presenting junior investigators will meet at the DDW this year and that there will be a second conference scheduled for November 2008. The GRG will work with the conference organizers to identify our members to attend.
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