Each year, Digestive Disease Week® brings together the best clinical, translational, and basic science in the field. It is also an opportunity for many trainees and young investigators to present their work, receive advice from senior investigators, and build their professional networks. During the 2015 annual meeting, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) recognized one member each from six AGA Institute Council sections who have committed themselves to training these young investigators and have a demonstrated track record of outstanding research mentorship. The awardees for each section follow.
AGA President Michael Camilleri, MD, AGAF (center), receives the Research Mentor Award for the Neurogastroenterology and Motility section from section chair Pankaj J. Pasricha, MD (left), and vice chair Satish S.C. Rao, MD, PhD, AGAF (right).
Photo courtesy of Oscar & Associates.
Esophageal, Gastric, and Duodenal Disorders Section (EGD): David Y. Graham, MD
David Graham is a staff physician at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, and a professor in the departments of Medicine and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and his MD degree with honor from Baylor University College of Medicine in 1966. He is board certified in Medicine and Gastroenterology. Dr. Graham is the author of more than 900 scientific papers, several books, and 100 chapters in medical textbooks. He is an Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Highly Cited Researcher in Clinical Medicine. He has trained more than 125 foreign physician-scientists and more than 200 U.S. gastroenterology fellows. He has patents in the development of diagnostic tests for Helicobacter pylori infection, the cause of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer, and in vaccine development for Norwalk virus infection, the most common cause of food borne and cruise ship–associated diarrhea. His research currently focuses on infections and the intestine, and includes studies with Helicobacter pylori, rotavirus, Norwalk virus, and Mycobacterium paratuberculosis.
Gastrointestinal Oncology Section (GIONC): Stephen J. Meltzer, MD
Stephen Meltzer is the Harry and Betty Myerberg-Thomas R. Hendrix Professor of Medicine and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division. He is also the American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor and the director of the Gastrointestinal Early Detection Biomarkers Laboratory at Johns Hopkins. His research focuses on biomechanisms and biomarker development in premalignant diseases of the esophagus, stomach, and colon. After receiving his degree in medicine from the State University of New York at Buffalo’s medical school, Dr Meltzer did his internal medicine internship at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. He did a split gastrointestinal fellowship at the University of Colorado in Denver and at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. He then underwent molecular biology postdoctoral training at the University of California–Los Angeles Center for the Health Sciences in 1985–1987. Before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2006, he was a professor of medicine and pharmacology as well as founder and head of the Aerodigestive Cancer/Biomarker Program, and director of Core Sciences in the Cancer Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is an associate editor of Cancer Research and a member of the editorial boards of several other scientific journals.
Growth, Development, and Child Health Section (GDCH): Richard J. Grand, MD
Richard Grand received his AB degree from Harvard College (magna cum laude) and his MD degree from the New York University School of Medicine. A pediatrics internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and a residency at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) preceded research fellowships at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), BCH, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He has served as gastrointestinal consultant to the Cystic Fibrosis Center at BCH, is director emeritus of the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease in the Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition at BCH, and is program director emeritus of the Clinical and Translational Study Unit (formerly the GCRC) also at BCH. He received his first NIH R01 grant in 1971 for studies of gastrointestinal development and molecular regulation of intestinal genes, particularly that for lactase-phlorizin hydrolase. In 1999, he received an NIH MERIT Award, and it remained his major source of laboratory support until 2009. He has also been funded by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and other NIH grants. He has served as program director of an NIH research training grant, and as associate director of the NIH Digestive Disease Core Center at New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine (both 1984–2001); core director of the Human Nutrition Core at the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (1997–2001); and acting director of the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (1997–1998). He has trained over 100 pediatric gastroenterology fellows and an additional 100 medical students in basic and clinical research. He has previously received the William Silen Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School and the Henry D. Janowitz, MD, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
Intestinal Disorders Section (ID): Jerrold R. Turner, MD, PhD, AGAF
Jerrold (Jerry) Turner is the Sara and Harold Lincoln Thompson Professor of Pathology and Medicine and the associate chair of the Department of Pathology at the University of Chicago and editor-in chief of Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is an actively practicing gastrointestinal surgical pathologist and teacher with numerous postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students in his laboratory, and he has made regular contributions to leading textbooks of pathology, surgical pathology, and gastroenterology. He has also been active in promoting career development beyond his institution by means of lectures, grant reviews, and informal interactions with junior faculty and trainees. His research program, which has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) since 1994 and has also been supported by the Department of Defense, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, and Broad Medical Research Foundation, is focused on intestinal epithelial biology, with particular emphasis on tight junction regulation and inflammatory bowel disease. His group takes a multidisciplinary approach that integrates cell biology, transport physiology, electrophysiology, structural biology, molecular biology, and mucosal immunology, making the laboratory a rich training environment.
Neurogastroenterology and Motility Section (NGM): Michael Camilleri, MD, AGAF
Michael Camilleri is a consultant in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. He was recognized with the Atherton and Winifred W. Bean Professorship in 2001 and as a Mayo Distinguished Investigator in 2008. He currently serves as executive dean for the Department of Development. He holds the ranks of professor of medicine, pharmacology, and physiology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He received his MD degree from University of Malta Medical School and completed his residency at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Malta. He pursued fellowships in research and internal medicine and gastroenterology at Hammersmith Hospital at the University of London, United Kingdom. He completed fellowships at the Mayo Graduate School in both research and clinical studies in gastroenterology. Throughout his training and career, he has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2012 Ismar Boas Medal from the German Society of Digestive and Metabolic Disease, the 2012 American Gastroenterological Association Distinguished Mentor Award, the Janssen Research Award, and the Joseph B. Kirsner Award from the American Gastroenterological Association, and he is listed in “Best Doctors in America” for gastroenterology and gastrointestinal motility. He also participates in educational and mentorship activities at the Mayo Clinic and has mentored many national and international postdoctoral fellows and scientists. He is a faculty member in the Clinical Research Training Program and has full faculty privileges in Clinical and Translational Science at the Mayo Graduate School. He maintains an active clinical practice in gastroenterology at the Mayo Clinic, specializing in gastroenterology motility disorders, gastroparesis, and functional gastrointestinal disorders. He is the current president of the American Gastroenterological Association.
Obesity, Metabolism, and Nutrition Section (OMN): Samuel Klein, MD
Samuel Klein is the William H. Danforth Professor of Medicine, director of the Center for Human Nutrition, director of the Center for Applied Research Sciences, chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Sciences, and medical director of the Weight Management Program at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his MD degree from Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia, and an MS degree in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Miles and Shirley Fiterman Foundation Award in Nutrition, the AGA Masters Award for Outstanding Achievement in Basic or Clinical Research in Digestive Sciences, the Academy of Science–St. Louis Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science, and the Obesity Society TOPS Research Achievement Award. His research activities are focused on understanding the mechanisms responsible for metabolic dysfunction associated with obesity, particularly nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and the therapeutic effects of weight loss, and he also is committed to training young investigators and clinicians in nutrition and obesity. He has developed an outstanding environment for training young clinical investigators, who can obtain comprehensive experience in a variety of aspects of clinical investigation through his program, and has provided mentorship to 31 postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty (MD and PhD) in clinical obesity and metabolism research.