TMC Digestive Disease Center News

Dr. George Cholankeril, Assistant Professor, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, was selected as the first recipient of the Eugene B. Casey Scholarship. As the Eugene B. Casey Scholar, Dr. Cholankeril will be joining a prestigious group of individuals whose work continues to shape and inspire the future of hepatology.

NIH U01CA287036 01A1 – Subaward
Project Title: “Identifying Factors Associated with Prostate Cancer progression and Survival in African American Men:  The Respond Cohort”
(Funding Period: 1 year; Funding Amount: $72,181)
 

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Jason Hou was awarded a VA HSR IIR grant for the project “Testing the Impact of Measurement-Based Care on Quality of Life and Diseases Management among Veterans with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Study.”
(Funding Period: 4 years, Funding Amount: $1,402,209)
 

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Kavish Patidar received The John A. Hartford Foundation supported Diagnostic Excellence – Age Friendly Health Systems (DxEx-AFHS) Seed Grant from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). His study is titled, “Reducing Missed Opportunities for Timely Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Kidney Injury Care in Elderly Patients with Cirrhosis.”
(Funding amount: $100,000; Funding Period: 2 years)

You can read more on the IHI Website: IHI Awards Seed Grants to Seven Health Systems to Improve Diagnosis and Care for Older Adults 

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Patidar on this achievement.

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Jason Mills and Dr. Indira Mysorekar received notice of an R56 award from NIH National Institute of Aging that will fund their project entitled, “Cellular and molecular mechanisms governing bladder aging.” (Funding amount: $400,000; Funding Period: 1 years) Please join me in congratulating Dr. Mills and Dr. Mysorekar on this achievement.

Dr. Hashem El-Serag, Chair, Department of Medicine, and Dr. Aaron Thrift, Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Population Science, have been awarded an R01 grant by the National Cancer Institute. The funded project is titled "Multilevel factors associated with heterogeneity in risk of liver cancer within Hispanics with cirrhosis." (Funding Period: 1 year, Funding Amount: $98,355.)

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Ru Chen on her promotion from Associate Professor to Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Medicine.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Maya Balakrishnan on her promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine.

I am pleased to announce that our team has been awarded a prestigious Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) UM1 grant totaling $39.9 million over a 7 year time period from the National Institute of Health! This is a significant achievement and a testament to our collective efforts in advancing health research.

The Principal Investigators include Drs. Chris Amos and Fasiha Kanwal from Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Bettina Beech from the University of Houston (UH). BCM investigators including Drs. Hashem El-Serag, Christie Ballantyne, Nancy Moreno, Roger Zoorob, Sankar Navaneethan, Jessica Davila, Andrew Zimolzak, Aaron Thrift, Brendan Lee, Laura Petersen, Kyler Godwin, Barbara Trautner, Jennifer Kramer, Thomas Taylor, Helen Heslop, Jean Raphael, Amber Amspoker, Molly Horstman, Maria Jibaja-Weiss, Mary Majumder, Hardeep Singh, Cristian Coarfa, Abiodun Oluyomi, Susan Hilsenbeck, LeChauncy Woodard and many others have made major contributions to this successful application.

The project title of this grant is "Consortium for Translational and Precision Health." This project is a collaborative effort to support a bi-institutional hub for infrastructure, services, and community engagement to advance translational and precision health innovations. The goal is to improve the health of diverse populations through strong partnerships with local and regional stakeholders. The hub will also build innovative training and career development programs across the translational workforce to drive change, transform science, and significantly improve population health.

This project not only underscores the outstanding work being done within our department but also highlights our commitment to bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world health improvements.

The “CTSA K12 Program at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Houston” has been awarded a total of $4.3 million over 5 years. The Principal Investigators for this program are Drs. Rolando Rumbaut and Frederick Pereira from BCM, along with Drs. Marino Bruce and Elena Grigorenko from UH. The program includes 30 K12 faculty mentors from both BCM and UH as important participants.

The CTSA K12 Program will promote synergy among BCM and UH to create an integrated and thriving environment for developing the next generation of experts in translational science. It will support early-career physician-scientists and PhD faculty members for training in translational science. The K12 Program provides an ideal opportunity to enhance the pool of highly-qualified, diverse faculty who contribute to the health of Greater Houston communities through innovative translational science.

Both of these grants are supported by an exceptional team led by Kat Sippel, Christine Eriks, and including Abby Dunbar, Leslie Wu, Tina Brown, Ariel Harrison, and Lindsay Lewis, among others.

Dr. Kanwal is a talented physician-scientist who has made significant research contributions to the field of hepatology. Dr. Kanwal has published over 300 manuscripts in Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, American Journal of Gastroenterology, JAMA Surgery, Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. She has consistently shown that she can elevate her teams to success and is an exemplary leader in creating positive change. Dr. Kanwal has a track record of academic leadership, business-focused proficiency, strategic effectiveness, organizational awareness, and stewardship in academic medicine.

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. David Y. Graham received Research.com 2024 Best Scientist Award. Dr. Graham ranked 227 in United States and 357 in the world. Research.com is one of the major websites for Medicine research offering credible data on scientific contributions since 2014. Their ranking is based on the H-index data from Microsoft Academic Graph.

You can read more about Dr. Graham’s:
David Y. Graham: Medicine H-index & Awards - Academic Profile | Research.com

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Graham on this outstanding accomplishment!

Dr. Natalia Khalaf was one of 11 individuals selected for the 2024-2025 National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Scholars in Diagnostic Excellence Program. Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, this one-year program in partnership with the Council of Medical Specialty Societies is designed to develop national leaders and enhance skills and knowledge related to diagnostic safety, quality, and equity. Her program proposal is entitled “Implementing Digital Quality Measures Into Learning Health Systems for Diagnostic Excellence in Cancer Care”.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Khalaf on this outstanding accomplishment.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Mimi Tan on receiving the Norton Rose Fulbright Award. This award recognizes faculty for their exemplary educational contributions.

Her accomplishment was recognized at the Baylor College of Medicine Awards Day celebration on May 22, 2024. Congratulations to the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty that won awards! 

Ayse Leyla Mindikoglu, M.D., M.P.H. received the Norton Rose Fulbright Award. Teaching and Evaluation Baylor’s Annual Award Day was Wednesday, May 22. Congratulations to the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty that won awards! 

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Jason Mills received a grant renewal from the NIH NIDDK for his study titled, “Mechanisms of chief cell dedifferentiation.” With this support, the Mills Lab is investigating how the digestive enzyme secreting cells of the stomach lining can respond to injury by scaling down their elaborate subcellular network of secretory granules. This represents the first step of a transformative process known as metaplasia, which can either cause repair or increase risk for gastric cancer. Mills and his team are identifying the genetic mechanisms that drive this process. (Funding amount: $3,012,000; Funding Period: 5 years)

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Mills and his Lab on this outstanding accomplishment.

The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has announced its 2024 annual recognition prizes, given in honor of outstanding contributions and achievements in gastroenterology. Dr. Hashem B. El-Serag, Chair, Department of Medicine, was the recipient of the William Beaumont Prize in Gastroenterology, which recognizes individuals who have made major contributions that have significantly advanced the care of patients with digestive diseases through clinical or translational research (AGA press release). Dr. El-Serag will receive the award during the AGA’s annual meeting in Washington D.C. on May 19th.

The AGA’s press release states “Dr. El-Serag is an internationally recognized physician-scientist and clinical epidemiologist in both digestive and liver diseases and has dedicated a large part of his research to hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition to obtaining impressive research funding and publishing over 630 papers (H index 152) in the past 25 years, Dr. El-Serag has a remarkable service record at AGA since joining the membership ranks in 1996. He served as AGA’s 114th President from 2019-2020 and guided the organization through the turbulent start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He served as editor-in-chief of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology from 2012-2017.”

Join us in celebrating Dr. El-Serag's well-deserved recognition by the AGA. His contributions and leadership not only have advanced the field of gastroenterology forward but also inspired future generations of healthcare professionals to strive for excellence in patient care, research, and education.

Dear Members of the Baylor College of Medicine Community,

Baylor College of Medicine is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Excellence in Research Awards. These awards recognize faculty members who have made significant published scientific contributions to clinical or basic biomedical research during the past three years.

Robert Atmar, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Jared Sninsky received the Department of Medicine Physician-Scientist Faculty Development Award for his project titled, “Developing a Novel Serum Biomarker Model for the Non-Invasive Assessment of Disease Activity in Ulcerative Colitis.” (Funding amount: $190,000; Funding period: 2 years).

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Sninsky on this outstanding accomplishment.

Dr. Sean Hartig, Associate Professor, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, received an R01 Award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The title of his project is, “Molecular regulation of leptin bioavailability.” (Funding Period: 4 years, Funding Amount: $2,585,312).

Dr. Fasiha Kanwal has been awarded a VA HSR&D Merit Review (Investigator Initiated Research, IIR) grant titled, "Integrating Veteran-Centered Care for Advanced Liver Disease (I-VCALD)." (Funding amount: $1.5M. Funding period: 4 years).
 
The objective is to conduct a randomized controlled clinical trial of a new advanced liver disease clinical care model which employs a whole person approach. The intervention includes identification of patients with advanced liver disease using a population-based health management system and integration of curative and early supportive care using a virtual outreach nurse care counselor. 
 
Dr. Steven M. Asch, Professor at the Stanford School of Medicine will serve as an MPI. Co-Investigators include Ruben Hernaez, MD, PhD, Jennifer Kramer, PhD, and Amber Amspoker, PhD (IQuESt and BCM), Ramsey Cheung, MD, Thomas Taylor, PhD, Caroline Gray, PhD, Clara Dismuke-Greer, PhD (Stanford and VA Palo Alto HSR&D COIN),  Arpan Patel, MD, PhD, Anne Walling, MD, PhD (UCLA and the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System), Ragesh Thandassery, MD (University of Arkansas and Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock), and Tamar Taddei, MD (Yale University School of Medicine and VA Connecticut Healthcare System).
 
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Kanwal, the MPI, the co-Investigators, and project team on this accomplishment
 

I am pleased to announce that Jason K. Hou, M.D., M.S., A.G.A.F., F.A.C.G. will assume the role of Director of Clinical Trials in the Department of Medicine (DoM) on October 1, 2023. In this role, he will increase the participation and success of DoM Faculty in industry-sponsored clinical trials (ISCT). The model of the DoM Clinical Trials Unit is to prepare, train, and support faculty in the DoM to develop their own ISCT research teams. Please join me in congratulating and supporting Dr. Hou in his new role, and to obtain guidance on clinical trials.

Drs. Fasiha Kanwal and Hashem El-Serag received a NIH U01 grant titled, "Risk Stratification for and Early Detection of Liver Cancer," funded with total budget of $4.5 million (direct cost $2.75 million) over five years. Other multiple PIs include Drs. Jagpreet Chhatwal (Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School) and Eugene Koay (MD Anderson Cancer Center).  
The overarching goal of the grant is to reduce the mortality of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) by developing personalized indices that combine novel and exciting biomarkers with clinical, behavioral and genetic data to improve risk stratification and increase early detection of HCC.

Dr. Ayse Mindikoglu has received the Norton Rose Filbright Award for Teaching and Evaluation. This award recognizes faculty for their exemplary educational contributions.

Her accomplishment will be recognized at the Baylor College of Medicine Awards Day celebration. Details for the ceremony will be shared with available.

Dr. Douglas Burrin was awarded the Senior Distinguished Research Scientist Award by the USDA-ARS, this is a national award given to the top research scientists with the USDA-ARS.

View post from the USDA-ARS.

Jason K. Hou, M.D. will assume the role of Director of Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Crohn's and Colitis Program. In this role, he will ensure BCM CCP serves as the home for innovative research, compassionate patient care, and community and professional education in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Dr. Hou has served as Medical Director of IBD at the Michael DeBakey VA Medical Center, former Program Director of the BCM GI and Hepatology Fellowship Program and is supported by federal funding for IBD research including current support from PCORI, VA HSRD, and NIDDK.

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Natalia Khalaf has received funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Diagnostic Excellence Grant for her project entitled, “Clinical Quality Measures to Improve the Diagnosis for Gastrointestinal Cancers.” (Funding amount: $500,000 Funding period: 2 years).

The diagnosis of GI cancer requires recognition of certain signs or symptoms (“red-flags”). Once these red-flags are recognized, patients should be referred for further diagnostic work-up. Research suggests that provider recognition of, or action on, these red-flags is not a fail-safe. To address these process breakdowns that lead to avoidable delays in cancer diagnosis, she and her team are developing two digital quality measures (dQMs) centered around potentially avoidable emergency cancer presentations of colorectal and pancreatic cancers within the national VA healthcare system and CommonSpirit Health.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Khalaf on this outstanding accomplishment.

Mary K. Estes, Ph.D., was presented the Arthur L. Beaudet Award for Outstanding Mentorship on July 20, 2023, in recognition of her unwavering commitment to foster the intellectual, creative, scholarly, and professional growth of her mentees.  She is a distinguished service professor in the department of the molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine and has had an impressive research career. Dr. Estes is also a founding director of the DDC and currently serves as Co-Director of our Gastrointestinal Experimental Model Systems (GEMS) core. 

Dr. Fasiha Kanwal has been selected to participate in the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) fellowship for women in academic medicine.  This program is a year-long part-time fellowship designed for women faculty in senior leadership roles at schools of medicine, dentistry, public health and pharmacy nationwide. The program is dedicated to developing the professional and personal skills required to lead and managed in today’s complex healthcare environment, with special attention to the unique challenges facing women in leadership positions. Selection into ELAM includes nomination of up to two women leaders from each institution. Dr. Kanwal was nominated by Baylor College of Medicine for this fellowship this year. 

Dr. Jason Mills, professor, gastroenterology and hepatology, has received funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institute of Health. The title of his study is, “Regulation of atrophy-induced progenitor cells in the gastric corpus.” The grant award proposes to study how the stem cells of the stomach lining regenerate after injury. (Funding Amount: $2,664,266; Funding Period: 5 years.)

Congratulations to Dr. Douglas G. Burrin on winning the 2023 Bruce R. Bistrian Nutrition Mentorship Award from the American Society for Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN). Dr. Burrin will receive the award at the Nutrition Science and Practice Conference for his outstanding accomplishments in research and leadership focused on pediatric nutrition and gastroenterology and the development of swine as innovative models of human infant metabolism and development.

Congratulations Dr. Burrin on this well-deserved honor!

Hashem El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Chair of the Margaret M. and Albert B. Alkek Department of Medicine, has been appointed Vice President for the Learning Health System (LHS) Initiative at Baylor, effective immediately. In this additional leadership role, he will lead development of the strategic vision to build Baylor’s LHS. The initial focus will be on working with mission area leaders and forming a multidisciplinary Learning Health System team that will develop goals and tactics to achieve the goals. Dr. El-Serag, who holds the Margaret M. Alkek Distinguished Chair in Medicine, has a tremendous understanding of how to bring together the traditional components of a Learning Health System that includes science and discovery, translational medicine, precision medicine and population health and to establish Baylor as a national leader in this area.

Aug. 18: Dr. Hotez is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development.  As co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development, he leads a team and product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the U.S.  

Aug. 18: Dr. Joseph Hyser’s research work is dedicated to improving our understanding of host-pathogen interactions. He has focused on characterizing host signaling pathways that enteric viruses, such as rotavirus, destabilize to cause gastrointestinal disease. His work stands out because it is shifting prevailing paradigms within the field.

July 2022: DDC member and 2016 & 2017 Pilot Feasibility awardee, Geoffrey Preidis, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics – gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, has received two awards from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for his work in malnutrition. His project titled “The metabolic basis for impaired bile acid synthesis in malnutrition” received $1,326,062 in direct funding and his project, “Impaired bile acid synthesis due to CYP7A1 and CYP7B1 suppression in malnutrition,” received $150,000 in direct funding. Dr. Preidis is an active member of the DDC, and also leads the DDC Seminar Committee and serves on the DDC Internal Advisory Committee. 

July 2022: DDC member and 2017 Pilot Feasibility awardee, Allison Speer, M.D., assistant professor of pediatric surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center, has received a total of $717,780 in research support. This five-year grant, awarded by the NIDDK, will support her project entitled, "Enteric nervous System Development and Function in Human Intestinal Organoids.” Intestinal failure is a devastating disease with an incidence of 24.5 cases per 100,000 live births that if left untreated results in dehydration, malnutrition, and ultimately, death.  

July 2022: DDC Co-Director, Hashem B. El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H. has received over $7.5 million in funding from the National Cancer Institute for his project entitled, “Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Related to Metabolic Syndrome.” This five-year program project intends to reduce the burden of HCC-related mortality through better understanding of contemporary risk and protective factors of HCC related to Metabolic (dysfunction) associated fatty liver disease or MAFLD. 
 
Co-investigators include: 

• Dr. Fasiha Kanwal - Gastroenterology and Hepatology 
• Dr. Aaron Thrift - Epidemiology and Population Sciences
• Dr. Chris Amos - Epidemiology and Population Sciences
• Dr. Salma Kaochar - Hematology and Oncology
• Dr. Jennifer Kramer - Health Services Research 
• Dr. Donna White - Gastroenterology and Hepatology
• Dr. Christie Ballantyne - Cardiology 
• Dr. Mandeep Bajaj - Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
• Dr. Cristian Coarfa -  Hematology and Oncology 

Kudos to Dr. El-Serag and co-investigators, including DDC members, Drs. Fasiha Kanwal, Aaron Thrift, Donna White and Jennifer Kramer, as well as other key faculty on this outstanding accomplishment.

June 2022: The first edition of top scientists ranking for medicine was published by Research.com, one of the major websites for medicine research offering credible data on scientific contributions since 2014. The ranking contains h-index, publications and citations values collected on Dec. 6, 2021. For the discipline of medicine, over 65,743 profiles were examined. The inclusion criteria for scholars to be considered into the ranking of top scientists are based on the discipline h-index, proportion of the contributions made within the given discipline in addition to the awards and achievements of the scientists. The discipline h-index threshold for listing top scientists is set as an increment of 10 depending on the total number of researchers estimated for each discipline whilst ensuring that the top 1% of leading scientists are considered into the ranking. Three members of DDC leadership, Hashem El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H., Fasiha Kanwal, M.D., M.S.H.S., and David Graham, M.D., were identified as the top scientists in Medicine.

June 2022: Dr. Ayse Mindikoglu, associate professor of gastroenterology and hepatology, was featured in The Peninsula Qatar on June 6 for an article titled, "Why intermittent fasting boosts recycling process inside our body cells." 

June 2022: Natalia Khalaf, M.D., has received grant funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Diagnostic Excellence Initiative for her project entitled, “Measuring Missed Opportunities in the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Cancers.” (Funding amount: $500,000. Funding period: 18 months). The goal of this collaborative project with the University of North Carolina is to develop two, interrelated diagnostic clinical quality measures for the following 4 high-priority GI cancers: colorectal, gastric, pancreas, and liver. The measures focus on (1) potentially avoidable delays in diagnosis (delays measure) and (2) potentially avoidable emergency cancer presentations (emergency measure). Dr. Khalaf is also a 2021 DDC Pilot Feasibility Awardee. Congratulations to Dr. Khalaf and her mentor, Dr. Hardeep Singh, on this outstanding accomplishment.

May 2022: Dr. Mimi Tan, assistant professor of gastroenterology and hepatology, was awarded an NIH K23 award from the NIDDK for her project titled, "Development and Validation of an Automated Algorithm for Real-time Detection of Neoplasia in Barrett's Esophagus using a Low-cost, Portable Microendoscope". ($993,595 for five years).

May 2022: Dr. Jason Mills, Herman Brown Endowed Professor of gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the TMC Digestive Diseases Center was selected as a recipient of the Outstanding Mentor Award from the American Gastroenterology Association at the Digestive Disease Week annual meeting. 

April 2022: Dr. Maya Balakrishnan, assistant professor, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, was featured in Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News on April 23 for an article titled, "Novel Weight Loss Strategy Delivers Benefits to Patients With NAFLD."

April 2022: Dr. Robert Atmar, professor of infectious diseases, was featured in El Neuvo Herald on April 11 for an article titled, "Gastroenteritis vuelve a aumentar en EEUU. Cinco cosas que hay que saber sobre los norovirus."

April 2022: Dr. Fasiha Kanwal has been awarded a VA HSR&D Merit Review (Investigator Initiated Research, IIR) grant titled, "Integrating Veteran-Centered Care for Advanced Liver Disease (I-VCALD)." (Funding amount: $1,513,109. Funding period: four years). The objective is to conduct a randomized controlled clinical trial of a new advanced liver disease clinical care model which employs a whole person approach that identifies patients with advanced liver disease using a population-based health management system and integrates curative and early supportive care using a virtual outreach nurse care counselor.  

April 2022: Dr. Theresa Nguyen was awarded the inaugural Department of Medicine Physician-Scientist/Investigator Faculty Development Award for the study entitled, “An Electronic Trigger Tool to Detect Missed Opportunities for Barrett's Esophagus Screening." (Funding amount: $207,906. Funding period: two year). The study is aimed at improving adherence to Barrett's esophagus screening in order to identify patients who may benefit from esophageal adenocarcinoma prevention programs by leveraging health informatics and electronic health record data analytics. Dr. Nguyen’s primary mentor is Dr. Hashem El-Serag (DDC Co-Director). Her secondary mentors and co-investigators include Dr. Hardeep Singh, Dr. Aaron P. Thrift (DDC Full Member), Dr. Andrew Zimolzak, and Dr. Joel Rubenstein (University of Michigan). Congratulations to Dr. Nguyen and her mentoring team on this outstanding accomplishment.

March 2022: Dr. Hashem El-Serag has received funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) award for his project entitled, “Novel Metabolics and Radiomics for Predicting HCC Risk.” (Funding amount: $1,995,127. Funding period: Four years). Kudos to Dr. El-Serag on this outstanding accomplishment.

August 2021: Dr. Jason Mills, professor and chief of research at Baylor College of Medicine will serve as co-director of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Center. Dr. Mills is a well-funded human pathologist and cell and developmental biologist. His research has focused on how stem cells give rise to mature, functional cells in homeostasis and how these processes are reversed during regeneration and tumorigenesis, especially as induced by pathogens. In his new role, Dr. Mills will work with center director Hashem B. El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H., to provide governance, financial and operational management and strategic planning functions for the DDC.

James Versalovic, M.D., Ph.D., pathologist-in-chief and head of pathology and immunology and director of the Texas Children’s Microbiome Center at Texas Children’s Hospital, previously served the role of DDC co-director. Dr. Versalovic will continue to serve as Director of the Functional Genomics and Microbiome Core of the DDC and will remain a member of the Internal Advisory Committee. We look forward to continued success under these leadership changes.
 

Beginning July 1, 2021 and ending June 30, 2024, Dr. Tor Savidge will serve as a member of the Digestive System Host Defense, Microbial Interactions and Immune and Inflammation Study Section, Center for Scientific Review at the National Institute of Health. Members are selected based on their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors. Service on a study section also requires mature judgment and objectivity as well as the ability to work effectively in a group, qualities Dr. Savidge will surely bring to this important task. 

As of May 1, 2021, Dr. Jason Mills, faculty member in the Department of Medicine, Gastroenterology Section, at Baylor College of Medicine will serve as associate director of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Center. Dr. Mills was trained as a human pathologist and cell and developmental biologist. His research focuses on how stem cells give rise to mature, functional cells in homeostasis and how these processes are reversed during regeneration and tumorigenesis, especially as induced by pathogens. Dr. Mills received his M.D., Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. He has led several translational efforts, including clinical trials, to use his ongoing research of the study of paligenosis to better prevent or treat tumors. 

As of May 1, 2019, Dr. James Versalovic, professor and vice chair of Pathology & Immunology at Baylor College of Medicine and pathologist-in-chief and director of the Texas Children’s Microbiome Center at Texas Children’s Hospital, will serve as co-director of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Center. Dr. Versalovic is a well-funded physician scientist in digestive diseases and an international leader in gut microbiome research. He has been a long standing and instrumental part of the DDC leadership team as co-director of our Functional Genomics and Microbiome Core (Core C) for several years. In his new role, Dr. Versalovic will work with Center Director Hashem B. El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H., to provide governance, financial and operational management, and strategic planning functions for the DDC. He will continue his role as director of Core C.

The role of DDC co-director was previously served by Doug Burrin, Ph.D., a USDA-ARS research physiologist at Baylor. Dr. Burrin will continue to lead the Pilot Feasibility Program of the DDC and will remain a part of the center as a member of the Internal Advisory Committee. We look forward to continued success under these leadership changes.

Dr. Jian Chen, assistant professor in the department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, & Nutrition at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, will receive a Pinnacle Research Award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Foundation. This honor includes a three-year award of $300,000, which will support Dr. Chen's project, "Deregulated PRAJA1-TGF-ß Signaling in Liver Cancer Stem Cells." Dr. Chen is a 2017 DDC Pilot Feasibility Awardee.

With the start of its 16th year, the TMC Digestive Diseases Center has some exciting announcements. In an effort to meet the increasing demands of members and provide access to state-of-the art research through our cores, the DDC has launched the Gastrointestinal Experimental Model Systems Core (GEMS). Formerly the Integrative Biology Core, the GEMS Core is organized to encompass an enteroid/organoid subcore and a gnotobiotic subcore. This core offers turnkey access to organoids/enteroid technologies to researchers, including samples (enteroids, organoids), reagents (specialized growth media, etc.), training, and consultative expertise. The core also provides access to Baylor Gnotobiotic Rodent Facility and animals, training and consultative expertise. With the launch of the GEMS Core, researchers have access to enteroid and organoid services as well as an advanced germ-free rodent facility

The new GEMS Core will be led by Director Noah Shroyer, Ph.D., associate professor gastroenterology and hepatology at Baylor. Dr. Shroyer has been a longtime DDC member, and a 2005 pilot feasibility awardee. Mary Estes, Ph.D., emeritus director of the DDC and professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor will serve as co-director of the GEMS Core. Alton G. Swennes, D.V.M, associate director of the Center for Comparative Medicine, will also serve as co-director. Dr. Swennes has extensive experience with gnotobiotic facility design and will offer consultation on study design and feasibility.

Learn more about the newly established GEMS core.

Shumei Song, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the department of GI Medical Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center has been awarded multiple department of defense grants. Dr. Song received a $640,000 grant in support of her project "Immune-Suppression and Tumor-Stromal Interaction Mediated by Galectin-3 in Gastric Cancer — Implications of Novel Therapeutic Strategies" and an additional $640,000 grant to support her project, "Discover Novel Biomarkers/Targets for Advanced Gastric Adenocarcinoma Patients by Exploring Tumor-Associated Exosomes From Malignant Ascites." She is also co-PI on a project entitled, "Exploiting RhoA mutations in diffuse gastric adenocarcinoma and targeting intertwined RhoA and Yap1 pathways for therapeutic advantage," which also received DOD funding. Dr. Song is a previous Pilot Feasibility awardee and one of the awarded DOD grants is an extension of the work funded by her DDC pilot grant.

Dr. Fasiha Kanwal, Digestive Disease Core director, has been selected and agreed to serve as the new chief for the Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the Department of Medicine. She has served in the interim chief role since January 2017. Dr. Fasiha Kanwal received her training in gastroenterology and hepatology from University of California Los Angeles, and received research training with a Masters in Science, Health Services. Her research focuses on assessing and improving quality and outcomes of care in individuals with chronic liver diseases, including those with chronic hepatitis C, hepatitis B virus, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular cancer. She was the recipient of highly competitive faculty awards, including the Research Excellence in GI and Liver Award (2007) and Emerging Leaders in Gastroenterology Award (2008).

Dr. Mary K. Estes, professor of virology and microbiology and medicine gastroenterology and emeritus founder of the TMC Digestives Diseases Center, has been awarded two prestigious American Gastroenterological Association recognitions. The AGA honored Dr. Estes with the William Beaumont Prize in Gastroenterology, which recognizes an individual who has made a unique, outstanding contribution of major importance to the field of gastroenterology. Dr. Estes’ fundamental discoveries and contributions to the field of gastrointestinal infections has had a world-wide impact on the care of children due to her work on rotavirus and individuals of all ages due to her work on norovirus. The AGA also awarded the Distinguished Mentor Award to Dr. Estes, marking the first time an AGA member has been awarded two recognition prizes in the same year. The AGA Distinguished Mentor Award recognizes an individual who has made a lifelong effort dedicated to the mentoring of trainees in the field of gastroenterology and for achievements as outstanding mentors throughout their careers. View press release.

Dr. David Durgan, assistant professor of anesthesiology, was recently awarded an R01 from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for his project “Examining the role of gut dysbiosis in obstructive sleep apnea induced hypertension”. This award will provide funding in the amount of $1,250,000 over the next five years. Dr. Durgan was a two-time recipient of the TMC DDC Pilot Feasibility Award in 2015 and 2016.