Fernando Bermudez, MD (Eastside Endoscopy Center, St. Clair Shores, Mich.) — Dr. Bermudez is currently the medical director and a member of the board at Eastside Endoscopy Center and a physician with G.I. Medicine Associates, both located in St. Clair Shores, Mich. He specializes in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, the liver and pancreas with special interest in inflammatory bowel disease and motility disorders of the esophagus. Dr. Bermudez received his medical degree from Javeriana University in Bogota, Colombia, and completed his training at St. John Hospital in Detroit. He completed his fellowship in gastroenterology at Michael Reese Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Bermudez is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. He previously served as division head of the department of gastroenterology, medical director of the endoscopy unit and chairman of the endoscopy committee at St. John Hospital.
Robert "Bruce" Cameron, MD (Endoscopy Center at Bainbridge, Chagrin Falls, Ohio) — Dr. Cameron is the medical director of the Endoscopy Center at Bainbridge in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He is also a clinical professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He completed his internship in internal medicine and his residency in gastroenterology at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. His areas of special interest are colonic neoplasia, esophageal diseases, gastroenterology and general gastroenterology. Dr. Cameron is a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology and previously served as chair of the Practice Management Committee. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Gastroenterology.
Delbert L. Chumley, MD (Gastroenterology Consultants, San Antonio) — Dr. Chumley is the current president-elect of the American College of Gastroenterology and a past president of the Texas Society of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy. He is a board-certified gastroenterologist and internal medicine physician with Gastroenterology Consultants in San Antonio, Texas, and holds an appointment as a professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Chumley has special interest and training in therapeutic endoscopy for hepatobiliary, pancreatic and sphincter of Oddi disorders, and he also has extensive expertise in treating patients with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease. He received his medical degree and completed his residency and fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Stephen Deal, MD (Carolina Digestive Health Associates, Charlotte, N.C.) — Dr. Deal is a member of Carolina Digestive Health Associates, which operates five endoscopy centers in the Charlotte, N.C., area. He specializes in gastroenterology with a subspecialty in pancreatic biliary tract diseases. Dr. Deal is a member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He has served as a member of the ACG/ASGE Quality in Endoscopy Task Force and has been a member of the ACG National Affairs Committee and the ACG Practice Management Committee.
Thomas Deas Jr., MD (Fort Worth Endoscopy Center, Fort Worth, Texas) — Dr. Deas is the medical director of the Fort Worth Endoscopy Center and the Southwest Fort Worth Endoscopy Center. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. He received his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport, La., while serving in the U.S. Air Force and completed residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in gastroenterology at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He is a fellow of the ACG and the ASGE. He has served in leadership positions with ASGE and North Texas Specialty Physicians. Dr. Deas is a frequent speaker at national meetings and has published articles on achieving efficient, high-quality gastroenterology practices and endoscopy centers.
M. Brian Fennerty, MD (Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.) — Dr. Fennerty is the president-elect of the ASGE and section chief of gastroenterology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Ore. He is also a professor of medicine at OSHU. Dr. Fennerty is an authority on gastroesophageal reflux disease, Barrett's esophagus and Helicobacter pylori. He has published more than 300 papers, book chapters and abstracts and is currently the editor of Journal Watch Gastroenterology and Reviews in Gastroenterological Disorders and the past associate editor of American Journal of Gastroenterology and Clinical Perspectives in Gastroenterology. Dr. Fennerty is a past member and current consultant of the FDA Advisory Panel on Gastrointestinal and Urological Devices as well as the past chair of the Imaging and Advanced Technology section of the AGA and the Research Committee of the ASGE.
David Fleischer, MD (Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix) — Dr. Fleischer is chair of the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Mayo Clinic Arizona. He attended medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and completed his internship and residence at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital. He completed his fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology and his research interests include endoscopy, esophageal cancer, GI bleeding, capsule endoscopy and endoscopic therapy for Barrett's esophagus.
James T. Frakes, MD (Rockford Gastroenterology Associates, Rockford, Ill.) — Dr. Frakes is in private practice at Rockford Gastroenterology Associates and an expert in therapeutic pancreaticobiliary endoscopy. Dr. Frakes has authored more than 100 publications in distinguished scientific journals, edited four books and written 13 book chapters dealing with gastrointestinal endoscopy. In 2007, he received two major industry awards — he was recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the ASGE for long-term contributions to the field and was designated a Master of the ACG for stature and achievement in clinical gastroenterology and teaching and contributions to the ACG. Dr. Frakes is a past president of the ASGE and has served on numerous ASGE committees and several committees of the AGA and ACG and the World Gastroenterology Organization.
Gary Gitnick, MD (University of California, Los Angeles) — Dr. Gitnick is a professor of medicine and chief of the division of digestive diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. He leads the largest gastroenterology division in the world with 80 full-time faculty members, 99 employees and a multi-million dollar budget. He received his medical degree at the University of Chicago, after which he completed an internship at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. From there he completed internal medicine and gastroenterology subspecialty training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. and also spent three years as a research associate at the National Institutes of Health. He joined the faculty at the UCLA in 1969. He was chief of staff of the UCLA Medical Center and was medical director of the UCLA Health Care Programs. Dr. Gitnick has produced over 300 publications and is the author or editor of more than 60 books.
Gail A. Hecht, MD (University of Illinois at Chicago) — Dr. Hecht is the current president of the AGA and is the chief and section head of the Section of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She attended medical school at Loyola University in Maywood, Ill., and completed her residency at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She completed a fellowship at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in gastroenterology. Her current research interests include the interaction of enteric bacterial pathogens with host intestinal epithelial cells and the mechanisms by which epithelial function is altered as a result of these infections.
Reed B. Hogan, MD (GI Associates and Endoscopy Center, Jackson, Miss.) — Dr. Hogan is a gastroenterologist at GI Associates and Endoscopy Center in Jackson, Miss. He is board certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine. Dr. Hogan is both an accomplished speaker and writer in the field of gastroenterology and has published numerous articles on the subject. He received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, completed his residency and internship in internal medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center and completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at Baylor University Medical Center. Dr. Hogan is a member of the Mississippi State Medical Association, the AMA, the ASGE and the AGA.
David A. Johnson, MD (Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va.) — Dr. Johnson is a professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va. His primary research interests are esophageal and colon disease. He has been involved extensively in committees of the national GI societies and is a past president of the ACG. Dr. Johnson worked to enact the historic first legislation to mandate colon cancer screening with colonoscopy as the preferred standard. He has served as a primary advisor for national Medicare GI issues on endoscopy (CMS advisory committee) and has co-chaired the national Gastroenterology Medicare advisors. He is a co-author of the US Multisociety Task Force on Colorectal Cancer guidelines for colon cancer screening and surveillance, the ACG colon cancer screening guidelines, the joint guidelines from the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Multisociety Task Force on Colorectal Cancer and the American College of Radiology guidelines on screening and surveillance for the early detection of colorectal cancer and adenomatous polyps.
Anthony Kalloo, MD (John Hopkins University, Baltimore) — Dr. Kalloo is chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Johns Hopkins University. His interests include natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery, therapeutic endoscopy and sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. After receiving his medical degree at the University of West Indies Medical School, Dr. Kalloo interned at Port of Spain General Hospital in Trinidad and performed his internal medicine rotation at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He performed his fellowship training at the combined Georgetown University, VA Medical Center and NIH program. He was an instructor in medicine at Georgetown prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1988. He has written numerous papers and book chapters and is considered a pioneer of natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery.
Philip O. Katz, MD (Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia) — Dr. Katz is the current president of the ACG, chairman of the division of gastroenterology at Albert Einstein Medical Center and a clinical professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He is also an associate program director for the internal medicine residency in the Department of Medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center. He served as chairman for the department of medicine and chief of the division of gastroenterology at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia from 1999-2003. He received his medical degree from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. He served his residency and chief residency in internal medicine, followed by a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He completed a faculty development fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. A recognized national authority on esophageal disease, Dr. Katz's research interests include all aspects of gastroesophageal reflux disease, including nocturnal recovery of gastric acid secretion during proton pump inhibitor therapy and esophageal pain perception.
James S. Leavitt, MD (Miami Endoscopy Center, Miami) — Dr. Leavitt is an assistant clinical professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine Department of Gastroenterology and a physician at the Miami Endoscopy Center and the Gastroenterology Care Center. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the State University of New York Downstate Medical School. He completed his medical internship and residency and his gastroenterology fellowship at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Dr. Leavitt is board certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine. He has served as a member of the ACG's practice management committee.
Arthur McCullough, MD (Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland) — Dr. McCullough is the chair of the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Cleveland Clinic and is vice-chairman of research and education at Cleveland Clinic's Digestive Disease Institute. He attended medical school at SUNY Health Science Center at University Hospital of Syracuse, N.Y., and he completed his internship and residency at Cleveland Clinic and a fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He has served as president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and helped develop a non-invasive test for liver disease without needing a liver biopsy.
Steven J. Morris, MD, JD (Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates, Atlanta) — Dr. Morris is CEO and co-founder of Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates, a 47-physician GI group based in the Greater Atlanta Metropolitan area, and a clinical associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Morris received his medical degree from the University at Buffalo in N.Y. Following his internship and residency at Emory University Affiliated Hospitals in Atlanta, Dr. Morris completed a fellowship in digestive diseases at the University of Miami. He also holds a juris doctorate from the Georgia State University College of Law. Dr. Morris is a member of numerous professional associations including the AMA, the AGA, the Medical Association of Atlanta, the Medical Association of Georgia and the Georgia Gastrointestinal Society. He is past president of the Georgia Gastrointestinal Society and previously served as chief of staff at Emory University Hospital Midtown Hospital.
Irving Pike, MD (Gastroenterology Consultants, Virginia Beach, Va.) — Dr. Pike is president of Gastroenterology Consultants in Virginia Beach, Va. His special interests are endoscopic management of biliary and pancreatic disease, inflammatory bowel disease and the prevention of colon cancer. He is a member of the ACG Board of Trustees and the current co-chair of the ASGE Ambulatory Endoscopy Center Special Interest Group. From 1994-2005, he served as an executive council member and a physician member of Re-inventing Sentara and was the medical director for continuing education and business education for physicians for Sentara Healthcare as well as vice president of medical affairs for Sentara Bayside Hospital. He is a member of the American College of Physician Executives, the AGA, the ASGE, the Medical Society of Virginia and the Virginia Beach Medical Society.
Daniel K. Podolsky, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston) — Dr. Podolsky is chief of the gastrointestinal unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine and faculty dean for academic programs at Partners for Harvard Medical School and the chief academic officer at Partners HealthCare System. Dr. Podolsky received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology, and his research interests include laboratory investigation of basic mechanisms contributing to gastrointestinal tract injury and the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases.
Douglas K. Rex, MD (Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.) — Dr. Rex is the chancellor's professor of gastroenterology and professor of medicine at Indiana University. He is also director of endoscopy at the Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis. His research areas of interest have been colorectal disease and, in particular, colorectal cancer screening and the technical performance of colonoscopy. He co-authored the colorectal cancer screening recommendations of the ACG and those of the Gastroenterology Consortium. He has authored more than 110 original research papers, 50 book chapters, 100 invited papers and editorials and 15 guideline papers. He is an associate editor of Journal Watch Gastroenterology and Reviews on Gastroenterological Disorders, and is a member of the editorial boards of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, World Journal of Gastroenterology and Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He was also chairman of the board of governors, secretary and treasurer of the ACG and is a past president.
Robert A. Sable, MD (Riverdale Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Bronx, N.Y.) — Dr. Sable is a physician with Riverdale Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases in Bronx, N.Y., and has served as the medical staff president of Montefiore Medical Center and St. Barnabas Hospital, both located in Bronx. He attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center. He went on to receive his training in gastroenterology at the New York Medical College. He then began his practice in gastroenterology and, along with Isadore Gutwein, MD, founded Riverdale Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases in 1981. Dr. Sable is a member of the AMA, the AGA, the ASGE, the New York Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the Medical Society of the State of New York and the Bronx Count Medical Society. He is also a fellow of the ACG and the ACP.
Robert S. Sandler, MD (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.) — Dr. Sandler is a professor of medicine and epidemiology and chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is also the longstanding director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, an NIH-funded Digestive Disease Research Core Center that is based at UNC and North Carolina State University. Dr. Sandler has served as president of the AGA, and is a nationally known scholar and lecturer. He has published numerous articles in nationally circulated journals, and served as an associate editor of the journal Gastroenterology and on the editorial boards of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and the International Journal of Gastroenterology.
Harry Sarles Jr., MD (Digestive Health Associates of Texas, Garland, Texas) — Dr. Sarles is a gastroenterologist with the Digestive Health Associates of Texas, located in Garland, Texas. His areas of clinical interest include colon cancer screening, pancreato-biliary problems of the GI tract, gastrointestinal bleeding problems and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Dr. Sarles currently serves numerous roles in many professional societies and is the current secretary of the ACG and chairman of the legislative affairs committee for the Texas Society for Gastroenterology and Endoscopy. Dr. Sarles completed medical school and his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He completed a gastroenterology fellowship at the VA Hospital in Phoenix through the University of Arizona.|
Leonard Stein, MD (Long Island Center for Digestive Health, Long Island, N.Y.) — Dr. Stein is the medical director at the Long Island Center for Digestive Health, an ambulatory endoscopy center Garden City, N.Y. The facility, opened in 2006, is AAAHC-accredited and performs approximately 6,000 procedures per year. Its endoscopists are physician members of Gastroenterology Associates, PC, a single-specialty group also located in Garden City. Dr. Stein completed a gastroenterology fellowship at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. He completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology and a fellow of the ACP and the ACG. He also serves as a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Ian L. Taylor, MD (SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.) — Dr. Taylor is the senior vice president for biomedical education and research and dean of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. He is also the current president-elect of the AGA. A native of Liverpool, England, and a graduate of the medical school there, he most recently was associate senior vice president for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans. Prior to holding that position, he was chairman of the Department of Medicine and president of the University Medical Associates at the Medical University of South Carolina, and before that director of the Division of Gastroenterology at Duke University.
Jacques Van Dam, MD, PhD (Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.) — Dr. Van Dam is the current president of the ASGE and a professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at Stanford University. He also serves as a visiting scientist at MIT's Laser Biomedical Research and has served as president of the Bockus International Society of Gastroenterology. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University and completed his residency at New England Deaconness Hospital in Massachusetts. He completed fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital, Cleveland Clinic and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. His current research efforts include developing methods for the endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal cancer and the application of Raman and light-scattering spectroscopy to endoscopic imaging. Dr. Van Dam is an NIH-funded investigator and the author of more than 300 scientific papers, reviews and abstracts.
Kenneth K. Wang, MD (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.) — Dr. Wang is the director of the Advanced Endoscopy Group and Esophageal Neoplasia Clinic, and a consultant in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Wang has built his research career on aspects of Barrett's esophagus and early esophageal carcinomas. He has been recognized for his work in many ways including his selection by the National Cancer Institute to be a full member of the Progress Review Group in upper GI carcinomas. He has also served with the Early Detection Research Network of the National Cancer Institute. Most recently, he has been appointed to the National Commission on Digestive Diseases in the Gastrointestinal Neoplasia section. He has served on numerous NIH panels examining Barrett's esophagus and novel imaging techniques of the gastrointestinal tract and currently serves as secretary of the ASGE. He received his medical degree from Wayne State University and completed his residency and fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.
James J. Weber, MD (Texas Digestive Disease Consultants, Dallas) — Dr. Weber is president of Texas Digestive Disease Consultants, which has 17 offices around the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, and he completed his residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital and his gastroenterology fellowship at Baylor University, both located in Dallas. He specializes in colorectal cancer prevention and irritable bowel disease. Dr. Weber is an active member of several professional societies including the AGA, the ACG, the ASGE, the Texas Medical Association and the Tarrent County Medical Society.