Tuesday, February 25, 2025

DIGESTIVE DISEASE NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

LETTER FROM THE DIVSION DIRECTOR

Dear Colleagues,

I am excited to share this year’s newsletter with you. Congratulations to all our faculty, fellows, and staff for their accomplishments. As we begin 2025, we are planning to focus on clinical expansion at various sites, including Emory Decatur Hospital (EDH), Emory St. Joseph's Hospital (St. Joe's), Atlanta VA, and Grady Memorial Hospital. At Grady, the plan is full utilization of the outpatient endoscopy unit- Correll Pavilion.

At EDH, the hospitalist program will be established and there are plans to use the third endoscopy room. At St. Joe's, the focus is on the expansion of the GI service line and intestinal ultrasound program. At the VA, there will be both clinical expansion and expansion of the research portfolio. A major focus for our GI division this year is the launching of the IBD center, as mentioned below. We also have several exciting events planned for the faculty, fellows, and staff, and I hope all of you can join.

Shanthi Srinivasan, MD

LAUNCHING THE IBD CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

IBD TEAM
(L-R) Heba Iskandar, MD, Sobia Mujtaba, MD, Harini Naidu, MD, Jasna Beard, MD, Mohammed Razvi, MD, Ankita Tirath, MD, Tanvi Dhere, MD, David Eskreis, MD, Meena Prasad, MD, Chengcheng Ye, MD, Anju Sharma, RD, Lisa Woolard, Pharm D, Lisa Jewell, NP, APRN, FNP-C, Angela Ward, MSN, FNP-BC, DNP, Meagan O'Brien Winarski, MS, APP

Our IBD Center of Excellence will strive to be a leader in patient care, education, and research for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis by integrating innovative treatment programs, leveraging advanced technology, and fostering multidisciplinary collaboration to address the unique needs of our diverse patient population. Our GI division includes multiple practice sites that represent a full spectrum of socioeconomic and demographic diversity. Emory University is recognized worldwide as the premier academic center in the Atlanta area. This will enhance our recognition as a site of excellence.

The mission is to provide world-class, multidisciplinary care while advancing the science of IBD management through innovative research and education. The center will focus on improving patient outcomes and quality of life while contributing to the development of new treatments and therapies.

Strategic Objectives

Deliver evidence-based, patient-centered care.
Foster a multidisciplinary approach to IBD management.
Enhance patient education and support services.
Advance IBD research through clinical trials and translational studies.
Develop educational programs for healthcare providers and trainees.
Achieve national recognition as a leader in IBD care and innovation.

IBD Updates of interest towards our objectives:

Patient care: We are continuing our presence in our multidisciplinary IBD patient meetings involving colorectal surgery, radiology, pathology.
Submission of proposal for GI/IBD psychology services.
Nurse navigator services for IBD patients/referrals and to improve nursing care in IBD.

Provider and patient education:

We are inviting a national leader in IBD to be a speaker in September 2025 for the inaugural grand rounds of the academic year and celebrating/announcing our IBD Center. Please submit any speaker suggestions to Dr. Iskandar.
Work towards a IBD dedicated CME program by Emory University in April 2026
IBD LIVE national conference participation/presentations

IBD research

Fellow and faculty-led initiatives for both quality of care and research collaborations across our sites:
Dr. Carolyn Brooks, Dr. Victorial Earl, Dr. Anshika Kare, Dr. Tanvi Dhere led by Dr. Cindy Ye: Linkage to care in IBD project
Dr. Aaron Hein and Dr. Andres Rodriguez, led by Dr. Sobia Mujtaba: DVT prophylaxis QI for inpatients with IBD, Increasing use of fecal calprotectin in IBD inpatients

Advocacy/Community engagement

IBD Faculty presence in the TORCH gala honoring Dr. Cary Sauer from Emory Pediatric GI
Emory team with expanded size at the Take Steps Walk followed by a team picnic - please email Dr. Iskandar if you are interested in involvement with planning, we are looking for members from all sites!

IBD CLINICAL TRIALS

Ulcerative Colitis:

Phase 3 study of MK-7240 for moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis (Humanized monoclonal antibody that binds human tumor necrosis factor-like cytokine 1A (TL1A)
Double-blind (Induction Period, Maintenance Period, and Extension Period)
Unblinded Open-Label (Reinduction Period)
Phase 2 study evaluating the efficacy and safety of oral TAK-279 in subjects with moderately to severely active Ulcerative Colitis. (*TYK 2 inhibitor, oral small molecule)

Crohn’s Disease:

Phase 2b study evaluating the efficacy and safety of oral TAK-279 in subjects with moderately to severely active Crohn’s Disease. (TYK 2 inhibitor. oral small molecule)
Risankizumab Subcutaneous Induction Treatment for moderately to severely active Crohn's Disease.
If you are interested in referring to any of these trials, please contact Leela at 404-747-8792.IGES

DIGESTIVE DISEASES RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

WHITEHEAD RESEARCH GROUP

MEET THE TEAM

Charles Cho, MD, PhD - The Cho lab focuses on how pancreatic acinar cells respond to injury, undergo metaplasia, and serve as a source of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, with a special interest in the ribosomal and translational changes that occur during these processes.

Adam Gracz, PhD- The Gracz lab focuses on how transcription and chromatin regulation facilitate cellular "decision making", allowing stem cells and mature cells to adopt and maintain different functional states .

Peijian He, PhD- The He lab focuses on identifying on identifying novel molecules and pathways that regulate intestinal iron absorption in metabolic diseases including diabetes and non-alcoholic liver diseases (NAFLD).

Anand Jain, MD - Dr. Jain's research focuses on esophageal motility disorders, particularly achalasia and esophagogastic junction outflow obstruction (EGJOO). His work integrates novel technologies such as functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP) technology towards improving our understanding of the physiological basis of disease with intent to improve clinical outcomes. His lab also explores mechanisms of fibrosis and immune responses in the lower esophageal sphincter. Additionally, he investigates novel treatment protocols and multi-state modeling of patient outcomes.

Wendy McKimpson, PhD - The McKimpson lab focuses on the prevalence of diabetes and obesity continues to escalate worldwide. An important contributor to the progression of disease is the failure of hormone-producing endocrine cells, however, much remains unknown about how this happens. My laboratory investigates fundamental signaling mechanisms of endocrine cells, particularly pancreatic beta-cells and gut enteroendocrine cells, in the pathophysiology of diabetes and obesity. The goal of this research is to identify novel therapeutic strategies to ameliorate human disease.

Shanthi Srinivasan, MD - The Srinivasan Digestive Diseases lab utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to discover factors that contribute to gastrointestinal motility disorders with a focus on changes in the enteric nervous system. The laboratory utilizes various techniques to assess the enteric nervous system including cell culture and rodent models, confocal image analysis and, more recently, spatial transcriptomics. Another major focus of the laboratory is the role of neurotrophic factors in Metabolic dysfunction Associated Steatotic Liver Disease, with a special focus on GDNF. Using murine and cell culture models, we are investigating the mechanisms of GDNF influencing steatotic liver disease.

Chris Yun, PhD - Dr. Yun's digestive diseases lab is a richly diverse lab utilizing in vitro and in vivo techniques to elucidate various pathways involved in acute diarrhea, colorectal cancer (CRC), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The overall theme of research in our laboratory is the molecular and cellular mechanisms of signal transduction in the intestinal epithelial cells. Our focuses are on two premises. First, understanding the mechanisms of regulation of Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger NHE3 and, second, elucidating the role of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) in modulating colon cancer and intestinal inflammation.

Research Highlights

Cho CJ, Nguyen T, Rougeau AK, Huang Y-Z, To S, Lin X, Thallala Gamage S, Meier JL, Mills JC. Inhibition of Ribosome Biogenesis in vivo Causes p53-Dependent Death and p53-Independent Dysfunction. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. (Accepted Manuscript, Co-corresponding author) doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.25.614959

He, Peijian -R01 grant "The role of frataxin in liver injury". scored in the top 3 percentile.

Hrncir HR, Bombin S, Goodloe B, Hogan CB, Jadi O, Gracz AD. Sox9 links biliary maturation to branching morphogenesis. bioRxiv [Preprint].
2024 Jan 16:2024.01.15.574730. doi:10.1101/2024.01.15.574730. PMID: 38293117. In press, Nature Communications

McKimpson, Wendy - R03 grant “Mechanisms of obesity-related altered stomach plasticity”.

Congratulations Saurabh Chawla, MD - PRECEDE Grant

The Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection (PRECEDE) Consortium is an international, multi-institutional collaborative group of experts to increase survival for pancreatic cancer patients by improving early detection, screening, risk modeling, and prevention for those with a heritable risk for pancreatic cancer through a novel model of collaboration and data sharing. PRECEDE’s mission is to transform the early detection and prevention of pancreatic cancer, with the aim of increasing the 5-year survival rate from 10% to 50% within the next 10 years.

DIGESTIVE DISEASES CONFERENCES

Monday, February 24, 5–6 p.m. | GI Grand Rounds - "Research" | Calhoun Aud/ Zoom
Friday, February 28, 7–8 a.m. | Core Lecture - "GTE Review" | Zoom
Monday, March 3, 5–6 p.m. | GI Grand Rounds - "Sleep & Fatigue" | Zoom
Friday, March 7, 7–8 a.m. | Core Lecture - GI Jeopardy | Conference RM 200 (Whitehead)
Monday, March 10, 5–6 p.m. | GI Grand Rounds "M&M" | Zoom
Thursday, March 13, 4 -5 p.m. | EDDI Symposium
Friday, March 14, 7–8 a.m. | Core Lecture - "ALF" | Zoom
Monday, March 17, 5–6 p.m. | GI Grand Rounds - "Transplant Oncology"| Zoom
Friday, March 21, 7–8 a.m. | Core Lecture - "ACLF" | Zoom
Monday, March 24, 5–6 p.m. | GI Grand Rounds - "Academic Debate" | Zoom
Friday, March 28, 7–8 a.m. | Core Lecture - "Journal Club" | Zoom
Monday, March 31, 5-6p.m| GI Grand Rounds - "AI for Health" |Zoom
Friday, April 4, 5–6 p.m. | Core Lecture - "GI Imaging" | Zoom
Monday, April 7, 5–6 p.m. | No GI Grand Rounds/Spring Break
Thursday, April 10, 12-5 pm | EDDI -Sitaraman Symposium
Friday, April 11, 7–8 a.m. | Core Lecture - "DILI" | Zoom
Monday, April 14, 5–6 p.m. | GI Grand Rounds - "Morbidity & Mortality" | Zoom
Friday, April 18, 7–8 a.m. | Core Lecture - "Chronic Pancreatitis" | Zoom

For a full list of our Digestive Disease events and lectures, please visit our Division's Calendar of Events by clicking the button below.

DIGESTIVE DISEASES UPCOMING EVENTS

CCFA Walk: Saturday, April 26 | Blackburn Park, Brookhaven, GA
Emory DDW Reception: Sunday, May 4 | San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, San Diego, CA
Emory Fellow Graduation Dinner: Friday, June 13 | Emory Conference Center Hotel - Silverbell Pavillion
Fall Faculty/Fellows Event: Saturday, August 23 | TBD
All Faculty Dinner/Awards Celebration: Thursday, September 18 | TBD
Holiday/New Years party: Sunday, January 11, 2026 | TBD

For a full list of our Digestive Disease events and lectures, please visit our Division's Calendar of Events by clicking the button below.

DIGESTIVE DISEASE CALENDAR

FELLOWS CORNER

ANNOUNCING THE 2025–2026 GI FELLOWSHIP CHIEF FELLOWS

Nikita Desai, MD

Aaron Hein, MD

EMOROID DIGEST

Reminder to check out the Emoroid Digest App!

Get our content on the go on your mobile devices and help deliver evidence-based care to your patients! Download for FREE now on Apple Store or Google Play.

DIGESTIVE DISEASE FELLOW AWARDS

Congratulations Luis Nieto, MD!

2024 ACG Auxiliary Award (Trainee)

Title of abstract - “GLP-1 Agonists Use is Associated with Lower Use of PPI and Do Not Worsen Outcomes in Patients With GERD: A National Database Analysis” (Paper #37)

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AWARD

Congratulations Ghady Moafa, MD!

ACG Question of the Week - 2nd Quarter Winner

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS AWARD

Congratulations to Smit Deliwala, MD!

2024 FITE travel award at DDW for outstanding abstract

Selected for North American Conference of GI fellows (top 15 abstracts from the country are selected)

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS AWARD

NEW FELLOWS

The Division of Digestive Diseases is excited to welcome our new GI Fellows!

Rabih Ghazi, MD, First-Year GI Fellow

Hometown: Koura, Lebanon
Medical School: Lebanese American University
Residency: Cooper University
Interest within GI: Advanced Endoscopy, Obesity Medicine, Medical Education

Sheza Malik, MD, First-Year GI Fellow

Hometown: Islamabad, Pakistan
Medical School: Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Residency: Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY
Interest within GI: General GI, Liver Disease

Maya Patel, MD, First-Year GI Fellow

Hometown: Scottsdale, AZ
Medical School: University of Arizona College of Medicine- Phoenix
Residency: Emory University School of Medicine
Interest Within GI: General GI, Quality Improvement, Colorectal Cancer Screening

Temitope Olasehinde, MD, First Year GI Fellow

Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Medical School: Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Residency: Case Western Reserve University/ University Hospitals
Interest within GI: General GI/IBD, Medical Education, Health Disparities

Camilo Acosta, MD, Advanced Endoscopy Fellow

Hometown: Miami, FL Medical School: Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Residency: University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital Interests within GI: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Endoscopy, Innovation in GI

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS

Welcome, Alejandro Jose "AJ" Rodriguez!!!

Arrived February 1, 2025. Congratulations to Dr. Andres Rodriguez!

Welcome, August Xin Ye!!!

Arrived October 16, 2024. Congratulations to Dr. Cindy Ye!

Welcome, Ever Louise Earl!!!

Arrived July 13, 2024. Congratulations to Dr. Victoria Earl!

PUBLICATIONS FROM DIGESTIVE DISEASE FACULTY MEMBERS
October 1, 2024–January 31, 2025

Acute Venous Thromboembolism Is Common Following Acute Necrotizing Pancreatitis and Is Associated With Worse Clinical Outcomes. Singh RR, Thandassery RB, Chawla S. Pancreas. 2024 Nov-Dec 01;53(10):e802-e807. doi: 10.1097/MPA.0000000000002375. Epub 2024 Jun 3. PMID: 38820453

AI in Hepatology: Revolutionizing the Diagnosis and Management of Liver Disease. Malik S, Das R, Thongtan T, Thompson K, Dbouk N.J Clin Med. 2024 Dec 22;13(24):7833. doi: 10.3390/jcm13247833. PMID: 39768756.

An international, multicenter, survey-based analysis of practice and management of acute liver failure. Gurakar A, Conde Amiel I, Ozturk NB, Artru F, Selzner N, Psoter KJ, Dionne JC, Karvellas C, Rajakumar A, Saner F, Subramanian RM, Sun LY, Dhawan A, Coilly A.Liver Transpl. 2024 Dec 1;30(12):1217-1225. doi: 10.1097/LVT.0000000000000402. Epub 2024 May 23. PMID: 38775498

Diet-Microbiome-ENS connection: Impact of the Cafeteria Diet. Balasubramaniam A, Srinivasan S. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2025 Jan 28. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00391.2024. PMID: 39873427

Dietary fiber promotes antigen presentation on intestinal epithelial cells and development of small intestinal CD4⁺CD8αα⁺ intraepithelial T cells. Rodriguez-Marino N, Royer CJ, Rivera-Rodriguez DE, Seto E, Gracien I, Jones RM, Scharer CD, Gracz AD, Cervantes-Barragan L. Mucosal Immunol. 2024 Dec;17(6):1301-1313. doi: 10.1016/j.mucimm.2024.08.010. Epub 2024 Sep 5. PMID: 39244090.

Impact of difficult biliary cannulation on post-ERCP pancreatitis: secondary analysis of the stent versus indomethacin trial dataset. Han S, Zhang J, Durkalski-Mauldin V, Foster LD, Serrano J, Coté GA, Bang JY, Varadarajulu S, Singh VK, Khashab M, Kwon RS, Scheiman JM, Willingham FF, Keilin SA, Groce JR, Lee PJ, Krishna SG, Chak A, Slivka A, Mullady D, Kushnir V, Buxbaum J, Keswani R, Gardner TB, Wani S, Edmundowicz SA, Shah RJ, Forbes N, Rastogi A, Ross A, Law J, Yachimski P, Chen YI, Barkun A, Smith ZL, Petersen BT, Wang AY, Saltzman JR, Spitzer RL, Spino C, Elmunzer BJ, Papachristou GI; SVI Study Group. Gastrointest Endosc. 2024 Oct 9:S0016-5107(24)03548-X. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2024.10.003. PMID: 39389431

Is LPAR5 agonist a new treatment for microvilli inclusion disease? Yun CC. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2025 Jan 1;328(1):G49-G50. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00355.2024. Epub 2024 Nov 26. PMID: 39589437

Lgr5 + intestinal stem cells are required for organoid survival after genotoxic injury. Lee J, Gleizes A, Janto NV, Appell LL, Sun S, Takaesu F, Webster SF, Hailstock T, Barker N, Gracz AD. Development. 2024 Dec 1;151(23):dev202941. doi: 10.1242/dev.202941. Epub 2024 Nov 29. PMID: 39503201

Optimizing care for gastric cancer with overt bleeding: Is systemic therapy a valid option? Qayed E. World J Clin Oncol. 2025 Jan 24;16(1):100943. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i1.100943. PMID: 39867732.

Pancreas and biliary ablation devices. American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Technology Committee; Das KK, Chen D, Akshintala VS, Chen YI, Girotra M, Han S, Kahn A, Mishra G, Muthusamy VR, Obando JV, Onyimba FU, Pawa S, Rustagi T, Sakaria S, Trikudanathan G, Law R; American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Technology Committee Chair. Gastrointest Endosc. 2024 Dec;100(6):980-993. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2024.05.004. Epub 2024 Oct 11. PMID: 39396364.

Risk of De Novo Barrett's Esophagus Post Sleeve Gastrectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies With Long-Term Follow-Up. Chandan S, Khan SR, Deliwala SS, Dahiya DS, Mohan BP, Ramai D, Saghir SM, Dhindsa BS, Kassab LL, Facciorusso A, Nandipati K, Yang D, Adler DG.Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025 Jan;23(1):33-44.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2024.06.041. Epub 2024 Jul 25. PMID: 39059544

Sphincterotomy for biliary sphincter of Oddi disorder and idiopathic acute recurrent pancreatitis: the RESPOnD longitudinal cohort. Coté GA, Elmunzer BJ, Nitchie H, Kwon RS, Willingham F, Wani S, Kushnir V, Chak A, Singh V, Papachristou GI, Slivka A, Freeman M, Gaddam S, Jamidar P, Tarnasky P, Varadarajulu S, Foster LD, Cotton P. Gut. 2024 Dec 10;74(1):58-66. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2024-332686. PMID: 39244217

Submucosal injection fluid and tattoo agents. ASGE Technology Committee; Bhatt A, Bucobo JC, Abdi M, Akshintala VS, Chen D, Chen YI, Copland AP, Das KK, Desilets DJ, Girotra M, Han S, Kahn A, Krishnan K, Leung G, Lichtenstein DR, Mishra G, Muthusamy VR, Obando JV, Onyimba FU, Pawa S, Rustagi T, Sakaria SS, Saumoy M, Shahnavaz N, Trikudanathan G, Trindade AJ, Vinsard DG, Yang J, Law R; ASGE Technology Committee Chair. Gastrointest Endosc. 2024 Nov;100(5):797-806. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2024.07.002. Epub 2024 Sep 11.PMID: 39269377.

Summary: Guidewires in GI endoscopy. American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Technology Committee; Han S, Girotra M, Akshintala VS, Chen D, Chen YI, Das KK, Kahn A, Mishra G, Muthusamy VR, Obando JV, Onyimba FU, Pawa S, Rustagi T, Sakaria S, Trikudanathan G, Law RJ. Gastrointest Endosc. 2025 Jan;101(1):10-11. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2023.12.031. Epub 2024 Sep 5. PMID: 39243239

Systematic review of machine learning models in predicting the risk of bleed/grade of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis: A comprehensive methodological analysis. Malik S, Tenorio BG, Moond V, Dahiya DS, Vora R, Dbouk N.J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024 Oct;39(10):2043-2059. doi: 10.1111/jgh.16645. Epub 2024 Jun 17. PMID: 38886175

The Effect of Epidural Analgesia on In-Hospital Outcomes in Patients with Acute Pancreatitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. Moazzami B, Mohammadpour Z, Zabala ZE, Chawla S. Pancreas. 2024 Dec 2. doi: 10.1097/MPA.0000000000002444. PMID: 39626190

The Evolving Landscape of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Mortality in the US. Qayed E. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Nov 4;7(11):e2445533. doi: 10.1001 / jamanetworkopen.2024.45533. PMID: 39556399