As an organization, AGA has invested heavily in programs and initiatives to support the professional development of its members across career stages. This includes programs such as the AGA-AASLD Academic Skills Workshop (in which I was fortunate to participate in 2016), Women’s Leadership and Executive Leadership Conferences (with the Midwest Women in GI Regional Workshop taking place later this month), and the AGA Research Foundation Awards Program, which distributes over $2 million in funding annually to support promising early career and senior investigators.
AGA’s Fostering Opportunities Resulting in Workforce and Research Diversity (FORWARD) Program, which was first funded by the National Institutes of Health in 2018 and is focused on improving the diversity of the GI research workforce, is another shining example. Led by Dr. Byron Cryer and Dr. Sandra Quezada, the program recently welcomed its 3rd cohort of participants, including 14 mentees and 28 senior and near-peer mentors.
We are pleased to frequently highlight these programs in the pages of GI & Hepatology News, and hope you enjoy learning more about each of these initiatives in future issues.
University of Michigan
Dr. Megan A. Adams
In this month’s issue of GIHN, we highlight AGA’s newest Clinical Practice Guideline focused on management of pouchitis. We also report on the results of a recent RCT published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating the efficacy of thalidomide as a treatment for recurrent bleeding due to small-intestinal angiodysplasia and summarize other key journal content impacting your clinical practice. In our February Member Spotlight, we feature Dr. Rajeev Jain of Texas Digestive Disease Consultants, a former AGA Governing Board member, and learn about his advocacy work to improve patient care and reduce physician burnout through insurance coverage and MOC reform. We hope you enjoy this, and all the exciting content included in our February issue!
Megan A. Adams, MD, JD, MSc
Editor-in-Chief
