Author: Praveen Suthrum

The pillars of academic promotion include clinical service, research, teaching, and public engagement. Although women are more likely than men to pursue a career in academia after a gastroenterology fellowship (40% of women vs 25% of men choose this path), gender disparity in research and academic leadership remains. For example, only one woman was appointed assistant professor in all gastroenterology and hepatology divisions of university hospital centres in France in 2017–18, whereas ten men were appointed full professors and seven were appointed associate professors in that same period. 

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Freenome, a privately held biotech company, announced the completion of enrollment for PREEMPT CRC, the company’s large, prospective study to validate its blood test for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among average-risk adults. The test uses Freenome’s multiomics platform, which combines both tumor and non-tumor signals with machine learning to detect cancer in the earliest, most treatable stages using a standard blood draw. PREEMPT CRC builds on data demonstrating a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 94% for detecting early-stage (I/II) CRC, and additional data highlighting the significance of detecting adenomas. 

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The buzz about artificial intelligence in gastroenterology has yet to settle. Here’s a pulse check on where AI stands in the GI industry today. A study published in Gastroenterology showed that using artificial intelligence during colonoscopies may help decrease adenoma miss rates. In the study, AI-assisted colonoscopies saw an adenoma miss rate of 15.5 percent, compared to 32.4 percent with the standard colonoscopy.

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Dr. Sameer Berry is the Chief Medical Officer of Oshi Health, and he shines a light on the challenges patients face from gastrointestinal conditions and the lack of effective treatments available from doctors for GI-related symptoms. While the reimbursement and payment model discourages a team approach to treating these patients, Oshi Health is taking a multidisciplinary integrated healthcare approach with a focus on the enteric nervous system.  Sameer explains, “Where this comes from is the understanding that anatomically, there’s actually an entirely separate nervous system that exists in the GI tract, and it’s called the enteric nervous system. 

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Every day, vital information about your health is flushed down the toilet – literally. Bowel movements contain a veritable treasure trove of biomarkers that can uncover a wide array of conditions, from things you lack in your diet to deadly diseases, including COVID-19. “Assessing fecal matter can help doctors detect certain types of cancers, give insight into the microbiome, and provide a deeper look into nutrition and lifestyle habits,” says Jessie Ge, MD, of the Department of Urology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

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NAPLES, Florida — In this video, Jana G. Al Hashash, MD, MS, discusses her presentation on malignancies in IBD from the 2022 ACG/FGS Annual Spring Symposium. “Patients with [IBD] are at increased risk of certain malignancies due to their underlying condition or the medications that we use to treat this condition,” Al Hashash, a gastroenterologist and faculty member at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, told Healio.

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How should disappearing colorectal liver metastases be managed? This topic was debated at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care by Thomas Aloia, MD, the vice president and director of the oncology service at Ascension Health, in Houston, and Laleh Melstrom, MD, MS, an assistant professor of surgery and immuno-oncology at City of Hope National Medical Center in Glendora, Calif.

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