UPMC Physicians and Researchers to Present at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2019

Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2019 will be held in San Diego from May 18 to 21. UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh will be well-represented in poster presentations, panels, case studies, awards, and educational discussions. Below are some highlights:

Saturday, May 18

Main Session: Basic Themes in Pancreatic Disorders

 8:00 a.m.
Pancreatic and Hematopoietic Calcineurin Independently Mediate Pancreatic Local Injury and Distant Organ Damage During Acute Pancreatitis 

Presented by Li Wen, Tanveer Javed, Andrea Dobbs, Rebecca Brown, Xiangwei Xiao, Craig Byersdorfer, Sohail Z. Husain

8:12 a.m. 
Solute Transporter SLC26A9 Localizes to the Pancreatic Duct Cells and Variants Are Associated with Recurrent Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis in Genome-Wide Association Study of 2237 Individuals from the NAPS2 Cohort 

Presented by Brandon Michael Blobner, David C. Whitcomb, Celeste Shelton, Jessica LaRusch, Phil J. Greer, Georgios I. Papachristou, Dhiraj Yadav 

NIH, Academia, and Consortium Studies: What Should I Know?

10:00 a.m. 
How Do we Know What is Right in IV Hydration?

Presented by Georgios Papachristou

Non-Alcoholic Liver Diseases: Clinical and Experimental

Poster of Distinction
Hepatic Steatosis, Resting Metabolic Rate changes and Metabolic Adaptation: Implications for the Risk of Weight Regain After Weight Loss

Presented by Vikrant Rachakonda, James P. DeLany, Erin E. Kershaw, Jaideep Behari 

Sunday, May 19

Liver Plenary I

8:15 a.m. 

Intestinal Fungal Dysbiosis and Systemic Immune Response to Fungi in Patients with Alcoholic Hepatitis

Presented by Sonja Lang, Yi Duan, Jinyuan Liu, Meritxell Ventura-Cots, Michael R Lucey, Francisco Javier Bosques Padilla, Philippe Mathurin, Alexandre Louvet, Guadalupe Garcia-Tsao, Elizabeth C. Verna, Juan Abraldes, Robert S. Brown, Victor Vargas, Jose Altamirano, Juan Caballería, Debbie Shawcross, Samuel B. Ho, Ramon Bataller, Xin Tu, Peter Stärkel, Derrick E. Fouts, Bernd Schnabl

Meet the Professor Luncheon

12:30 p.m. 

Alcoholic Hepatitis 2019

Presented by Ramon Bataller

Rodger Haggitt Gastrointestinal pathology Society Symposium – Game Changers: Pathology Updates That May Change Your Practice 

5:00 p.m. 

Integrating DNA Molecular Testing into the Routine Evaluation of Pancreatic Cysts 

Presented by Kevin McGrath, Aatur Singhi

Monday, May 20

Colorectal Cancer Screening and Surveillance: When to Start, at What Interval and When to Stop.

8:00 a.m.  

What is the Optimal Age to Start Average Risk CRC Screening – A Review of the Evidence

Presented by Robert Schoen

Pancreas Cysts, IPMN and Cancer: Where Do We Stand in 2019?

9:06 a.m. 

Pancreatic Cyst Biomarker Alliance: Is the (Cyst) Juice Worth the Squeeze?

Presented by Aatur Singhi

Clinical Acute Pancreatitis

11:00 a.m.

Clinical Features of Hypertriglyceridemia-Induced Acute Pancreatitis in an International, Multicenter, Prospective Cohort 

Presented by Ioannis Pothoulakis, Pedram Paragomi, Livia Archibugi, Marie Tuft, Rupjyoti Talukdar, Rakesh Kochhar, Mahesh K. Goenka, Aiste Gulla, Vikesh Singh, Jose A Gonzalez, Miguel Ferreira Bigado, Sorin Traian Barbu, Tyler Stevens, Haq Nawaz, Silvia Cristina Gutierrez, Narcis Zarnescu, Jeffrey James Easler, Konstantinos Triantafyllou, Mario Pelaez-Luna, Shyam Thakkar, Carlos Ocampo, Enrique de-Madaria, Bechien U. Wu, Gregory A. Cote, Anna E. Phillips, Gong Tang, Georgios I. Papachristou, Gabriele Capurso


11:12 a.m.

Dynamic Analysis of Patients with Acute Pancreatitis: Validation of a New Predictive Tool for Severity Assessment In a Large Prospective Cohort 

Presented by Pedram Paragomi, Daniel M. Spagnolo, Cameron Robert Breze, Amir Gougol, Mark Haupt, David C. Whitcomb, Georgios I. Papachristou

Clinical Chronic Pancreatitis

10:00 a.m.  

Pain Modulatory Phenotypes Differentiate Chronic Pancreatitis Patients with Distinct Clinical Pain Profiles 

Presented by Mahya Faghih, Anna E. Phillips, Isabelle M. Larsen, Asbjorn M. Drewes, Vikesh Singh, Dhiraj Yadav, Soren Schou Olesen


10:36 a.m. 

A Novel Method for Assessment and Characterization of Pancreatic Pain

Presented by Anna E. Phillips, Mahya Faghih, Isabelle M. Larsen, Asbjorn M. Drewes, Vikesh Singh, Dhiraj Yadav, Soren Schou Olesen 

11:12 a.m. 

Pain “Burn-Out” During the Natural Course is Indepednent of the Duration of Chronic Pancreatitis 

Presented by Kishore Vipperla, Allison Kanakis, Andrew Althouse, Adam Slivka, Georgios I. Papachristou, Randall Brand, David C. Whitcomb, Dhiraj Yadav

Advancing Clinical Practice: GI-Fellow-Directed Quality Improvement Projects (Poster Presentations)

2:00 p.m. 

Rate of Inappropriate fit Testing At a VA Health Care System 

Presented by Adam Bradley Gluskin, Jeffrey Michael Dueker, Asif Khalid


Implementation of an Acute Care Clinical Pathway for the Management of Pediatric Constipation Improves Process Control  

Presented by Vikram Kalathur Raghu, Katherine E. Gaughan, Cecilia Verner, Tracy A. Pasek, Gabriella A. Butler, Jeffrey A. Rudolph, Arvind Iyengar Srinath, Andrew R. Buchert

Farron and Martin Brotman, MD, Lecture – The Medical-Surgical Patient: Ipmact of Medical Therapy and Disease Activity on Surgery Rates and Outcomes 

2:30 p.m.
A Prominent Role for Chemokines, in Particular CXCL9, as Biomarkers Associated with Post-Operative Crohn’s Disease Recurrence

Presented by Margaret Walshe, Cristian Hernandez-Rocha, Yashoda Sharma, Dermot McGovern, Steven R. Brant, John D. Rioux, Richard H. Duerr, Mark Lazarev, Judy H. Cho, L. Philip Schumm, Mark S. Silverberg

Pancreatic Cancer

4:18 p.m. 
Cystic Fluid Analysis 

Presented by Randall E. Brand

Pancreatic Disorders (PAN) Section, Distinguished Abstract Plenary

5:02 p.m. 

Mutations in Regulatory Elements of the ATG5 Gene in Humans are Associated with Recurrent Acute Pancreatitis: Functional Validation Using Pancreas-Specific ATG5 Knockout

Presented by Tanvi Nagpal, Celeste Shelton, Phil J. Greer, David C. Whitcomb, Ilya Gukovsky, Anna Gukovskaya 


5:16 p.m. 

Validation of Pancreatitis Activity Scoring System (PASS) in a Multicenter, International Prospective Cohort: An Intercontinental Study Through Apprentice Consortium 

Presented by Pedram Paragomi, Ioannis Pothoulakis, Marie Tuft, Amir Gougol, Rupjyoti Talukdar, Rakesh Kochhar, Mahesh K. Goenka, Aiste Gulla, Vikesh Singh, Jose A Gonzalez, Miguel Ferreira Bigado, Sorin Traian Barbu, Tyler Stevens, Haq Nawaz, Silvia Cristina Gutierrez, Narcis Zarnescu, Gabriele Capurso, Jeffrey James Easler, Konstantinos Triantafyllou, Mario Pelaez-Luna, Shyam Thakkar, Carlos Ocampo, Enrique de-Madaria, Gregory A. Cote, Bechien U. Wu, Phil J. Greer, Anna E. Phillips, Gong Tang, Georgios I. Papachristou

Tuesday May 21, 2019

Clinical: Familial Cancer Risk

8:45 a.m. 

The Identification of DNA Mismatch Repair Deficiency in Non-Neoplastic Crypts by Colonoscopic Biopsy in Lynch Syndrome Patients

Presented by Randall Brand, Beth Dudley, Eve Karloski, Reet Pai

SSAT Plenary Session: HPB II
9:15 a.m. 

Long-Term Complications After Pancreaticoduodenectomy: Incidence, Outcomes and Risk Factors 

Presented by James A. Brown, Mazen Zenati, Amr Al Abbas, Asmita Chopra, Katelyn Smith, Melissa E. Hogg, Herbert J. Zeh, Amer H. Zureikat

Basic Advances in pediatric Gastroenterology

10:00 a.m. 

Priming and Maturing of the Human Fetal Immunity Occurs early in Fetal Development

Presented by Stephanie Stras, Lael Werner, Jessica Toothaker, Dror Shouval, Liza Konnikova

Early Onset Colorectal Cancer

11:00 a.m. 

Cost-Effectiveness and National Impact of Initiating Average-Risk Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Screening at Age 45 Instead of 50: Implications of The New American Cancer Society (ACS) Recommendation 

Presented by Uri Ladabaum, Ajitha Mannalithara, Reinier Meester, Samir Gupta, Robert E. Schoen

Functional Dyspepsia, Nausea and Vomiting

11:12 a.m. 

Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Practice Guidelines Committee survey of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome Criteria: Relation to Published Case Series and Individual Reports 

Presented by William L. Hasler, B. U.K. Li, David Justin Levinthal, Sally E. Tarbell, Kathleen A. Adams, Robert Issenman, Irene Sarosiek, Safwan Jaradeh, Ravi Sharaf, Shahnaz Sultan, Christopher Donald Stave, Thangam Venkatesan

Maximizing the Clinical Utility of EUS Guided Sampling

2:15 p.m. 

A Multi-Modality Test to Guide the Management of Patients with Pancreatic Cysts 

Presented by Marco Dal Molin, Simeon Springer, David Masica, Lu Li, Christopher Douville, Christopher Thoburn, Bahman Asfari, Joshua Cohen, Elizabeth Thompson, Peter Allen, David Klimstra, Mark A. Schattner, C. Max Schmidt, Michele Yip-Schneider, Rachel Elizabeth Simpson, Carlos Fernandez-Del Castillo, Mari Mino-Kenudson, William R. Brugge, Randall Brand, Aatur Singhi, Aldo Scarpa, Rita Teresa Lawlor, Roberto Salvia, Giuseppe Zamboni, Seung-Mo Hong, Dae Wook Hwang, Jin-Young Jang, Wooil Kwon, Niall Swan, Justin Geoghegan, Massimo Falconi, Stefano Crippa, Claudio Doglioni, Jorge Paulino, Richard David Schulick, Barish H. Edil, Walter G. Park, Shinichi Yachida, Susuma Hijioka, Jeanin E. Van Hooft, Jin He, Matthew J. Weiss, Richard Burkhart, Martin Makary, Marcia Irene Canto, Michael G. Goggins, Rachel Karchin, Alison Klein, Cristian Tomasetti, Nickolas Papadopoulos, Kenneth kinzler, Bert Vogelstein, Christopher L. Wolfgang, Ralph Hruban, Anne Marie Lennon

Cocktail Reception

Additionally, UPMC and the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition will be hosting a cocktail reception at DDW during the evening of Sunday, May 19 at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina. For more information about the event, and to RSVP, please click here.