AGA honors gastroenterology leaders with annual Recognition Awards

The American Gastroenterological Association has named the 2018 winners of its annual recognition awards, which it gives to leaders in gastroenterology for their achievements in the specialty.

“The AGA Recognition Awards provide an opportunity for AGA members to honor their colleagues and peers for outstanding contributions to the field of gastroenterology,” Sheila E. Crowe, MD, AGAF, president of the AGA Institute, said in a press release. “This year’s AGA Recognition Prize winners are just a few of the notable and talented members who help make AGA such an accomplished organization. We are honored that such esteemed and accomplished individuals are representative of AGA.”

Winners of the AGA Recognition Awards will receive their awards during Digestive Disease Week 2018 in Washington, D.C. A list of award categories and winners follows.

Julius Friedenwald Medal – Loren A. Laine, MD, AGAF

Laine — professor of medicine and director of research at Yale University School of Medicine — was awarded the AGA’s highest honor for his lifelong clinical research achievements, his role as an educator and for his decades of leadership of the AGA. Laine has served three terms on the AGA Governing Board and as the AGA Institute President, and he is known as a worldwide leader in gastrointestinal bleeding and upper gastrointestinal tract injury, according to the press release.

William Beaumont Prize – Mary K. Estes, PhD, AGAF

The William Beaumont Prize recognizes an individual who has made a unique, outstanding contribution of major importance to the field of gastroenterology. Estes, a professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, was chosen for her work on rotavirus and norovirus and its worldwide impact on patient care, according to the press release.

Distinguished Achievement Award in Basic Science – T. Jake Liang, MD, AGAF

Liang was chosen for his contributions to ground-breaking discoveries in the field of viral hepatitis. He serves as the chief of the Liver Diseases Branch and deputy director of translational research in the division of intramural research of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Distinguished Educator Award – James D. Lewis, MD, MSCE, AGAF

Lewis — a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania — was honored for his career as an educator in gastroenterology at both local and national levels.

Distinguished Mentor Award – Mary K. Estes, PhD, AGAF

Estes was recognized for her lifelong effort to mentoring trainees in the field of gastroenterology. She is the first person to receive two recognition awards in the same year.

Distinguished Clinician Award

The award is given to a physician who “combines the art of medicine with the skills demanded by the scientific body of knowledge in the service of their patients.” A recipient is chosen from both private practice and clinical academic practice. This year’s winners are:

• Private practice – Bertha E. Toriz, MD, of Minnesota Gastroenterology.
• Clinical academic practice – Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Endoscopic Innovation, Research and Training at the University of Pennsylvania.

Young Investigator Awards

The honor is awarded to individuals in clinical and basic science who have performed basic research in the field of gastroenterology, demonstrated specific achievements in the areas of digestive or liver disease research, or have performed major clinical or outcomes research in the field, according to the press release. This year’s winners are:

• Clinical Science – David S. Goldberg, MD, MSCE, medical director for living donor liver transplantation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Basic Science – Andrew D. Rhim, MD, associate director for translational research at the Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and assistant professor or internal medicine, gastroenterology, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.