Alvin J. Thompson, MD, a prominent community internist and emeritus clinical professor of medicine, died on May 21. He practiced internal medicine and gastroenterology in Seattle for 40 years and for many more years was an indefatigable activist on behalf of community health at both the local and national levels, as well as a passionate mentor of many health professionals who trained at the UW.

Dr. Thompson’s record of service is prodigious: He was a former governor of the ACP of Washington State and Alaska and a past president of the Washington State Medical Association, the Providence Medical Center Medicine Staff, the Washington State Society of Internal Medicine, the Seattle Academy of Internal Medicine, and the King County Medical Society. He was founding president of the Washington State Association for Biomedical Research and co-founder and president of the Washington State Association of Black Professionals in Health Care. He co-chaired the first King County Health Advisory Task Force and for many years worked on correctional health care, quality assurance for Medicare and Medicaid, and health-care reform. He was a longtime board member of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. He developed the unique health plan of the Seattle Model Cities program and co-chaired the task force that developed the Puget Sound Health Alliance. Read More »

Seattle Times Obituary » | GI Faculty Remember Dr. Thompson »

UWGI faculty and fellows attended Digestive Disease Week (DDW) from May 19th to May 22nd in San Diego, California. DDW is the world's largest gathering of physician's and researchers in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. Click the link below to view a complete schedule of poster sessions, topic forums, research forums, and other scientific sessions where our faculty and fellows will be presenting and discussing their work. Please visit the MyDDW Website to view abstracts and add sessions of interest to your DDW personal itinerary. View Complete UWGI Schedule of DDW Scientific Sessions »

According to a new study, led by Dr. John Inadomi, head of the UW Division of Gastroenterology, many patients are reluctant to have a colonoscopy, despite solid evidence supporting the effectiveness of screening to reduce mortality from colorectal cancer. Conducted in an urban safety-net healthcare system, 997 men and woman at an average risk for colorectal cancer were randomized and assigned, or given a choice, to have a colonoscopy or a fecal occult blood test (FOBT). FOBT is a brief screening test performed as part of a routine physical examination to detect microscopic blood in the stool, which is a possible sign of colon cancer.

The study, published in the April 9th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, aimed to determine whether the approach by which screening is recommended influences adherence. After one year of follow-up, significantly fewer people assigned to undergo colonoscopy completed their test (38%) compared with people assigned to FOBT (67%) – or those who were given a choice (69%). The study also revealed that significant racial/ethnic differences exist in screening adherence. African Americans had the lowest completion rate (48.0%), while Asians (60.7%) and Latinos (62.9%) had the highest. There were also differences in completion of FOBT vs. colonoscopy, with nonwhites more likely to complete FOBT and whites significantly more likely to complete colonoscopy, with some of these differences driven by language preferences and/or health beliefs. The study concludes that adherence may be reduced by universal recommendations for colorectal cancer screening. Patient preferences should be considered when making screening recommendations.

"The best test is the one that the patient actually performs," Dr. Inadomi said in a recent interview with HealthDay. "We should not assume that all patients prefer colonoscopy; therefore, patient preferences should be elicited to determine the test to which they are most likely to adhere."

U.S. News & World Report (HealthDay) Article »
Archives of Internal Medicine Journal Article »

Christina M. Surawicz, professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, received the UW School of Medicine Service Excellence Award in recognition of outstanding leadership. She is gastroenterology section chief at Harborview Medical Center and is also an adjunct professor of medical education and biomedical informatics.

Dr. Surawicz completed her medicine residency and fellowship in gastroenterology in the UW Department of Medicine before joining the faculty. She has served on scores of local and national working committees, held numerous positions of leadership, and earned over 30 awards and recognitions for her scholarship and clinical work. Among them are the William D. Carey Award, the Berk/Fise Clinical Achievement Award, and the Master Award from the American College of Gastroenterology, as well as many “Best Doctors” designations. She was honored by the National Library of Medicine as a “Local Legend” for outstanding contribution to the community. She is a past president of the American College of Gastroenterology, the Pacific NW Gastroenterology Society, and the Western Association of Physicians. She is an authority on C. difficile infection and other bowel disorders, as well as a dedicated teacher and mentor.

For the past decade Dr. Surawicz has served with distinction as assistant dean for faculty development, responsible for new faculty orientation and other development programs, the Research Funding Service, salary issues, and service on SOM advisory committees.

Said Virginia Broudy, DOM vice-chair and chief of medicine at Harborview, "Chris is an exemplary physician and is a model of bedside manner and clinical acumen. Her colleagues appreciate her excellent judgment and her ability to see solutions to clinical and administrative problems. She navigates challenging moments in medicine skillfully and straightforwardly, and models how to do so for others. The fellows appreciate that she knows them well as people, her deep clinical experience in GI, and the directed formative feedback that she provides."

Dr. Ru Chen, Research Assistant Professor in the UW Division of Gastroenterology, is the recipient of the Donald E. Bocek Endowed Research and Development Award in Pancreatic Cancer. Established in 2008 in honor of Donald E. Bocek, who is described by his family as an "exceptional man who lived an exceptional life” – this fund supports the work of junior investigators working in the field of pancreatic cancer research in a variety of multidisciplinary fields, such as gastroenterology, surgery, radiation oncology, bioengineering, medical oncology, and genome sciences.

After receiving her MS in molecular biology from the University of Michigan and her PhD in pathology from the University of Washington, Dr. Chen has focused her expertise in the area of a complex and state-of-the-art science called proteomics. A combination of protein and genome, the word proteomics refers to the study of all the proteins that make up a living organism. Not only does proteomics identify and evaluate the function of the proteins expressed by an organism, but it also studies the way they interact, the changes they undergo, and the effects that they have within the organism. This can be a daunting task -- the human proteome contains approximately 400,000 proteins. Unlike the study of genes, which remain more or less constant, proteins can occur in different locations within the body at different stages in a person's life, and change from cell to cell.

Dr. Chen’s research focuses on identifying and studying the proteins that are specific to pancreatic cancer, which is a uniformly lethal disease. Using conventional screening tests it cannot be diagnosed at an early, curable stage, and once the cancer forms, chemotherapy offers minimal improvement in survival. Earlier diagnosis and better treatments are desperately needed to improve the survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients.

By studying the proteins involved with pancreatic cancer, Dr. Chen's research is devoted to answering two clinically important questions: (1) Can early detection methods be developed for pancreatic cancer? And (2) can more effective therapies be developed? Dr. Chen's proteomic research could lead to powerful new insights into how pancreatic cancer forms. Understanding the structure and function of each protein, and the complexities of the protein-to-protein interactions involved in pancreatic cancer, will be critical for developing the most effective diagnostic techniques and disease treatments in the future, such as the development of a blood test for early detection and the potential to identify new drug therapies for treatment.

“Our understanding of how cancer develops,” says Dr. Chen “is a fundamental key to the successful selection of biomarkers of disease and the future advancement of chemotherapeutic targets.”

The UW Division of Gastroenterology is grateful for the generosity and support of the Bocek family. At the current time, with limited federal research dollars, the funding from the Donald E. Bocek Endowed Research and Development Award in Pancreatic Cancer will be particularly valuable and critical in supporting this important area of research. For more information about UW Medicine's work related to pancreatic cancer, please contact Olena Nyzhnykevych, Director for Philanthropy at olenan@uw.edu or (206) 543-8427.

Dr. Teresa Brentnall will co-host UW Medicine's 2012 Mini-Medical School program, along with Dr. Edith Cheng from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The Mini-Medical School program is a series of exciting lectures and demonstrations open to the general public. Held every Tuesday evening from February 7th to March 13, this program is designed to teach participants about medical science, patient care and leading-edge research underway at the University of Washington. UW Medicine experts will discuss what's new in predicting and preventing disease as well as the latest technologies and surgical treatments.

Dr. Brentnall is the Walters Endowed Chair and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Adjunct Professor in Pathology at UW School of Medicine. She is also the founder and director of the Pancreatic Cancer Surveillance Program at UW Medical Center. In addition to her hosting duties, Dr. Brentnall will speak at the March 13th session titled, Predicting and Preventing Disease - Early Diagnostics for All? The session will focus on evolving technologies that transform early disease detection and how researchers are pushing the envelope with a range of innovations as they aim for rapid testing at the point-of-care.
Find Out More About this Year's Program » | Register Online »