The University of Arizona Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology will host two important events this fall—a Gastroenterology/Hepatology Community Meeting on Oct. 17 and an inflammatory bowel disease training workshop on Nov. 17 facilitated by the University of Chicago’s David Rubin, MD, and Cornerstones Health of Los Angeles.
■ Gastroenterology/Hepatology Community Meeting
Oct. 17, 6-8 p.m.
Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch & Resort
5501 N. Hacienda del Sol Road, Tucson, AZ 85718
The community meeting is the second for the division this year, the first held April 27—also at the Hacienda del Sol. They’re designed to increase engagement and communication between clinicians in the division and those in private practice or otherwise practicing in the area.
Among topics at the first meeting, Hemanth Gavini, MD, MPH, gave a presentation on “Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy: Past, Present & Future,” and Peter Lance, MD, deputy director, UA Cancer Center – Phoenix, and chief cancer prevention and control officer, UA College of Medicine – Tucson, discussed his high-risk adenoma trial, which started June 5, and extended an open invitation to a HepatoPancreaticoBiliary Tumor Conference held every Friday morning at Banner – UMC Tucson. Several suggestions were made to make the events valuable to the group professionally and to foster the useful exchange of information.
At the Oct. 17 meeting, Jen-Jung Pan, MD, a new associate professor in the division, medical director of liver transplant and a research associate at the UA Thomas D. Boyer Liver Institute, will give a presentation on Banner – UMC Tucson’s liver program. AbbVie Pharmaceuticals, which is sponsoring the meeting, will have an exhibitor table set up. The structure of future meetings and topics, such as gut/journal club, lecture series, etc., will be discussed.
“The goal is really to see how we can help each other,” said Steve Goldschmid, MD, interim division chief.
The outreach effort comes at an opportune time in that it coincides with a lengthy $3.4 million renovation and expansion of the old GI Lab and adjacent 2 East patient unit on Banner – UMC Tucson’s second floor. The new Endoscopy unit has added 4,000 square feet to the service area and improved the experience for patients undergoing endoscopic procedures. Renovation work continues to better accommodate pediatric patients requiring endoscopy. That work should be completed this fall. The first adult patients in the new space were seen in early July, according to the BUMG Wildcat Connection newsletter’s final issue on July 19.
■ Cornerstones Inflammatory Bowel Disease Round Table
Nov. 17, 3:30-5:30 p.m.
UA College of Medicine – Tucson, Room 6302
1501 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721
Cornerstones Health is a non-profit medical education company founded by gastroenterologists with a mission of delivering original and highly customized education to colleagues and trainees. This is a competency-based curriculum that has been developed by their faculty to meet the needs of our faculty and colleagues and answer some of our most challenging questions. Facilitating this round table will be Dr. Rubin, a nationally recognized authority on digestive disease, investigational therapies and medical ethics. He also serves as a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and is co-director of the medical center's Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center. A maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ are available to participants. For an overview of the course, 
click here [PDF].
Questions on either event? Contact Linda Gonzalez, (520) 626-3992 or lgonzalez@deptofmed.arizona.edu