Gastrointestinal (GI) Diseases Symposium 2019

Please note: this event has been canceled.

Executive Summary

In 1975 the vision for Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) was realized. The mission to improve the well-being of the individual and community students, MSM has realized that dream of training for a base focused on primary care and are now training medical and surgical specialties to help the underserved and deliver comprehensive care. MSM’s natural expansion into subspecialties has allowed for the growth of a group of researchers, gastroenterologists and surgical specialists who diagnose, treat, and advance the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases for patients in the metro-Atlanta region.

This one-day symposium will offer continuing medical education and an opportunity to engage with the community. The CME component will showcase cutting edge research and the clinical expertise of MSM faculty. The topics will showcase up-to-date clinical topics integrating timely translational research to complement clinical decision making. The symposium will be broken down into three segments 1. Foregut, 2. Hepatobiliary & Pancreas and 3. Colorectal diseases. All areas will equally highlight Gastroenterology, Medical Oncology, GI Research and Surgery Faculty. There will be an opportunity for participants to meet the experts and obtain answers to challenging clinical scenarios.

This second element of the symposium is to engage the community in a manner that would expose them to the services that are available. In addition, we will educate the community on topics in GI health and prevention. Sessions will be conducted by our world-class physicians and scientists, specialized nurse practitioner and resident leaders. Our hope is that the Atlanta community, at-large, will learn more about the offerings delivered by Morehouse School of Medicine in the realm of gastrointestinal research and treatment.

Needs Assessment

A Gastrointestinal Diseases Symposium is needed to educate both the patient population and the referring physicians of the services that MSM gastroenterologists and MSM colon and rectal, hepatobiliary, and minimally invasive surgeons provide. This symposium is also needed to highlight the productivity of Morehouse’s world renown researchers. Specifically, we need to target topics that our physicians and researchers are collaborating on such as: hepatobiliary, colon and rectal, and foregut topics.

Gap Analysis

What Is: Morehouse School of Medicine has grown tremendously over the last decade in terms of sub-specialization in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease. Specifically, there is growth within the General Surgery Department with the addition of colorectal surgery and hepatobiliary and pancreas surgery. There is mirrored growth in the Gastroenterology Division of the Medicine Department who now has three gastroenterologists, one of whom is an advanced endoscopist; and in the Division of Medical Oncology who now has three medical oncologists. With this growth there is opportunity to collaborate and grow an integrated clinical practice, expand on research projects and improve quality patient care and health care equity.

What Should Be: Patients of all races, ethnicities, backgrounds, and socioeconomic status should have equitable access to healthcare. As physicians and researchers who work with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, we can improve the quality of healthcare by collaborating on the introduction of new technologies in the practice and new research in the area of GI diseases. We will demonstrate some of our collaborative efforts during the symposium. In addition, we can improve health equity by informing the public that have limit access to information about our services through this symposium. Our hope is that physicians in the community will also be made more aware of our services through this symposium to help minimize the healthcare equity gap in the realm of gastrointestinal diseases.

Accreditation

The Morehouse School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

The Morehouse School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of up to 4.5 AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)™.  Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent to their participation in the activity. 

Objectives

At the end of this symposium, the audience should be aware of the gastrointestinal services Morehouse School of Medicine can provide.

In addition, participants should be able to:

  1. Summarize the endoscopic and surgical options for the treatment of obesity
  2. Categorize diagnostic and treatment options for resectable and unresectable pancreatic cancer
  3. Describe the new technological advances in diagnosing and treatment colon and rectal diseases.

Invited Guests

MSM Community, MSM Alumni, Gastroenterologists, Medical Oncologists, Surgeons, Primary Care Physicians, and General Public