Dr. Jasmohan Bajaj and Dr. Millie Long Assume New Role in 2022
July 14, 2021 – The American College of Gastroenterology proudly announces the new Co-Editors-in-Chief of The American Journal of Gastroenterology, the official clinical journal of the ACG. The team of Jasmohan S. Bajaj, MBBS, MD, MS, FACG and Millie D. Long, MD, MPH, FACG were approved by the ACG Board of Trustees thanks to their deep experience as AJG Associate Editors, their individual reputations as clinician-scientists, and their national leadership in the fields of gastroenterology and hepatology. They assume their new roles with the January 2022 issue.
Together Dr. Long and Dr. Bajaj will continue AJG’s tradition of clinical and educational excellence, along with ensuring diversity, prompt decisions, and focus on prospective experiences and randomized trials across the field of gastroenterology. They will be partners in leading ACG’s flagship journal into its next era.
“I believe that AJG is the premier clinical journal in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology and its strength is in its clinical relevance and applicability,” said Dr. Long. “As Co-Editors-in-Chief, Dr. Bajaj and I will continue to foster that key strength and aim to publish clinically applicable manuscripts of interest to practicing clinicians that will improve the care of patients with gastrointestinal disorders,” she added.
“The overall ethos is for the Red Journal to bolster the standing it currently holds as a ‘one-stop shop’ where our clinical readership can enhance their practice and patient management skills,” Dr. Bajaj said. “The overall vision for the journal is to ensure it continues to further the mission of the College and expands its reach, ensuring inclusivity while threading the needle between novelty, innovation, and education.”
The new Co-Editors-in-Chief view the clinical guidelines developed by College members as practical, important, useful, and highly relevant to patient care. Guidelines will continue to be a centerpiece of the Red Journal, along with clinically relevant manuscripts and initiatives, pertinent clinical review articles, a continuation of the “How I Approach It” series, and an enhanced focus on clinical education.
Shared Leadership: An AJG Tradition
Sharing editorial responsibilities has been a successful model for The American Journal of Gastroenterology since 2004 with the team of Joel E. Richter, MD, MACG and Nicholas J. Talley, MD, PhD, MACG, who, in 2010, were succeeded by Paul Moayyedi, MB ChB, PhD, MPH, FACG and William D. Chey, MD, FACG. Most recently, since 2016, the journal has moved to new levels of excellence during the tenure of Co-Editors-in-Chief Brian E. Lacy, MD, PhD, FACG, of Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, and Brennan M. R. Spiegel, MD, MSHS, FACG, of Cedars-Sinai Health System.
“Dr. Brian Lacy and Dr. Brennan Spiegel have been amazing leaders of AJG. They have published outstanding work, including leading coverage of GI complications of COVID-19, and a revitalized Red Section of the journal. They have enhanced the digital footprint and the journal’s presence on social media. Through their leadership, the journal has reached new heights. They have also served as outstanding role models within the field of gastroenterology,” commented Dr. Long.
About Dr. Bajaj
Jasmohan S. Bajaj, MBBS, MD, MS, FACG is Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Virginia Commonwealth University and Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, VA. He is a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastroenterological Association, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in London and to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Bajaj earned his MBBS from Delhi University at Maulana Azad Medical College. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Delhi University at Maulana Azad Medical College and internal medicine residency at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn. He furthered his medical training with a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals, then went on to earn an MS in epidemiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Active in research, Dr. Bajaj has served as a principal investigator or co-investigator for numerous clinical trials in areas such as hepatic encephalopathy, chronic liver disease, and the microbiome. Dr. Bajaj’s research has been funded through the NIH, US Veterans Affairs, AHRQ, and the American College of Gastroenterology. His work has been published in Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, Hepatology, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, and Liver Transplantation, among others. Dr. Bajaj has been an Associate Editor for The American Journal of Gastroenterology for more than 10 years and is on the editorial board for Journal of Hepatology, Hepatology, and Liver Transplantation. He was a member of the Hepatic Encephalopathy Guidelines Writing Committee and is the Chairperson of the Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure ACG Clinical Guidelines. Dr. Bajaj is the Chairperson for the North American Consortium for Study of End-Stage Liver Disease and was the immediate Past President of the International Society for Hepatic Encephalopathy and Nitrogen Metabolism.
About Dr. Long
Millie D. Long, MD, MPH, FACG is board certified in internal medicine, preventive medicine, and gastroenterology. Dr. Long received her medical degree from the University of Virginia in 2002. She then completed her residency in internal medicine and a chief residency at University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed fellowships in gastroenterology and hepatology, preventive medicine, and inflammatory bowel disease, all at University of North Carolina. She is currently Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship Program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Long’s clinical practice is at the UNC Multidisciplinary Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) Center. Her research interests include prevention of complications of IBD, women’s health, and clinical epidemiology. Dr. Long has contributed numerous peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and review articles to the medical literature. She is currently co-principal investigator for the IBD Partners cohort, a prospective cohort focusing upon patient-reported outcomes that includes more than 15,000 patients living with inflammatory bowel disease. She has served as principal investigator or co-investigator for numerous cohorts and randomized controlled trials in the arena of IBD. She co-authored the 2019 ACG Ulcerative Colitis Guidelines. She has published in journals including Gastroenterology, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, among others. She previously served as Associate Editor for The American Journal of Gastroenterology. She currently serves as an invited reviewer for journals such as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Gastroenterology, and The American Journal of Gastroenterology.
Dr. Long is a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology, where she chairs the Research Committee, and serves on the Practice Parameters Committee. She is also a member of the American Gastroenterological Association and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, where she co-chairs the Clinical Research Alliance.
About The American Journal of Gastroenterology
Published monthly since 1934, The American Journal of Gastroenterology (AJG) is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Gastroenterology. The goal of the Journal is to publish scientific papers relevant to the practice of clinical gastroenterology. It features original research, review articles, and consensus papers related to new drugs and therapeutic modalities. The AJG Editorial Board encourages submission of original manuscripts, review articles, and letters to the editor from members and non-members. AJG is published by Wolters Kluwer. www.amjgastro.com Follow AJG on Twitter @AmJGastro.