Program Description

The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) is committed to diversity in our organization and the gastroenterology (GI) workforce. ACG recognizes the tremendous need to enrich our field with clinicians and scientists from underrepresented groups in medicine (URM – inclusive of Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American and Pacific Islanders) and cultivate a digestive health community that more accurately reflects our patient populations.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee believes that a formalized mentorship and clinical research program is one pipeline to increase representation of underrepresented groups in medicine in academic gastroenterology careers. Thus, we are extremely excited about continuing the ACG Summer Scholars Program. The program is an 8 to 10-week structured clinical research experience for medical students in the U.S. from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups. Three students will be chosen from the pool of applicants, paired with research mentors who share similar clinical research interests in the fields of gastroenterology and hepatology, and awarded a $5,000 stipend. At the end of the program, the students are required to submit a progress report and an abstract to a local, regional, or national conference.

We will be accepting applications from medical students in the U.S. from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups in medicine from November 3, 2023 – January 15, 2024, for the 2024 ACG Summer Scholars Program.

Click here for more details.

Summer Research Opportunities

Details of the available opportunities will be shared with applicants who are chosen to participate in the program.

Vivian A. Asamoah, MD, Houston Gastroenterology Institute, In Person Only

Amreen Dinani, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, In Person Only

My clinical and research interests is in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Specifically, I am interested in disease risk stratification and identifying patients at highest risk for advanced fibrosis or progressive disease, developing a multidisciplinary approach to this liver metabolic disease and creating sustainable lifestyle programs. Students will have the opportunity to work on two potential projects involving NAFLD. 1) Investigate the impact of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists ([GLP1RAs], a medication currently being used for type 2 diabetes and obesity) in NAFLD. We will conduct a study using the electronic medical record to identify patients prescribed a GLP1RA and assess the impact on liver and metabolic outcomes. 2) Study the prevalence and severity of NAFLD in African American population- a population that is typically underrepresented in epidemiology data and clinical trials.

Harshit S. Khara, MD, FACG, Geisinger Medical Center, In Person Only

I am involved in multi-center clinical research projects and quality improvement projects. My clinical and research interests are in the field of interventional endoscopic ultrasound, ERCP, Barrett’s esophagus, Third space endoscopy, and bariatric interventional endoscopy.

The medical students can participate in the write up, presentation and publication of retrospective studies, case reports/series, and video manuscripts. I have certified skills in medical video editing and can mentor the students to edit and submit video case reports/series to ACG annual meeting and case reports journal. The students can have their own projects which can be meaningfully completed over the summer program and also assist in data collection, analysis or write up of currently ongoing projects with our residents and fellows.

Helen B. Murray, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Virtual Only

My research is focused on two areas— (1) understanding the intersection of problematic eating behaviors and GI disorders (e.g., avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder) and (2) developing behavioral health treatments for gastrointestinal (GI) conditions, particularly disorder of gut-brain interaction (formerly called functional GI disorders). Currently, we have translational and clinical research projects in these areas that include physiologic (e.g., wireless motility capsule testing, gastric sensitivity testing, appetite regulating hormones) and behavioral (e.g., dietary) assessments.

We have NIH-funded research projects that investigate biological and behavioral markers of problematic eating behaviors in patients with disorders of gut-brain interaction, and randomized controlled trials of behavioral interventions for GI disorders (U01 DK112193; K23 DK131334). In the MGH Center for Neurointestinal Health, we also have several robust clinical datasets of patients seen in our center (e.g., N>1,000 patients referred for anorectal manometry) that are available to conduct secondary data analyses with. Our medical student trainees have been involved in all aspects of the research process, including study development, recruitment, assessment, data management, data analysis, and publication. Trainees with our team select an independent project that will facilitate their research skill growth.

Sameer Prakash, DO, University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, Virtual Only

My clinical research interests include NAFLD, HCC, and alcoholic liver disease. Potential projects I am interested in working on with students include:

  1. H. pylori infection/HBV association with pancreatic cancer
  2. Malnutrition and risk of fibrosis progression in cirrhosis patients
  3. Colorectal cancer and NAFLD/CLD patients – progression of polyps, and outcomes
  4. Arrythmias in alcoholic hepatitis admissions