Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

Teaching and Research Conferences

At Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, a number of conferences are held every week within the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (some with other divisions) and throughout the institution. The schedule of divisional rounds and conferences includes:

Tuesday

Pediatric Radiology Conference

In this conference, organized by Ajay Kaul, MD, and Lane Donnelly, MD, Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, fellows participate by selecting the cases to be seen and by presenting the clinical history of the patients whose imaging studies are to be viewed. Breakfast is served.

IBD Pathology Conference

Organized by Sue Moyer, MD, this afternoon conference is held monthly. The conference focuses on biopsy specimens from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and eosinophilic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. 

Fellows participate in this conference by selecting and presenting the clinical history of the patients whose biopsies are reviewed. Outside specimens received by division faculty are also reviewed.

Digestive Health Center Seminar Series

In this weekly seminar series, organized by Jorge Bezerra, MD, and Cynthia Wetzel, PhD,  local and national investigators present their latest research findings.

Wednesday

Wednesday GI conference

A number of types of conferences are held on Wednesday mornings, mostly focusing on clinical topics, including:

  • Clinical Fellow Basics Conference, organized by Mike Leonis, MD, PhD
    These conferences are held early in the academic year to cover the practical aspects of various areas of patient care.
  • Pediatric GI Grand Rounds, led by William Balistreri, MD
    Fellows participate in this conference by preparing an unknown case presentation. They are also called upon to discuss physiology, pathophysiology, differential diagnosis and case management of these particularly interesting, difficult or unusual cases.
  • Quality Improvement Conference, organized by Brad Pasternak, MD, and John Bucuvalas, MD
    This conference focuses on ways to improve the quality of care in the inpatient and outpatients settings.
  • Pediatric GI Topic Conference, organized by Mike Leonis, MD, PhD
    These include didactic state-of-the-art lectures on clinical topics by faculty and visiting professors.
  • IBD Conference, organized by Sue Moyer, MD
    Faculty and staff discuss patient-specific issues including in-house patients and case presentations alternating with more general discussions of new therapies and current research projects.
  • National meeting practice and review, led by divisional faculty and fellows
    In advance of major society meetings, fellows and faculty have the opportunity to practice publicly and receive constructive feedback on their presentations.  After these meetings, attendees from the division highlight important findings and trends that were presented.

Lumen Conference

The conference, organized by Sue Moyer, MD, enables a faculty-fellow dialogue about chronic care issues for patients on the lumen service and provides an additional educational opportunity for issues related to pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. Lunch is served.

Thursday

Thursday GI conference

The Thursday morning conference focuses on clinical, research, and career development topics, including:

  • Clinical Fellow Basics Conference, organized by Mike Leonis, MD, PhD
    These conferences are held early in the academic year to cover the practical aspects of various areas of patient care.
  • Senior Fellow Rounds, organized by Scott Pentiuk, MD
    This fellow-led conference covers a variety of topics.
  • Career Guidance Lecture Series, organized by Mike Leonis, MD, PhD
    .This series includes a variety of career development topics, including career paths and mentoring.
  • IBD Case Conference, organized by Sue Moyer, MD
    Faculty and staff discuss challenging issues in the care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
  • Journal Club, organized by Alex Miethke, MD and Kris Steinbrecher, PhD 
    Fellows:
    • Select and discuss recent journal articles, with an emphasis on papers providing new insights into disease pathogenesis
    • Discuss major advances in therapeutics
    • Identify new technologies that may alter the clinical practice of or scientific approach to medicine

    Faculty mentors help in the selection and preparation for this conference.

Transplant Conference

This conference is organized by John Bucuvalas, MD and Kathy Campbell, MD. Fellows participate in this conference by presenting patients to be discussed. This conference addresses both patient management issues as well as research and outcome issues related to liver transplantation. It is attended by the members of the Pediatric Liver Care Center and the Division of General and Thoracic Surgery. Lunch is served.

Pediatric Pathology Conference

The Pediatric Pathology Conference is organized by Kevin Bove, MD, Division of Pathology. This afternoon conference is held on alternate weeks throughout the year. Fellows participate in this conference by selecting and presenting the clinical history of the patients whose biopsies are reviewed. Outside specimens received by division faculty are also reviewed.

Pediatric / Internal Medicine Conferences

Organized by Mike Leonis, MD, PhD, and Stephen Zucker, MD, gastroenterology training program director in the Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, this afternoon conference is held every other week from September to June. The conference alternates between:

  • Clinical Concepts Conference
    First-year fellows prepare a detailed case discussion (20 to 30 minutes) to illustrate a core concept in gastroenterology. The faculty member who precepted the patient to be presented is assigned to assist the trainee with this presentation. One presentation is made by a pediatric trainee and one by an internal medicine trainee at each conference.
  • Physiology / Pathophysiology Conference
    Second- and third-year fellows prepare a 45-minute discussion of a core concept in the teaching curriculum centered around a clinical pathological correlate (CPC). The assigned faculty member from one program provides an unknown case to the assigned fellow from the other program for this presentation; a faculty member from the fellow's program assists in the preparation. For 2007-08, topics include allergic disorders, biliary diseases, complications of cirrhosis, complications of pancreatitis, diarrhea, gastrointestinal tumors, metabolic liver disease, swallowing disorders, and transplant immunobiology.

Friday

Friday with the Fellows

These informal conferences generally occur 1-2 times per month. They are scheduled by an upper level fellow and involve general gastroenterology topics including celiac disease, impedance probes, neonatal hepatitis, and obesity, with various faculty members participating.

Institutional Conferences

Many opportunities exist (more than there is time in the week!) to attend and participate in conferences around Cincinnati Children's that are relevant to pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition. This list provides a flavor of the opportunities available based on specific interests.

Research Conferences

  • Children's Hospital Research Foundation Seminar, organized by a committee selected by Christopher Wylie, PhD, Director, Division of Developmental Biology
    This weekly seminar features speakers of national and international stature. Fellows attend this conference according to their research interests. Recent and scheduled speakers relevant to pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition include:
    • Mario Capecchi, PhD, University of Utah (Developmental genetics) - 2007 Nobel Laureate
    • Hudson Freeze, PhD, Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Inborn errors of glycosylation)
    • Thomas Gridley, PhD, The Jackson Laboratory (Notch signaling in development and disease)
    • Susan Henning, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine (Intestinal stem cells)
    • Matthias Hebrok, PhD, University of California-San Francisco (Pancreas development)
    • Brigid Hogan, PhD, Duke University (Bone morphogenetic protein signaling in development)
    • Linheng Li, PhD, Stowers Institute for Medical Research (Intestinal epithelial stem cells)
    • Susan Mango, PhD, University of Utah (Foregut development in C. elegans)
    • Gail Martin, PhD, University of California-San Francisco (FGFs in development)
    • Matthew Scott, PhD, Stanford University (Hedgehog signaling)
  • Distinguished Lecturer in Immunology Series, organized by Marsha Wills-Karp, PhD, Division of Immunobiology
    This monthly seminar features speakers of national and international prominence.
  • Personalized and Predictive Medicine Conference, organized by Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD, Division of Allergy and Immunology
    At this weekly conference, investigators from around the medical center present their research on topics related to personalized and predictive medicine.
  • Endoderm Development Group, organized by Mike Bates, MD, PhD, along with Jim Wells, PhD, and Aaron Zorn, PhD, Division of Developmental Biology
    In this twice-monthly meeting, research in progress is presented by fellows, graduate students and faculty having an interest in development of the endodermal organs and related projects.
  • Immunohematology Club, organized by David Hildeman, PhD, Division of Immunobiology, and Marie-Dominique Filippi, PhD, Division of Experimental Hematology
    This twice-monthly seminar is designed for local investigators whose research is on immunology and / or hematology to present their research and foster interactions between divisions
  • Developmental Biology Division Meeting, organized by Nadean Brown, PhD, Division of Developmental Biology
    In this weekly meeting, research in progress is presented by fellows, graduate students and faculty in Developmental Biology labs.
  • Center for Immunological Research Graduate Student / Post-Doc Forum, organized by Christopher Karp, MD, Division of Molecular Immunology
    This weekly meeting is a lively forum in which students and fellows present their latest work. 
  • Clinical Research Forum, organized by James Heubi, MD
    In this monthly conference, investigators present the results of their patient-oriented research.

Clinical Conferences