Penn GI Experts Receive National Leadership Awards from the American Gastroenterological Association

PHILADELPHIA — James D. Lewis, MD, MSCE, Michael L. Kochman, MD, and David S. Goldberg, MD, MSCE, all from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have received national leadership awards from the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) in recognition of their outstanding contributions and achievements in gastroenterology.

With 17,000 members, the AGA is the global professional organization for physicians, researchers, and educators involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology.

“To have three recipients of these prestigious awards from one school of medicine is an enormous accomplishment and honor,” said Anil K. Rustgi, MD, chief of the division of Gastroenterology at Penn Medicine and former AGA President. “The awardees are outstanding leaders in our field and, with their Penn GI colleagues, comprise an exceptional group of committed team members dedicated to advancing GI health in our patients.”

Distinguished Educator Award

The AGA has honored Lewis, a professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, with the Distinguished Educator Award, which “recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions as an educator in gastroenterology on both local and national levels, over a lifelong career.” In announcing the award, the organization described Lewis as “a leading clinical investigator in … gastroenterology … and safety of therapeutics, especially related to inflammatory bowel diseases, who is an outstanding educator to students, residents, fellows, and junior/senior faculty.”  

Lewis’s research covers a range of topics, focusing on medication safety and optimizing medical therapies. Examples include studies of whether patients treated with certain medications for inflammatory bowel disease are at greater risk for cancer, infections, neurologic diseases, and death, and whether such risks are warranted, given the benefits of the therapy. He has published more than 200 scholarly articles.

Lewis, who is also associate director of Penn’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, received his medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine, where he also completed fellowships in gastroenterology and pharmacoepidemiology (the study of the uses and effects of drugs in specific populations); he completed his residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Distinguished Clinician Award, Clinical Academic Practice

The AGA has honored Kochman, who is the Wilmott Family Professor of Medicine, with the Distinguished Clinician Award, Clinical Academic Practice. In announcing the award, the organization described Kochman as “a talented interventional endoscopist who applies his skills creatively, but safely, and holds himself and others to the highest of professional standards. His clinical, technical, and interpersonal skills are appreciated by both his patients and colleagues.”

Kochman is also director of advanced endoscopic training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and directs the Center for Endoscopic Innovation, Research, and Training. His clinical and research specialties include pancreaticobiliary disease, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, Barrett’s esophagus, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, interventional endoscopy, and pancreatic cancer. He is Editor in Chief of Techniques in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, has published more than 225 scholarly articles and has edited 13 textbooks.

He earned his medical degree at the University of Illinois School of Medicine and completed his residency and chief residency at the University of Illinois Medical Center, both in Chicago. He completed a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Michigan Hospitals and Clinics in Ann Arbor. Additionally, he completed fellowship training in endoscopic ultrasound at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis.

Young Investigator Award in Clinical Science

The AGA has honored Goldberg, an assistant professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, with the Young Investigator Award in Clinical Science. In announcing the award, the organization described him as “a leading young clinical investigator in hepatology/transplant hepatology. He has achieved success in academic hepatology at the highest level due to his work on liver disease epidemiology and translational/clinical outcomes in liver transplantation.”

Goldberg, who is also the medical director for living donor liver transplantation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, has been instrumental in developing new metrics of organ donation rates and in designing novel clinical trials focused on increasing utilization of organs from deceased donors with hepatitis C. His research interests include evaluation of geographic disparities in access to health care for patients with end-stage liver disease, designing optimal systems of organ allocation, and improving rates of organ donation and utilization of donor organs.

Goldberg earned an MD from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center, both in New York City, followed by a fellowship in gastroenterology at Penn Medicine. During his fellowship, he obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology, after which he completed a one-year post-doctoral research fellowship, followed by a one-year fellowship in transplant hepatology.