Gastroenterology is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract, sometimes referred to as the GI tract, which includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine as well as the accessory organs of digestion which include the pancreas, gallbladder, and liver. The digestive system functions to move material through the GI tract via peristalsis, break down that material via digestion, absorb nutrients for use throughout the body, and remove waste from the body via defecation. Physicians who specialize in the medical specialty of gastroenterology are called gastroenterologists or sometimes GI doctors. Some of the most common conditions managed by gastroenterologists include gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastrointestinal bleeding, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, peptic ulcer disease, gallbladder and biliary tract disease, hepatitis, pancreatitis, colitis, colon polyps and cancer, nutritional problems, and many more.
Tomica Milosavljević is a Serbian doctor and politician. He served as Minister of Health in the Government of Serbia under four Prime Ministers with the total span of seven years. He is also employed as a full professor at the University of Belgrade and works in the Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade.
The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) is a medical association of gastroenterologists. Approximately 16,000 scientists and physicians are members of the organization.
Reza Malekzadeh is an Iranian medical scientist and gastroenterologist.
Thomas J. Borody is an Australian gastroenterologist.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is excessive fat build-up in the liver without another clear cause such as alcohol use. There are two types; non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), with the latter indicating the presence of further liver inflammation. NAFL is less dangerous than NASH and usually does not progress towards it, but this progression may eventually lead to complications such as cirrhosis, liver cancer, liver failure, or cardiovascular disease.
Hashem B. El-Serag is a Palestinian-American physician and medical researcher best known for his research in liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the hepatitis C virus. He serves as the Margaret M. and Albert B. Alkek Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine as well as the Director of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Disease Center. El-Serag previously served as president of the American Gastroenterological Association and Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
The World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) is an international federation of over 100 national GI societies and 4 regional associations of gastroenterology representing over 50,000 individual members.
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage to the liver leads to repair of liver tissue and subsequent formation of scar tissue. Over time, scar tissue can replace normal functioning tissue, leading to the impaired liver function of cirrhosis. The disease typically develops slowly over months or years. Early symptoms may include tiredness, weakness, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, nausea and vomiting, and discomfort in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen. As the disease worsens, symptoms may include itchiness, swelling in the lower legs, fluid build-up in the abdomen, jaundice, bruising easily, and the development of spider-like blood vessels in the skin. The fluid build-up in the abdomen may develop into spontaneous infections. More serious complications include hepatic encephalopathy, bleeding from dilated veins in the esophagus, stomach, or intestines, and liver cancer.
The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation or CDHF, is a registered Canadian charity. The organization was founded in 1993 as the Canadian Digestive Disease Foundation and renamed the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation in 2001. The objectives of the Foundation are to educate the general public about digestive disease and nutrition, and to advance the science of gastroenterology by funding medical research. In February 2001, it was officially endorsed as the Foundation for the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology. Since then it has raised and invested more than $1 million to fund Canadian researchers in the field of digestive health.
Jay Houston Hoofnagle is an American Doctor of Medicine. He is a leading expert in hepatotoxicity, hepatitis, cirrhosis and other diseases of the liver, and director of the Liver Disease Research Branch in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at the National Institutes of Health.
Detlef Schuppan is a German biochemist and physician. He focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of coeliac disease and wheat sensitivity, fibrotic liver diseases and the immunology of chronic diseases and cancer. He is the director of the Institute of Translational Immunology and a professor of internal medicine, gastroenterology, and hepatology at the Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany. He directs the outpatient clinic for coeliac disease and small intestinal diseases. He is also a professor of medicine and a senior visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School.
Alan Frederick Hofmann was a gastrointestinal physiologist, biochemist and clinician who was notable for his extensive basic, translational and clinical research on bile acids and lipid digestion. From 1977, he was a member of the Division of Gastroenterology at University of California, San Diego. He influenced and mentored a large number of researchers with his ideas, knowledge and support.
Giovanni Gasbarrini is an Italian physician whose work in the field of internal medicine, hepatology and gastroenterology earned him the 2013 lifetime achievement award of the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) association.
Badri Nath Tandon is an Indian gastroenterologist, hepatologist, medical researcher and academic, and the Chairman and Senior Consultant of Gastroenterology, at Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute, Noida. He is a former Professor and Head of Department of Gastroenterology and Human Nutrition Unit at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (AIIMS) and a former Director and Senior Consultant of Hepatology and Gastroenterology at Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute for Liver, Renal and Digestive Diseases, New Delhi. He is a recipient of several awards including Sasakawa WHO Health Prize and Jubilee Medal of the RAMS. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1986, for his contributions to medicine.
Shiv Kumar Sarin is an Indian gastroenterologist, hepatologist, translational scientist, researcher and teacher. He set up the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and the Padma Bhushan. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of Medical Council of India. He was the president of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver and founder of Asian Pacific School of Hepatology.
The United European Gastroenterology (UEG) is a non-profit organisation combining European societies concerned with digestive health.
Mamun Al Mahtab is a Bangladeshi hepatologist, medical scientist, author, and columnist. With 290 publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals to his credit, Mahtab is currently working as the Head, Division of Interventional Hepatology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). In 1998, he graduated from the University of London with an MSc in gastroenterology, and then in 2006, he obtained an MD in hepatology at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University(BSMMU).
Daniel Kalman Podolsky is an American gastroenterologist and member of the National Academy of Medicine. He serves as President of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. and co-chairman of Southwestern Health Resources, a collaboration between UT Southwestern and Texas Health Resources that cares for patients across North Texas and includes more than 30 hospitals, 300 clinics, and 2,600 physicians.
Wendy A. Henderson is an American nurse practitioner, scientist, and academic administrator working as the director of the Center of Nursing Scholarship and Innovation at the University of Connecticut. She was previously a clinical investigator and lab chief of the National Institute of Nursing Research digestive disorders unit. Henderson is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
