Digestive Diseases Newsletter

The Section of Digestive Diseases is pleased to welcome the following new faculty, staff, postgraduate associates, and postdoctoral associates (from January 2023 through May 2023).

Faculty and fellows from the Department of Internal Medicine’s Section of Digestive Diseases presented research at Digestive Disease Week (DDW), the world’s premier meeting for physicians and researchers in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy, and gastrointestinal surgery.

Silvia Vilarinho, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (digestive diseases) and of pathology; was named the 2023 Leah Lowenstein Award recipient at the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) Commencement ceremony on Monday, May 22, 2023. Stephen Wang, MD, MPH, a PGY-3 resident in the Department of Internal Medicine’s Primary Care Residency Program was honored with the Betsy Winters House Staff Award, along with Justin Nguyen, MD, a chief resident in the Department of Urology.

On May 24, 2023, 65 staff members from the Department of Internal Medicine were recognized for service anniversaries, ranging from five to 40 years.

Our digestive health has a vast influence on our well-being, affecting our immune system, brain function, body weight, and more, says Avlin Imaeda, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine (digestive diseases), an expert in metabolic health and weight loss. These impacts are just beginning to be understood, she says.

Thiruvengadam Muniraj, MD, associate professor of medicine (digestive diseases), Yale School of Medicine; director of the Yale Medicine Pancreatic Diseases Program; director of bariatric endoscopy, and associate chief of Digestive Health, Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS), has been appointed associate editor of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (GIE), the official journal of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Muniraj’s five-year term began in January 2023.

Uyen To, MD, assistant professor of medicine (digestive diseases) and transplant hepatologist, discusses how she first became interested in studying Wilson disease, the wide spectrum of symptoms caused by the rare condition, and what’s next in this fascinating field of research.

Nearly double the number of young adults under 55 are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer than a decade ago, and more are dying from the disease each year, as reported recently by the American Cancer Society. According to the study, the number of individuals in the U.S. diagnosed with advanced-stage colorectal cancer (CRC), increased by 8% from the mid 2000s, to 2019. Diagnoses of people under 55 years of age increased from 11% in 1995 to 20%, or 1 in 5 individuals. Progress against CRC also slowed, the declines in mortality of 3 to 4% each year during the 2000s, decreased to 2% during the past decade.

Dennis Shung came to Yale for residency and stuck around for a Ph.D. Now an assistant professor, he studies how machine learning can enhance medical practice.