The AGA Trainee and Early Career Committee – Shaping the Young GI Experience

January 1, 2017|GI and Hepatology News

Peter S. Liang, MD, MPH;Tatyana Kushner, MD;Folasade P. May, MD, PhD

Trainee and early career GIs at DDW

The Trainee and Early Career Committee sponsors several events at DDW to bring together fellows and early-career GIs from all over the country. Each year, our committee hosts a DDW Trainee and Early Career symposium to provide practical advice for early-career GIs from all practice settings. Our DDW 2016 symposium was entitled “Surviving The First Years in Clinical Practice – Roundtable with the Experts,” and featured prominent leaders who shared career perspectives with attendees through formal presentations and more casual discussion. Attendees gained insider tips on how to design and run a fiscally prosperous practice, coding and documentation, and building and maintaining a clinical practice referral base from expert AGA leaders. We are now in the process of planning the DDW 2017 Trainee and Early Career symposium that will focus on “The Road to Leadership in GI.”

There are also several informal networking events at DDW to encourage community building among young GIs. DDW 2016 premiered the Trainee and Early Career GI Lounge, which provided a physical space in the San Diego Convention Center for trainees and early-career GIs to meet and have refreshments between sessions. The AGA also offered free professional headshots, a great perk for individuals beginning their professional careers. The Trainee and Early Career GI Networking Event is the highlight social event at DDW for many who look forward to seeing friends and colleagues from all over the nation and meeting other young GIs over appetizers and drinks. In San Diego, we reached maximum capacity for our House of Blues event, and plans are already underway for our Chicago networking event.

Come join us!

The success of the AGA depends on the 16,000 members who volunteer their time for committees, councils, and the governing board. Since its inception, the Trainee and Early Career Committee has allowed young GIs to have a role in the AGA as well as benefit from all of the resources that the AGA has to offer in leadership training, networking, and career preparation. In the past three years, participation of young GIs in the Trainee and Early Career Committee events has been on the rise, which we hope is a reflection of our efforts to address the educational needs of early GIs and the transition from fellowship to practice. We would love to see more fellows and early-career GIs involved!

For more information about the Trainee and Early Career committee, becoming a committee member, and our programs, please visit https://www.gastro.org/trainees. If you have any ideas that you think the committee should consider, please let us know at trainees@gastro.org.

Dr. Liang is an instructor in the division of gastroenterology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, and an attending physician in the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System, New York. Dr. Kushner is a transplant hepatology fellow in the division of gastroenterology, University of California, San Francisco. Dr. May is assistant professor in the division of digestive diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, and an attending physician in the department of gastroenterology in the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles.