The Miller School at Digestive Disease Week 2025
Article Summary
- Miller School faculty members were well represented at Digestive Disease Week, the premier meeting for professionals in gastroenterology, hepatology and related fields.
- Miller School DDW presentations included applications of artificial intelligence, pancreatic cancer screenings, risk factors for early onset cancers and clinical trials for IBD and pancreatic diseases.
- Dr. Shria Kumar presented research on how to identify people under the age of 45 who might be at risk for early onset colorectal cancer.
Distinctive green and orange University of Miami logos dotted the poster sessions, plenary talks, presentations and symposia at this year’s Digestive Disease Week (DDW) conference.
With 13,000 attendees, 4,300 oral abstract and poster presentations and 400 lecture sessions, DDW is the premier meeting—and the largest—for professionals in gastroenterology, hepatology and related fields. A sizable contingent of researchers, clinicians and medical students represented the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Daniel Sussman, M.D., professor of clinical medicine and chief of the Miller School’s Division of Digestive Health and Liver Diseases, said, “It is refreshing to see how productive our faculty and fellows have been this year. The topics they presented at DDW 2025 run the gamut, including applications of artificial intelligence, pancreatic cancer screenings, risk factors for early-onset cancers, clinical trials for IBD and pancreatic diseases, and outcomes from innovative procedures like endoscopic submucosal dissection. These presentations are reflective of the broad range of expertise our clinician-scientists are able to offer patients and the community.”
Dr. Sussman and Amar Deshpande, M.D., professor of gastroenterology and associate dean of medical education at the Miller School, contributed to a plenary talk on the use of AI to assist with the surveillance of polyps. In another plenary talk, a group of Dr. Sussman’s collaborators discussed the clinical validation of a novel, blood-based test for multiple biomarkers for the early detection of pancreatic cancer.
Focus on Cancer Prevention
A poster presented by Shria Kumar, M.D., assistant professor and director of endoscopic research in the Division of Digestive Health and Liver Diseases at the Miller School, won a DDW Poster of Distinction award.
Coauthored with Divya Dasani, M.D., Ryan Hood and Catherine Blandon, the poster presented research on how to identify people under the age of 45 (the standard age to start screening) who might be at risk for early onset colorectal cancer.
“I think the award reflects the need for work in this field,” said Dr. Kumar. “I think everyone recognizes that early-onset colon cancer is something that gets a lot of attention from media outlets. It’s something that’s on the rise and there are not many published efforts on how we can actually prevent it. Our poster speaks to that.”
Another poster, presented by Dr. Kumar with Ryan Hood and Karen Zhang, argued for the importance of continued surveillance of gastric intestinal metaplasia, a preliminary condition to stomach cancer about which little is known. Dr. Kumar, who focuses on cancer prevention, was encouraged to see active engagement in the area.
“I was happy to see so many studies and so much data in the cancer prevention space because it hasn’t previously been as robust. I think there’s a growing recognition about how much of a role gastroenterologists play in cancer prevention,” she said.
Improved Treatment for Pancreatic Issues
Jodie Barkin, M.D., associate professor in the Miller School’s Division of Digestive Health and Liver Diseases, presented a study comparing baseline demographic differences between patient populations with recurrent, acute pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis. While each group treated with pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy improved, only one patient population perceived that improvement.
“That study has yielded really important, real-world results of how we diagnose exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in practice. Understanding these differences may help us make better-informed treatment decisions and help goal setting and expectations in our patients,” said Dr. Barkin, one of the co-leads on the study.
Dr. Barkin also presented with Onur Kutlu, M.D., assistant professor in the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery, and Camillo Ricordi, M.D., chief of the Division of Cellular Transplantation and a pioneer in Type 1 diabetes care. The three, along with Patric Taylor Wang, Xiumin Yu and Jose Manuel Martinez, presented on a novel surgical technique that extracts islets from the pancreas during pancreatectomy and injects them into the omentum.
“As a result of the surgery, the patients had incredible diabetic control, even within 24 hours, and it was persistent thereafter,” Dr. Barkin said. “And we’re the only center that does this kind of novel surgical technique anywhere between here and Charleston, South Carolina, which is the next closest center.”
Fostering Opportunities for Team Science
Patricia Jones, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Digestive Health and Liver Diseases and leader of the Liver Cancer Tumor Board at the Miller School, led a clinical symposium and contributed to three different posters in a session on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver disease.
She underlined the importance of the strong Miller School showing.
“DDW allows us to showcase the excellent work we are doing at UM and is a way for us to connect with existing collaborators and meet new collaborators,” Dr. Jones said. “Team science is hugely important and DDW facilitates this. By working with other institutions, our work is amplified and we accelerate the rate of discovery through relationships strengthened at DDW.”
Tags: Camillo Ricordi, colorectal cancer, Digestive Disease Week, Division of Digestive Health and Liver Diseases, Dr. Jodie Barkin, Dr. Patricia Jones, Dr. Shria Kumar, liver cancer, liver diseases, Onur Kutlu, pancreatic cancer