American Gastroenterological Association - Advancing the Science and Practice of Gastroenterology

Growth, Development & Child Health

Thank you making our sessions at the 42nd annual DDW® in Chicago, IL scientifically relevant and exciting! If you have specific feedback regarding speakers sponsored by Growth, Development and Child Health (GDCH) section at DDW, please share your thoughts with us. We will do our best to consider your comments and concerns as we plan our program for next DDW 2012 in San Diego. We are now accepting volunteers for DDW 2012 abstract review and topic/speaker suggestions. Please visit the Volunteer and Feedback Form to get involved.

One of our section's abstracts, Restoration of adult-like colonic motility in Aged transgenic mice expressing phosphomimic HSP27, was accepted for presentation at the very successful AGA Basic Science Plenary session.

This year the GDA section accepted the majority of the abstracts submitted (95 percent). The accepted abstracts were designated as oral or poster presentations and of distinction based on their ranking by our dedicated abstract reviewers. The table below shows the change from last year:

The GDA section sponsored two state-of-the-art lectures, one research, clinical, and translational symposium respectively, and abstract based Research and Topic Fora. Our sessions were very well attended. The chart below outlines the sessions we sponsored at DDW 2011 and the number of people who attended the session. If you have feedback to share regarding any of these sessions please email Jennifer Gibson at AGA headquarters.

Each June, GDA section descriptors are reviewed to optimize scientific relevance and minimize overlapping topics with other AGA Institute sections and to encourage both clinical research and basic science abstract submissions. The current list of abstract descriptors is as follows. (GDA descriptors may change as we go forward to DDW 2012.) We would like to thank our abstract review Committee Chairs and members for generously sharing their expertise and time in order to ensure that the most novel and relevant developments in Growth, Development and Child Health were shared at DDW.

Note: Descriptors with an asterisk (*) are shared with at least one other Council section. 

Section leaders will review committee membership this summer for new abstract review committees to confirm the final composition for DDW 2012 committees.

If you are interested in serving as a reviewer for any of our abstract descriptors for DDW 2012, please fill out this form to volunteer. Please indicate the abstract descriptor for which you are interested in reviewing. You can also recommend any new descriptors for abstracts. GDA section members interested in serving in this capacity are encouraged to contact us and volunteer to review abstracts. We are accepting volunteers through the end of July 2011. You can join the GDA section at any time.

In addition, we encourage you to submit your invaluable ideas about the topics and invited speakers that you would like to hear at next year's DDW. The more specific you can be, the better (title, individual talks, speakers, learning objectives). Please fill out this form to submit your suggestions to the AGA Institute by July 1, 2011.

Members interested in participating in the various activities of the GDA section should contact us at the addresses below. We are particularly interested in increasing participation by junior investigators/clinicians and international members at this time.

Thank you for your continuing strong support of the GDA section.

Sincerely,

Carlo Di Lorenzo, MD

Chair, GDA Section, AGA Institute Council

Alessio Fasano, MD 

Vice-Chair, GDA Section, AGA Institute Council