AGA’s New President Aims to Ensure Society Is a Constant Advocate for its Members
May 04, 2010
Ian L. Taylor, MD, PhD, AGAF, AGA’s new president, is ready to lead the AGA Institute through the challenges it may face in the year ahead. Dr. Taylor’s term begins at the conclusion of DDW® 2010.
Dr. Taylor is focused on several issues, including the development of an organization-wide clinical data registry, as well as making certain gastroenterology clinicians and scientists are represented in the government’s reform of the health-care system.
He sees his upcoming tenure as AGA president as an extension of the leaders who have gone before him. “It is my job to keep the AGA strong and ensure that we are a constant and clear advocate for both our clinical and scientific members,” he said. “My goal is to keep up the good work that has gone before.”
Armed with a road-tested and refined strategic plan, the wisdom of a talented team of volunteers and staff, and a wealth of experience, the senior vice president for biomedical education and research and dean of the College of Medicine at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, said he’s excited to continue strengthening an already superior organization.
“I’ve had an interesting life, and I think one of the most important things I’ve learned is that if you have good people around you, you will succeed,” he said. “The AGA Governing Board is such an amazing collection of talent that this can never be just a one-man or one-woman entity. There is so much experience here — on the board, the committees, and on what I believe has to be the most talented office staff of any national organization — that nothing falls on the shoulders of the president alone.”
A longtime advocate of GI education, Dr. Taylor started working on the AGA Subcommittee on Training and Education in GI in 1987. “I think this organization is a terrific advocate for all of GI — both clinical and academic — and has done a lot of innovative things with regard to education of its members,” Dr. Taylor said. “The curriculum now used by most GI programs in the U.S. was initiated by the AGA when I was chair of the Subcommittee on Training and Education, and it became a project that all four GI societies completed as a joint venture.”
“I think it really laid out the go-to training program for producing competent, well-trained GIs, and I think it has benefited both GI fellows and their patients. The educational programs the AGA puts on are absolutely first-rate,” he said.
After receiving his PhD in physiology from Liverpool Medical School, Dr. Taylor moved to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)/Wadsworth VA Medical Center to do his fellowship in gastroenterology at UCLA and the Center for Ulcer Research and Education.
He was appointed to the faculty at UCLA as an assistant professor of medicine in 1978, and in 1985 was named a full professor and the associate director of UCLA’s integrated GI fellowship program (UCLA-CHS, Wadsworth VAMC, Cedars-Sinai, Harbor General and Sepulveda VAMC). Dr. Taylor played a significant role in negotiating the merger of these four previously separate GI fellowship programs. In 1986, he became the chief of the division of gastroenterology at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. He also served as the first director of the Sarah W. Stedman Center for Nutritional Studies, Duke University Medical Center.
From 1993 to 2001, Dr. Taylor served as professor and chairman of the department of medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston. In 2001, he became dean and an associate senior vice president for the health sciences at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA. He also served as a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX from 2005 to 2006 before moving on to his current position.
In 2006, Dr. Taylor was honored with the AGA Outstanding Service Award, as well as the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award for his work during and after Hurricane Katrina. He has also served on committees and review panels for a number of organizations, including the AGA Institute, National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. For the AGA Institute, Dr. Taylor has served as a member or chair of a number of councils, committees, task forces and the AGA Governing Board. He also has served as a reviewer for Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pancreas, Digestion and Metabolism.
About the AGA Institute
The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to include 17,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. www.gastro.org.
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About DDW
DDW is the largest international gathering of physicians, researchers and academics in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. Jointly sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the AGA Institute, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, DDW takes place May 1–5, 2010, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The meeting showcases approximately 5,000 abstracts and hundreds of lectures on the latest advances in GI research, medicine and technology. For more information, visit www.ddw.org.
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