In this podcast episode, Prateek Sharma, MD, about how program directors can help shepherd GI fellows into clinical research spaces, providing quality exams for upper endoscopy and more. •    Intro :24 •    The interview/about Sharma :43 •    Tell us about your family and where you grew up. 1:00 •    Did you encourage your son to go into medicine? 2:17 •    What kinds of doctors were your parents?  3:40 •    Who were your big, early influences? 4:08 •    If you didn’t always want to be a doctor, what convinced you to change your mind?  6:11 •    When did you make the decision to go into academic medicine as a career? 7:16 •    Are you seeing fewer and fewer fellows interested in pursuing a career in academic medicine? […] Are there ways to counsel fellows to be more interested in this type of work? 9:49 •    How long have you been a program director, and are you still enjoying the work? 13:58 •    How did you choose to into internal medicine and GI?  17:22 •    As leaders of academic research centers, what have you done or plan to do in the face of potential cuts to the NIH overhead rates? 18:40 •    How are we doing right now as a country and globally in terms of early detection of Barrett's neoplasia? 22:08 •    Why has performing high-quality surveillance and screening of procedures like colonoscopy been so much more successful than performing high-quality exams for upper endoscopy? 25:33 •    If the biggest hurdle to performing these exams is time, do you feel that more education around how to perform a high-quality exam will move the needle, or are other incentives needed? 28:32 •    Do you think AI-based detection is overhyped or underhyped in GI? 30:33 •    What are your thoughts on DNA-based testing for conditions like Barrett’s neoplasia, and how should they be incorporated into standard practice? 34:24 •    What are your priorities as president of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy this year? 38:42 •    What do you see as the biggest threats or concerns to gastroenterologists? 42:25 •    Final thoughts? 46:32 •    Thank you, Prateek 47:13 •    Thanks for listening 47:15 Prateek Sharma, MD, FASGE, FACP, FACG, is professor of medicine and director of the GI fellowship program at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to [email protected]. Follow us on X @HealioGastro @sameerkberry @umfoodoc. For more from Sharma, follow @KUcancercenter and @ASGEendoscopy on X and Instagram.

Disclosures: Berry and Chey report no relevant financial disclosures. Sharma reports consulting for Boston Scientific Corporation, CDx Labs, Cipla, Exact Sciences, Medtronic, Olympus Corporation, Salix Pharmaceuticals, Samsung Bioepis and Takeda and provides grant/research support to ERBE USA Inc., Fujifilm Holdings America Corporation, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. and NEC.