About Our Research Group
Our research group's central purpose is to reduce the burden of gastrointestinal cancers, including colorectal cancer, across all populations. This work includes utilizing large-scale healthcare and cancer registry data, such as from the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, to examine the epidemiology of gastrointestinal cancers, as well as prospective randomized trials of strategies to increase colorectal cancer screening rates among underserved populations. Current funded initiatives include a National Cancer Institute-funded R37 award supporting a large-scale case-cohort study to determine whether exposure to surveillance colonoscopy after colorectal polypectomy reduces colorectal cancer incidence or mortality (Gupta, PI), as well as a National Cancer Institute Cancer Moonshot Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening and follow-up through Implementation Science (ACCSIS) award to conduct a 4-year prospective randomized trial of regional implementation of a mailed outreach program offering the fecal immunochemical test for colorectal cancer screening, as well as in-clinic best practices for promoting colorectal cancer screening and abnormal test follow up at multiple Federally Qualified Health Center systems (Martínez, Gupta, Casteñeda, MPI).
Future funded work will include a large-scale cohort study to evaluate the risks vs. benefits of exposing older adults age >75 years with prior polypectomy to colonoscopy surveillance. Our work has informed national practice guidelines, such as the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force recommendations for follow-up after colonoscopy with polypectomy, as well as guidance by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and others on strategies for improving colorectal cancer screening participation rates. Key collaborators at UC San Diego include Drs. Lin Liu, Shailja Shah, and Elena Martinez, among others. Our group has supported the careers of a range of clinical scientists in training, from undergraduate students through post-doctoral fellows.
Announcements
- "Helicobacter pylori Burden in the United States According to Individual Demographics and Geography: A Nationwide Analysis of the Veterans Healthcare System" (Shah, PI) was recently accepted for publication in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology!
- Mehul Trivedi, a UCSD gastroenterologist resident, has a newly published article online titled "Potential Impact of Extending Surveillance Intervals for Patients with 1-2 Low-Risk Adenomas." (Gupta, PI).
- We have a newly published article titled "Adenoma Detection Rate and Clinical Characteristics Influence Advanced Neoplasia Risk after Colorectal Polypectomy" (Gupta, PI).
- Mehul Trivedi has a newly published article online titled "Baseline characteristics and longitudinal outcomes of traditional serrated adenomas: a cohort study."
- This paper was recently featured and reviewed by Douglas Rex, MD, in ASGE Journal Scan!
- We recently received an intent to fund from a Merit award for HSR&D Summer 2022 Cycle for our study titled "Surveillance Colonoscopy in Older Adults: The SurvOlderAdults Study" (Gupta, PI).
- We recently received a notice of an award for a 5-year K99/R00-funded project titled "Optimal early colorectal cancer screening initiation" (Demb, PI).
- We recently received an intent to fund a 4-year VA BLR&D-funded study titled "Mathematical Optimization of Surveillance Ages to Intercept colitis-associated Colorectal Cancer (MOSAIC)" (Curtius, PI).
- Eric Low, a current NIH T32 gastroenterology fellow at UCSD, was selected as the recipient of the ACG Governors Award for Excellence in Clinical Research (Trainee) for his abstract entitled "Risk of Esophageal Cancer in Achalasia: A matched Cohort Study Utilizing the Veterans Affairs Achalasia Cohort (VA-AC)."
- We have a newly published article titled "Development and Validation of a National US Achalasia Cohort: The Veterans Affairs Achalasia Cohort (VA-AC)" (Low, PI).
- We have a newly published article online titled "COVID-19 Pandemic had Minimal Impact on Colonoscopy Completion After Colorectal Cancer Red Flag Sign or Symptoms in US Veterans" (Demb, PI).
- "Risk of Incident and Fatal Colorectal Cancer after young-onset adenoma diagnosis: a national cohort study" (Casey, PI) was recently accepted for publication in the American Journal of Gastroenterology!
- "Development and Validation of the Veterans Affairs Eosinonphillic Esophagitis Cohort (VA E-O-ECHO)" (Low, PI) was recently accepted for publication in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology!
Contact Us
Lab Location
Veterans Medical Research Foundation (VMRF)
Building 13, Room 222
Mailing Address
3350 La Jolla Village Drive (151A)
Building 13
San Diego, CA, 92161