Disorders of the pancreaticobiliary tree are increasingly managed endoscopically. However, well done prospective randomized trials evaluating these modalities to standard of care or, when applicable, to a placebo or sham group, have been rarely performed. Because of the lack of firm data, these endoscopic techniques have not been widely embraced as effective. Two research studies and additional planned projects support this research and mentoring proposal. Over the past three years, the applicant has developed a multidisciplinary pancreatic and biliary center for both clinical care and research. In addition, through these activities, our center was recently awarded a Pancreatic Cancer SPORE. Thus, the clinical and research resources are available for this application. These efforts are all targeted toward developing the next generation of clinical investigators in gastroenterology research. The primary goals of this project are: 1. To pursue a program of investigator-initiated hypotheses driven by high-quality patient oriented research focusing on pancreaticobiliary disease. 2. To mentor young clinicians with little or no research experience in their career development as patient oriented research. 3. To continue to mentor and collaborate with other clinical researchers who are beyond the entry level as clinical investigators. Mentoring of young investigators will be through structured programs including the K30 introduction to clinical research, and a one-year program through the UAB School of Public Health in obtaining an MSPH in Epidemiology during their second year of Fellowship. Lastly, an important portion of the mentoring program will be advancing the clinical research of young clinical faculty in their respective research programs.
| Wilcox, C Mel; Seay, Toni; Kim, Hwasoon et al. (2016) Prospective Endoscopic Ultrasound-Based Approach to the Evaluation of Idiopathic Pancreatitis: Causes, Response to Therapy, and Long-term Outcome. Am J Gastroenterol 111:1339-48 |
| Wilcox, C M; Lopes, Tercio L (2009) A randomized trial comparing endoscopic stenting to a sham procedure for chronic pancreatitis. Clin Trials 6:455-63 |
| Wilcox, C Mel; Varadarajulu, Shyam; Eloubeidi, Mohamad (2006) Role of endoscopic evaluation in idiopathic pancreatitis: a systematic review. Gastrointest Endosc 63:1037-45 |
