Under the guidance of its inaugural chief Sushovan Guha, MD, PhD the Division has embarked on a path of well differentiated and ground-breaking research in the areas of both translational laboratory-based research and database-driven clinical outcomes research.
The Banner Digestive Diseases Institute and Advanced Liver Diseases Center, where the clinical activities are based, perform a large number of advanced procedures and investigations. The Division practices close monitoring and collation of all relevant patient and procedure outcomes for the purposes of quality improvement with the help of automated databases (including REDCap), conventional statistics and machine learning. Research and process improvement are performed synergistically in the Division to provide the best quality of care for our patients. In addition, several investigator-initiated clinical studies are currently under way in the Advanced Liver Diseases Center.
The basic and translational research focus of the Division is to discover novel targetable signaling pathways in gastrointestinal diseases, including pancreatic, colorectal and hepatobiliary to improve and advance therapeutic care. There are excellent training opportunities for both MD and PhD students in the Division.
With a view to replicate the exemplary practices and performances of the Division in other specialties and sub-specialties, Sushovan Guha, MD, PhD is also the chair of the Department of Medicine Research Committee.