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Dawn M Torres, MD
Chief, Gastroenterology
LTC
|
MC
|
USA
WRB
Patrick E Young, MD
Director,
Gastroenterology
CAPT
|
MC
|
USN
USU
The Gastroenterology Service at Walter Reed
Bethesda is the largest in the DoD. Our 12
staff physicians, comprised of active duty
Army, Navy and civilian specialists, serve as
faculty for the tri-service fellowship training
program
and
provide
world-class
comprehensive care to patients who are
responsible for more than 38,000 visits
annually.
Minimally Invasive and Open-Access Colon
Cancer Screenings and Global Telemedicine
Capabilities Broaden the Scope of GI Care
We provide state-of-the-art colon cancer
screening to beneficiaries with high-definition
optical colonoscopy or virtual CT scan
colonography (VTC). We also offer open-
access screening where patients can fill out an
online medical questionnaire and have a
gastroenterologist review their health history.
Our scheduling department then arranges
appointments for the procedure during a
phone consultation, sparing patients an office
visit and allowing increased access to care for
symptomatic patients. Since March 2014, we
have screened more than 5,280 patients and
performed more than 3,700 open-access
colonoscopies (1,082 in 2016).
Beyond expert consultative gastroenterology
care for a variety of benign GI conditions, we
provide sub-specialty care for hepatology,
therapeutic gastroenterology, inflammatory
bowel disease, and esophageal and motility
disorders. We also deliver global telemedicine
services to primary care providers deployed to
remote locales where GI consultation is not
directly available.
Consultative, Multi-Disciplinary
Approaches Improve Possibilities for Those
with Liver Disease and Transplants
Our Hepatology Clinic is comprised of
experienced
board-certified
transplant
hepatologists who have trained at Johns
Hopkins University (Dr. Dawn Torres),
University of California San Francisco (Dr.
Maria Sjogren) and Georgetown University
(Dr. Ryan Kwok) and a dedicated hepatology
physician assistant (Jose Balinas). We offer
combined
consultative
care
for
liver
transplantation with our two transplant
surgeons and multi-disciplinary care with
interventional
radiology,
oncology
and
hepatobiliary surgeons for a variety of liver
tumors.
Advances in Research, Clinical Trials and
Health Technology Drive Improved Patient
Treatment Outcomes and Success
Since the advent of all-oral therapy for Chronic
Hepatitis C (CHC) three years ago, we have
treated and cured over 300 patients with CHC
using the newest oral anti-viral agents with
over 95% SVR (cure) rates. The Hepatology
Clinic is also active in clinical research, having
eight open IRB-approved protocols related
predominantly to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver
Disease (NAFLD). We are also one of three
DoD centers with state-of-the-art non-invasive
technology to evaluate scarring (fibrosis) in a
variety of chronic liver diseases. We are
participating in several large multi-center
clinical treatment trials in partnership with
industry (Gilead, Galectin, Abbvie and
Intercept) to provide our patients cutting-edge
potential treatments for liver disorders.
Gas
tr
oe
n
ter
olo
gy
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Nationally-Recognized Subspecialists
Provide Innovative Insights into IBD-Related
Diseases and Therapeutic Endoscopy
Our Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center
is the first and only one of its kind in the DoD,
delivering expert care for patients with
ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease,
including remote consultative services to
gastroenterologists across the country and
overseas who manage patients with IBD. Our
IBD Clinic is part of a national consortium of
centers of excellence, with three experienced
IBD specialists (Drs. Manish Singla, Anita
Bhushan and Larry Goldkind) and a physician
assistant (Helen Copsey) who provide
continuity and innovative care. They are
active in clinical research and have presented
at Digestive Diseases Week, the American
College
of
Gastroenterology’s
Annual
Scientific Meeting, and the Crohn’s and Colitis
Foundation
Annual
Meeting.
We are
participating in large multi-center clinical
treatment trials in partnership with industry
to provide aggressive care to our patients
early in their disease course.
The Interventional Gastroenterology Service
is staffed by three experienced providers of
therapeutic endoscopy, Dr. Patrick Young, Dr.
Jeffrey Laczek and Dr. Adam Tritsch. They
perform endoscopic ultrasound, endoscopic
mucosal resection, endoscopic retrograde
cholangiopancreatograms,
balloon-assisted
enteroscopy, endoluminal stenting, and
ablative procedures for Barrett’s esophagus,
and have recently expanded their skills to
include endoluminal sewing and transluminal
stent placement.
They are part of a multidisciplinary treatment
approach in combination with surgical,
medical and radiation oncology, as well as
pathology, to diagnose, stage and treat a
variety of gastrointestinal tumors. They
provide consultative care for our surrounding
military beneficiaries as well as NIH and
Veteran Affairs patients from the region as
part of a share agreement that allows access
to our expert subspecialists.
World-Renowned Expertise for EoE and
Other Esophageal and Motility Disorders
Our Esophageal and Motility Disorder Section
provides
high-resolution
esophageal
manometry, pH and impedance studies, and
hydrogen breath testing to diagnose and treat
a variety of esophageal motility disorders.
This section is staffed by world-renowned
experts, including Dr. Roy Wong and Dr. Mark
Damiano, who perform more than 500 cases
per year. They have presented at national and
international meetings to update fellow
gastroenterologists on the advances made at
Walter Reed Bethesda.
A Sought-After GI Fellowship Program
The gastroenterology fellowship program, led
by Dr. Patrick Young, is a robust three-year
training program and is currently training 12
fellows. Our fellows are active in research and
present at regional and national meetings,
while also mentoring the residents of the
internal medicine program on posters at
national meetings. Recent scholarly awards
include
the
American
College
of
Gastroenterology’s (ACG) Presidential Poster
Award and the ACG Fellow’s Award.
Opposite page:
Dr. Charlene Hauser
performs an upper
endoscopy, assisted by
Aukeidra Haynes, RN,
and endoscopy
technician Toccara
Grant, while Dr. Mark
Damiano supervises.
Karmina Evangelista, RN,
uses vibration-controlled
transient elastography to
non-invasively evaluate
the degree of scarring in
the liver.