Dr. Chennat’s research investigates such conditions as Barrett’s esophagus neoplasia, endotherapies for pancreatitis, novel imaging techniques such as confocal endomicroscopy, and endoscopic devices and product designs related to guided visualization and targeted tissue ablation.

Dr. Greer’s research focuses on cancer epidemiology related to colon and pancreatic cancer, acute and chronic pancreatitis, nutrition, inflammatory bowel disease risk factors and case management, bioinformatics, and medical education in digestion and nutrition.

Dr. McGee’s researches the effectiveness of technology-based education with a focus on simulation and web-based learning. This research applies virtual patient simulation, technical standards and education analytics (big data) to improve clinical decision-making and educational outcomes.

Dr. O’Keefe performs translational research into the physiological and pathophysiological responses to feeding and nutritional deprivation. He has received NIH R01 grant support for his studies on the physiological effects of feeding on pancreatic enzyme synthesis in humans with and without disease, the optimal feeding in patients with severe acute pancreatitis, and, most recently, the role of diet, the microbiome and its metabolites in determining colon cancer risk in extreme risk Alaska Native People, high-risk African Americans (AA), and minimal risk rural South Africans (NA). His pivotal study in Nature Communications in 2015 showed that switching the diets of AA and NA (i.e., Americans were given a traditional African diet high in fiber, low in meat and fat, while Africans were given a westernized diet high in meant and fat, and low in fiber) led to profound changes in the colonic microbiome and its metabolome, associated with reciprocal changes in colonic mucosal biomarkers of cancer risk within two weeks. This supports the hypothesis that diet drives colon cancer risk and that it is largely preventable by a high fiber diet. Studies are underway in Alaska to determine whether fiber supplementation will annul the health disparity and extreme rates of colon cancer risk and mortality in Alaska Natives. Finally, Dr. O’Keefe is partnering with the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa to develop the African Microbiome Institute, which he directs, with the goal of studying the ecology of the microbiome through the Faculties of Medicine, Agrisciences, and Plant Biology, with the overarching aim of improving the health of all Africans.

llustration of some of the major mechanisms whereby a high-fibre diet can prevent diseases associated with high-income lifestyles HDACi=histone deacetylase inhibitors. GPCR=G protein-coupled receptor.

Click image to enlarge.

Dr. Schoen’s research interests center on the early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer (CRC). He is a principal investigator in the PLCO cancer screening trial, a randomized trial of over 154,000 individuals which evaluated flexible sigmoidoscopy. He has used PLCO data to study surveillance colonoscopy utilization and yield, interval cancers (cancers detected shortly after endoscopic procedures), and the risk of colorectal cancer among subjects with a family history of cancer. Dr Schoen is the principal investigator, in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, of a multicenter randomized immunotherapy trial, evaluating a vaccine for prevention of recurrent adenomatous polyps. He is a principal investigator for the Early Detection Research Network and collaborates with scientists nationally and internationally to identify biomarkers, including circulating tumor DNA and tissue-based markers, to detect and monitor cancer. He is an investigator in the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium, which is studying genetic and environmental risk factors for CRC, including genome-wide association studies and molecular pathologic epidemiology research as well as the modeling of CRC risk using genetic and environmental risk factors. Dr. Schoen is a co-investigator in a study evaluating colonoscopy quality and is helping to develop a natural language processing tool to evaluate and report on colonoscopy quality in a more efficient manner. In conjunction with that project, Dr. Schoen is developing a database of colonoscopy reports from the last 20 years at UPMC hospitals for research studies on colonoscopy.