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As a first-year gastroenterology fellow, banding my first patient with a variceal bleed was an exciting – but also stress-provoking – event. What if I banded incorrectly and caused more bleeding? With a successful band, a patient’s hemorrhagic shock is now controlled, hemodynamics improved, and euphoria takes over. Now, in my third year of a gastroenterology fellowship but my first year of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Editorial Fellowship, preparing to present the first manuscript that I handled to the Board of Editors at our weekly meeting has now induced the same excitement and need for the same level of dedication. Have I researched the foundational literature that this current manuscript was built on? What is the trajectory of this research and will this project be interesting to our readers and lead to breakthroughs in the field?
Gastroenterology is the premier flagship journal of the AGA and, in this Editorial Fellowship, I was selected to spend a fully immersive 1-year experience working on all aspects of this journal. In its second year of inception, I echo Dr. Eric Shah’s insight into the transformative and immersive nature of this fellowship.1 In this role, I have made three developments, and each one has left me with a valuable lesson.
Mentorship
My first development was as a direct mentee under the leadership of the two editors in chief Richard Peek, MD, and Douglas Corley, MD, and associate editor John Inadomi, MD. In this role, I reviewed submitted manuscripts regarding outcome data of oncologic studies in the fields of colon, esophageal, and gastric cancer. I served as a reviewer for submitted manuscripts and discussed the impact, novelty, and decision for publication with the Board of Editors. In our weekly meetings, the associate editors discussed manuscripts that needed further review prior to acceptance, revision, or rejection. A few themes underpinned the discussion of these manuscripts:
- Is this science reproducible and is there scientific rigor for study design, validity, and analysis?
- How does this manuscript add to the current state of the literature?
- What is the trajectory of this research field?
- How will this manuscript lead to breakthroughs in this field?
- Are the advancements in this manuscript likely to lead to paradigm shifts in the field in its approach, design, or findings?
I also was fortunate to meet leaders in the field, including working daily in person with multiple members of the Board of Editors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn., as well as visiting professors, including Dr. Corley, Linda Rabeneck, MD, and T. Jake Liang, MD, who not only spoke on their scientific inquiries but also about their transitional path from gastroenterology fellows to pioneers in their respective fields. From these lessons, I have learned the scientific rigor of manuscript review for Gastroenterology and how to approach modern challenges in our field to directly improve patient care.
AGA’s commitment to early-career investigators
The Editorial Fellowship allowed me to expand a traditional third-year gastroenterology fellowship to dive deep into the intense path to get a manuscript published in Gastroenterology. Whereas 1 year prior, I had found dilating a complete esophageal stricture difficult, I now found myself learning to master clinical trial design, applying modern techniques of artificial intelligence, understanding organoid development, and navigating the impact of the microbiome. I was fortunate to be selected for Vanderbilt’s Master’s in Science in Clinical Investigation, which allowed me to apply my education not only to my own research but also to synergistically understand and deconstruct new submissions ranging from modern statistics with Bayesian modeling to analysis of large genetic data. All of this was built in the supportive framework of my mentoring committee.
As a fellow, I am inspired to see the multicenter, international collaboration to answer important questions in our field. Leveraging large databases and the expertise of multiple investigators, breakthroughs were made because of the collaborative nature of the science. This also was felt in the review process, where experts generously reviewed manuscripts to enhance the quality of the submission in order to advance knowledge in the field. Reading hundreds of these reviews this year has allowed me to refocus my current research studies and improve the way I write my current reviews. In the spirit of reproducible science and challenging the precision of study design, I was impressed by the time, effort, and dedication reviewers from our field spent to help improve the literature. Dr. Peek and Dr. Corley, our editors in chief, committed their time in discussing my innovations and critiques and displayed their level of interest in the opinions of early-career investigators and fostering the next generation of scientists and practitioners. In this lesson, I was invigorated by the depth of AGA opportunities for fellows and junior faculty in education, research, and involvement.
Self-reflection
Having the honor and privilege to review manuscripts upon submission also increased my critical view of my current practices. I now question the level of evidence for which current patient care practices are based, which allows me to better understand the research areas that need increased attention to improve the quality of our guidelines and evidence. For motivated fellows interested in a path of academic medicine, I would strongly advise applying for this prestigious fellowship. In no other training process could I have learned such a breadth of scientific skills and directly apply them to my patient care, my research, and my role as an educator. Furthermore, I was able to contribute to the reviewing and editing process, which allowed me to directly contribute to the field at an early stage of my career. In this final lesson, I exit this impactful Editorial Fellowship in self-reflection. I leave this fellowship humbled – by you – the reader who continues to learn to improve your patient care, the scientist as she works tirelessly to answer questions and contribute to the literature, the gastroenterology community for their willingness to teach and mentor fellows and early-career investigators and practitioners, and the patients who remind us that we all have a shared mission to advance scientific knowledge to improve patient care.
Dr. Naik is a gastroenterology fellow in the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Reference
1. Shah ED. Skills acquired during my 1-year AGA Editorial Fellowship. Gastroenterology. 2018;154(6):1563.
As a first-year gastroenterology fellow, banding my first patient with a variceal bleed was an exciting – but also stress-provoking – event. What if I banded incorrectly and caused more bleeding? With a successful band, a patient’s hemorrhagic shock is now controlled, hemodynamics improved, and euphoria takes over. Now, in my third year of a gastroenterology fellowship but my first year of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Editorial Fellowship, preparing to present the first manuscript that I handled to the Board of Editors at our weekly meeting has now induced the same excitement and need for the same level of dedication. Have I researched the foundational literature that this current manuscript was built on? What is the trajectory of this research and will this project be interesting to our readers and lead to breakthroughs in the field?
Gastroenterology is the premier flagship journal of the AGA and, in this Editorial Fellowship, I was selected to spend a fully immersive 1-year experience working on all aspects of this journal. In its second year of inception, I echo Dr. Eric Shah’s insight into the transformative and immersive nature of this fellowship.1 In this role, I have made three developments, and each one has left me with a valuable lesson.
Mentorship
My first development was as a direct mentee under the leadership of the two editors in chief Richard Peek, MD, and Douglas Corley, MD, and associate editor John Inadomi, MD. In this role, I reviewed submitted manuscripts regarding outcome data of oncologic studies in the fields of colon, esophageal, and gastric cancer. I served as a reviewer for submitted manuscripts and discussed the impact, novelty, and decision for publication with the Board of Editors. In our weekly meetings, the associate editors discussed manuscripts that needed further review prior to acceptance, revision, or rejection. A few themes underpinned the discussion of these manuscripts:
- Is this science reproducible and is there scientific rigor for study design, validity, and analysis?
- How does this manuscript add to the current state of the literature?
- What is the trajectory of this research field?
- How will this manuscript lead to breakthroughs in this field?
- Are the advancements in this manuscript likely to lead to paradigm shifts in the field in its approach, design, or findings?
I also was fortunate to meet leaders in the field, including working daily in person with multiple members of the Board of Editors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn., as well as visiting professors, including Dr. Corley, Linda Rabeneck, MD, and T. Jake Liang, MD, who not only spoke on their scientific inquiries but also about their transitional path from gastroenterology fellows to pioneers in their respective fields. From these lessons, I have learned the scientific rigor of manuscript review for Gastroenterology and how to approach modern challenges in our field to directly improve patient care.
AGA’s commitment to early-career investigators
The Editorial Fellowship allowed me to expand a traditional third-year gastroenterology fellowship to dive deep into the intense path to get a manuscript published in Gastroenterology. Whereas 1 year prior, I had found dilating a complete esophageal stricture difficult, I now found myself learning to master clinical trial design, applying modern techniques of artificial intelligence, understanding organoid development, and navigating the impact of the microbiome. I was fortunate to be selected for Vanderbilt’s Master’s in Science in Clinical Investigation, which allowed me to apply my education not only to my own research but also to synergistically understand and deconstruct new submissions ranging from modern statistics with Bayesian modeling to analysis of large genetic data. All of this was built in the supportive framework of my mentoring committee.
As a fellow, I am inspired to see the multicenter, international collaboration to answer important questions in our field. Leveraging large databases and the expertise of multiple investigators, breakthroughs were made because of the collaborative nature of the science. This also was felt in the review process, where experts generously reviewed manuscripts to enhance the quality of the submission in order to advance knowledge in the field. Reading hundreds of these reviews this year has allowed me to refocus my current research studies and improve the way I write my current reviews. In the spirit of reproducible science and challenging the precision of study design, I was impressed by the time, effort, and dedication reviewers from our field spent to help improve the literature. Dr. Peek and Dr. Corley, our editors in chief, committed their time in discussing my innovations and critiques and displayed their level of interest in the opinions of early-career investigators and fostering the next generation of scientists and practitioners. In this lesson, I was invigorated by the depth of AGA opportunities for fellows and junior faculty in education, research, and involvement.
Self-reflection
Having the honor and privilege to review manuscripts upon submission also increased my critical view of my current practices. I now question the level of evidence for which current patient care practices are based, which allows me to better understand the research areas that need increased attention to improve the quality of our guidelines and evidence. For motivated fellows interested in a path of academic medicine, I would strongly advise applying for this prestigious fellowship. In no other training process could I have learned such a breadth of scientific skills and directly apply them to my patient care, my research, and my role as an educator. Furthermore, I was able to contribute to the reviewing and editing process, which allowed me to directly contribute to the field at an early stage of my career. In this final lesson, I exit this impactful Editorial Fellowship in self-reflection. I leave this fellowship humbled – by you – the reader who continues to learn to improve your patient care, the scientist as she works tirelessly to answer questions and contribute to the literature, the gastroenterology community for their willingness to teach and mentor fellows and early-career investigators and practitioners, and the patients who remind us that we all have a shared mission to advance scientific knowledge to improve patient care.
Dr. Naik is a gastroenterology fellow in the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Reference
1. Shah ED. Skills acquired during my 1-year AGA Editorial Fellowship. Gastroenterology. 2018;154(6):1563.
As a first-year gastroenterology fellow, banding my first patient with a variceal bleed was an exciting – but also stress-provoking – event. What if I banded incorrectly and caused more bleeding? With a successful band, a patient’s hemorrhagic shock is now controlled, hemodynamics improved, and euphoria takes over. Now, in my third year of a gastroenterology fellowship but my first year of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Editorial Fellowship, preparing to present the first manuscript that I handled to the Board of Editors at our weekly meeting has now induced the same excitement and need for the same level of dedication. Have I researched the foundational literature that this current manuscript was built on? What is the trajectory of this research and will this project be interesting to our readers and lead to breakthroughs in the field?
Gastroenterology is the premier flagship journal of the AGA and, in this Editorial Fellowship, I was selected to spend a fully immersive 1-year experience working on all aspects of this journal. In its second year of inception, I echo Dr. Eric Shah’s insight into the transformative and immersive nature of this fellowship.1 In this role, I have made three developments, and each one has left me with a valuable lesson.
Mentorship
My first development was as a direct mentee under the leadership of the two editors in chief Richard Peek, MD, and Douglas Corley, MD, and associate editor John Inadomi, MD. In this role, I reviewed submitted manuscripts regarding outcome data of oncologic studies in the fields of colon, esophageal, and gastric cancer. I served as a reviewer for submitted manuscripts and discussed the impact, novelty, and decision for publication with the Board of Editors. In our weekly meetings, the associate editors discussed manuscripts that needed further review prior to acceptance, revision, or rejection. A few themes underpinned the discussion of these manuscripts:
- Is this science reproducible and is there scientific rigor for study design, validity, and analysis?
- How does this manuscript add to the current state of the literature?
- What is the trajectory of this research field?
- How will this manuscript lead to breakthroughs in this field?
- Are the advancements in this manuscript likely to lead to paradigm shifts in the field in its approach, design, or findings?
I also was fortunate to meet leaders in the field, including working daily in person with multiple members of the Board of Editors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn., as well as visiting professors, including Dr. Corley, Linda Rabeneck, MD, and T. Jake Liang, MD, who not only spoke on their scientific inquiries but also about their transitional path from gastroenterology fellows to pioneers in their respective fields. From these lessons, I have learned the scientific rigor of manuscript review for Gastroenterology and how to approach modern challenges in our field to directly improve patient care.
AGA’s commitment to early-career investigators
The Editorial Fellowship allowed me to expand a traditional third-year gastroenterology fellowship to dive deep into the intense path to get a manuscript published in Gastroenterology. Whereas 1 year prior, I had found dilating a complete esophageal stricture difficult, I now found myself learning to master clinical trial design, applying modern techniques of artificial intelligence, understanding organoid development, and navigating the impact of the microbiome. I was fortunate to be selected for Vanderbilt’s Master’s in Science in Clinical Investigation, which allowed me to apply my education not only to my own research but also to synergistically understand and deconstruct new submissions ranging from modern statistics with Bayesian modeling to analysis of large genetic data. All of this was built in the supportive framework of my mentoring committee.
As a fellow, I am inspired to see the multicenter, international collaboration to answer important questions in our field. Leveraging large databases and the expertise of multiple investigators, breakthroughs were made because of the collaborative nature of the science. This also was felt in the review process, where experts generously reviewed manuscripts to enhance the quality of the submission in order to advance knowledge in the field. Reading hundreds of these reviews this year has allowed me to refocus my current research studies and improve the way I write my current reviews. In the spirit of reproducible science and challenging the precision of study design, I was impressed by the time, effort, and dedication reviewers from our field spent to help improve the literature. Dr. Peek and Dr. Corley, our editors in chief, committed their time in discussing my innovations and critiques and displayed their level of interest in the opinions of early-career investigators and fostering the next generation of scientists and practitioners. In this lesson, I was invigorated by the depth of AGA opportunities for fellows and junior faculty in education, research, and involvement.
Self-reflection
Having the honor and privilege to review manuscripts upon submission also increased my critical view of my current practices. I now question the level of evidence for which current patient care practices are based, which allows me to better understand the research areas that need increased attention to improve the quality of our guidelines and evidence. For motivated fellows interested in a path of academic medicine, I would strongly advise applying for this prestigious fellowship. In no other training process could I have learned such a breadth of scientific skills and directly apply them to my patient care, my research, and my role as an educator. Furthermore, I was able to contribute to the reviewing and editing process, which allowed me to directly contribute to the field at an early stage of my career. In this final lesson, I exit this impactful Editorial Fellowship in self-reflection. I leave this fellowship humbled – by you – the reader who continues to learn to improve your patient care, the scientist as she works tirelessly to answer questions and contribute to the literature, the gastroenterology community for their willingness to teach and mentor fellows and early-career investigators and practitioners, and the patients who remind us that we all have a shared mission to advance scientific knowledge to improve patient care.
Dr. Naik is a gastroenterology fellow in the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Reference
1. Shah ED. Skills acquired during my 1-year AGA Editorial Fellowship. Gastroenterology. 2018;154(6):1563.