Robert Sandler Elected AGA Vice President

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Dr Robert S. Sandler, Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, has been elected Vice President of the American Gastroenterological Association Institute(Figure 1).

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• Robert Sandler, MD

He will officially assume this role during Digestive Disease Week, which takes place in May in Los Angeles. Sandler will be vice president for 1 year and then president-elect for 1 year, before becoming president of the association for a 1-year term in 2008. The Nina C. and John T. Sessions distinguished professor in UNC’s School of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health joined the university in 1981 and has been the division chief since 2003. In research, Sandler is a nationally recognized cancer epidemiologist, for the past 20 years focused primarily on colon cancer epidemiology and prevention, and outcomes research. He was the principal investigator on a widely cited study published in The New England Journal of Medicine that found patients who had colorectal cancer might reduce their risk of developing future colorectal adenomas by taking an aspirin daily.

Sandler, an Associate Editor of Gastroenterology, points to 3 areas of interest in his new AGAI role: “The first is the area of quality. Pay for performance is just around the corner and I believe that the AGA must be ready for it. The organization must continue to develop professional education materials for members on topics of quality and medical errors, both errors of omission and commission. In addition, the organization needs to develop evidence-based quality performance measures and metrics for documenting them.”

The second area of interest is relationships with other GI organizations. Sandler, as a “consensus builder and problem solver,” says he would “work very hard to improve our relationships with our sister societies, particularly with respect to lobbying. I don’t think we can go to Congress with a fragmented approach. I believe for greatest effect all of the GI organizations need to work together to come up with a common message.”

International efforts are another major interest, “We need to expand our outreach to international members to attend our meetings and contribute to our journals. The [GI] diseases that we see here in the United States are present elsewhere in the world. By working together internationally, I think we can make great progress toward solving them.”