REMEMBERING DR. LAUREN GERSON

REMEMBERING

DR. LAUREN BATTAT GERSON (1964-2017)

THE OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES OF THE COLLEGE MOURN THE DEATH OF A VIBRANT, TALENTED AND WELL-

RESPECTED ACG TRUSTEE, DR. LAUREN B. GERSON. She will long be remembered for her radiant enthusiasm, and especially for the “grace, professionalism, collegiality, and uncommon good sense,” noted by one of her many friends.

Dr. Gerson passed away on July 21, 2017, after battling metastatic melanoma. She was a gastroenterologist at Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, CA, who was elected to the ACG Board of Trustees in 2015.

An Exceptional Human Being

“Lauren was an exceptional researcher, author, and human being. We will miss her greatly,” reflected ACG President Carol A. Burke, MD, FACG.

ACG President-Elect Irving M. Pike, MD, FACG, and his wife, Randy, attended Dr. Gerson’s funeral on July 26, 2017, in Burlingame, CA. Dr. Pike shared, “Not surprisingly it was standing room only. There were beautiful tributes to Lauren the person, the wife, the mother, the scholar, the researcher, the caring physician, the figure skater, the musician, the skier, the loyal friend and more. We found that we only knew some of Lauren, and I am sad that I did not have time to know more about this wonderful person.”

Lauren Gerson received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University and her medical degree at SUNY - Buffalo School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at California Pacific Medical Center, and her gastroenterology fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center. She served as a fellow and faculty member at Stanford Hospital for over 15 years. In recent years, she practiced at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

Dr. Gerson was a highly respected and accomplished clinician and researcher who led the ACG Practice Parameters Committee from 2011-2015. During her tenure, she oversaw the publication of numerous ACG clinical guidelines. Nicholas J. Shaheen, MD, MPH, FACG, preceded Dr. Gerson as Chair of Practice Parameters, and remembers her impact:

“In the key roles she held for the College over the years, as chair of the Practice Parameters Committee and as a member of the Board of Trustees, she inspired many young scholarly physicians, and motivated them to be future leaders of our profession. She instilled a new degree of rigor in the development of ACG’s guidelines, making these documents even more useful to the clinician.”

Among her significant and noteworthy contributions to the educational excellence of ACG’s programs, she served as Co-Director of the ACG Postgraduate Course in 2014.

Seth A. Gross, MD, FACG, had the opportunity to work with Dr. Gerson when they planned the course. He recalled, “I remember thinking after our first phone call, I am working with someone who is passionate, driven, and who loves what she does. Lauren was smart, well-rounded, and her energy was contagious—inspiring everyone around her to continue to advance our field.”

Lauren B. Gerson, MD, MSc, FACG

Dr. Gerson also made noteworthy contributions in many roles for the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, where she was active as a Senior Associate Editor of the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. ASGE President Dr. Karen L. Woods noted, “She has accomplished so very much in her short life and has touched many with her knowledge, teaching skills and warm personality.”

As her many friends in gastroenterology carry on her legacy of clinical excellence and dedication to the GI profession, they will continue to be inspired not only by Dr. Gerson’s professional accomplishments, but also by her joy in her family and her graceful courage while facing adversity. As her friend Dr. Pearl Yee of San Francisco said, “Lauren was the best of us. She excelled at everything with a fierce intellect and unwavering smile.”

Dr. Gerson is survived by her husband, Bill, a lawyer at Apple, Inc., her children, Stephanie, Jackie and Andrew, her parents, and siblings.

“My main recollection of Lauren will always be her irrepressible enthusiasm for our field and the College. If nine-tenths of success in life is attitude, it was easy to see why Lauren was successful. She was so supportive of others and their ideas, and so constructive in her suggestions for improvement for the work, that it elevated everyone around her.”

—Nicholas J. Shaheen, MD, FACG, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill “Lauren was the quintessential academic gastroenterologist who consistently contributed to the field, all the while with a ready smile, and a sincere warmth for trainees as well as her peers. We all learned from her honest erudition. She will, however, always be missed by those who knew her and by those who never had that privilege.” —Lawrence J. Brandt, MD, MACG, Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, NY

“A bright spot in our field has been lost, but Lauren’s contributions and spirit will live on for years to come. —Seth A. Gross, MD, FACG, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY

“Lauren was a very positive individual and always wanted to do clinical research or write a paper. She was persistent with everything she did. I never understood where she got all of her energy from. She touched many lives and will be remembered for her energy and passion for her family, for life and for medicine.”

—Jonathan A. Leighton, MD, FACG, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ “Lauren was an amazing woman, who inspired me every time I interacted with her. She always had a smile on her face, and that ‘can do’ attitude. I was so impressed with everything that she accomplished in her time as a committee chair, and I know she could have achieved anything that she set her mind to.” —Amy S. Oxentenko, MD, FACG, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

“Lauren challenged me, taught me and made me laugh whenever we worked together. I will miss her enthusiasm for discovery and desire to find new ways to help patients. I’m grateful she was a part of my life.” —Philip O. Katz, MD, FACG, Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY

“Her grace, professionalism, collegiality and uncommon good sense were such an asset to the gastroenterology community.” —Joseph A. Murray, MD, FACG, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

A WOMAN TO REMEMBER AND HONOR

YEARS AGO, I DID MAKE AN IMPORTANT DECISION. I accepted Lauren Gerson to work in my lab at the Palo Alto VA. She quickly became a passionate clinical researcher and the rest is history. She eventually became a GI fellow, an outcomes researcher, an accomplished gastroenterologist, and a faculty of our Division at Stanford where she spent the next 15 years as a renaissance clinician with her hands on the pulse of the patient and her heart on doing what is best, what is right. She rose to become an Associate Professor at the university, a Trustee of our College, an internationally known authority in gastroenterology, an Editor, a Researcher.

Having grown older in the field of academic gastroenterology over the past 30 years, continuously aiming at fermenting the next generation of clinician-researchers and educators, I look back at my own successes and failures, my surprises and regrets. Doing so, I have come across some people who I feel blessed of working with and inspired by and one of them is Lauren Gerson. Her premature departure marked me indelibly, her place in the field of gastroenterology will remain difficult to fill, her star will shine in our memories, her inspiration a path to pursue.

Having studied romance languages at Princeton, Lauren was a “francophone” and “francophile.” Hence, she impersonated and epitomized what the French call “joie de vivre,” liberally translated as “exuberant enjoyment of life,” describing her cheerfulness, vivacity and zest. And she did this not only in her personal and family life, but also professionally. It was this blend of excitement about everything that drove her and all of us around her to go beyond preconceived borders and fences—practically and intellectually— looking after patients, clinical problems and research questions. And in her honor and memory many of us, touched by her, will continue her course.

She was relentless in the pursuit of knowledge, properly acquired and implemented. Every clinical decision was destined to be supported by evidence either already available or soon to be generated. Bias was condemned, true value to the patient defended. One would have to literally go on a journey to the center of the evidence and, if not encountered, grab the opportunity to find it. Everything was a question in search of one answer, or more. We played this intellectual game with Lauren a lot, myself as a mentor, she as budding academic and clinician. And patients benefited, science moved forward.

A physician, wife, mother, musician, athlete, friend has departed and will be missed, but not forgotten. A special energy, her smile, her ideas, wit and thoughts will inspire and bless many to come…

À bientôt, Lauren…

George Triadafilopoulos, MD, FACG Clinical Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology), Stanford University School of Medicine

Lauren B. Gerson, MD, MSc, FACG and Dr. Triadafilopoulos