This year we are pleased to again bring together outstanding leaders in gastric and esophageal disease as faculty. The faculty brings broad experience in benign and malignant disease and this year includes a mixture of gastroenterologists, surgeons, and pathologists to ensure a comprehensive, state-of-the-art, yet balanced approach to the diagnosis and management of patients with esophageal and foregut disorders.

The course was started by Drs Tom DeMeester and Don Castell. Tom DeMeester was Professor of Surgery and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Southern California. He is world-renowned for his numerous contributions to the field of esophageal disease, including the development of the DeMeester score to assess esophageal acid exposure during pH testing. Don Castell was Professor of Medicine and Director of Esophageal Function Laboratory at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston SC. He was internationally renowned for his contributions to esophageal function testing as well as diagnosis and therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease. Sadly, Don passed away in 2021, but he will be long remembered for his detailed lectures on esophageal physiology, quick mind, and gregarious spirit while debating Tom and the other surgeons at the annual course. His legacy lives on with the spirited discussions that are a tradition at this course.

This year the course will be co-directed by Steve DeMeester, MD and Stu Spechler, MD. Phil Katz, long-time co-director, remains active with program development and as faculty for the course. Steve DeMeester is a Thoracic Surgeon specializing in foregut disease. He was Professor of Surgery and Clinical Scholar at the University of Southern California until 2016 when he moved to Portland, Oregon. He joined the Oregon Clinic Thoracic and Foregut Surgery group and practiced in Portland until he retired in 2023. Stu Spechler is Chief, Division of Gastroenterology and Co-Director, Center for Esophageal Diseases at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and Co-Director, Center for Esophageal Research at Baylor Scott & White Research Institute. He is a recognized leader and has published extensively on topics in esophageal disease including GERD and Barrett’s esophagus. Philip Katz is a Gastroenterologist specializing in esophageal diagnostics and therapy and is a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, NYC. Prior to moving to Cornell, Phil was Chief of Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Albert Einstein Medical Center, Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA. He is a past president of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Core faculty for the course include Felice Schnoll-Sussman MD, and David Katzka MD, from the GI side and Daniela Molena MD, and Guilherme M. Campos, M.D., Ph.D. from the surgical side. Para Chandrasoma MD continues to challenge conventional thinking about the pathology of GERD. Felice Schnoll-Sussman is Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health and Director of Endoscopy, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Weill Cornell Medicine. She is known for her skills in advanced esophageal endoscopy including management of complex strictures and Barrett’s esophagus. David A. Katzka is Professor of Medicine and Head of the Esophageal Center at Columbia University. He is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester. He has had a career-long interest in esophageal disease and has published numerous high-impact papers on a range of esophageal disorders that have aided our ability to diagnose and treat these conditions. Daniela Molena is Director of the Esophageal Surgery Program and Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Associate Attending, Thoracic Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY. Guilherme M. Campos is the Paul J. Nutter Professor and Chair of the Division of Bariatric and Gastrointestinal Surgery of Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia; where he is also the Co-director of the Foregut, Advanced GI/MIS, and Bariatric Fellowship program. Para Chandrasoma is one of the world’s leading experts in esophageal pathology and has proposed groundbreaking concepts related to the histology of the normal and the reflux-damaged gastroesophageal junction. He spent his career at the University of Southern California and Los Angeles County Hospital.

We also want to recognize and thank our Emeritus Surgical Director, Jeff Peters, MD, for his many years leading the course after Tom DeMeester stepped down. His thought-provoking and stimulating lectures were an unforgettable part of the history of this course. He remains on the board of directors and continues to share his passion for foregut disease with the audience when he is able to attend the course.

In addition to our core faculty, each year there are special guest faculty to highlight the specific topics that are being focused on at each year’s meeting. These topics include esophageal diagnostics, endoscopic imaging and interventions, the pathology of GERD and Barrett’s esophagus, esophageal motility abnormalities and diverticula, hiatal hernia, laryngopharyngeal reflux, medical, surgical, and endoscopic therapies for GERD and motility disorders, esophageal perforation and caustic injury, eosinophilic esophagitis, benign tumors of the esophagus and stomach, and the diagnosis, staging, and therapy for esophageal and gastric cancer. Check out the agenda for topics and areas of focus at the upcoming 2026 course!

Special guest faculty at the 2026 course:

FEATURED ON THE MEDICINE SIDE

Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH – University of North Carolina

James R. Goldenring, MD, PhD – Vanderbilt University

John E. Pandolfino, MD – Northwestern University

 FEATURED ON THE SURGICAL SIDE

Brant K. Oelschlager, MD, FACS

Stephanie G. Worrell, MD, FACS