President's Letter Fall 2008 | Print |  E-mail
AUTUMNAL EQUINOX 2008

Dear DRS Members,

I am writing this letter to our Society members with a feeling of relief.  First off, our host city, New Orleans, and our meeting organizers (IMM, in Houston) escaped the worst of the ravages of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Second, we now have the program lined up for our meeting in March.

A sincere thanks goes out to all of those who responded to my last letter, asking for the input from the membership regarding new ideas and themes that you would like to see covered at our next meeting.  The response was so great that it proved impossible for me to respond personally to each message.  However, I can assure you I read every single one!  Your hardworking Program Committee was left in the ideal position of having more good ideas than they had room for in the program.  Those whose suggestions did not quite make it on the program should definitely re-submit their ideas for the 2010 program.  

I think you will be as excited as I am about the diversity of topics being presented at both the pre-conference and main conference this March.  We have been able to secure participants who are recognized internationally for their areas of expertise.  Some of these individuals are well-known to the membership, whereas others bring new ideas and opportunities for collaboration with our group.   You can see the entire program on the website.  However, I would like to highlight a few themes that will be developed during the conference.

When one thinks of New Orleans and eating, one thinks of a mixture of pleasure and pain, given the amount of cayenne and other peppers that typify the cuisine.  Nociception is an often under-appreciated aspect of swallowing disorders.  It is critical for informing us when a swallow goes drastically wrong. Moreover, disorders of nociception are behind chronic pain syndromes that affect mastication and deglutition.  On Saturday, after you have consumed enough capsaicin to appreciate the importance of your own nociceptors, we will have a session covering mechanisms of nociception and chronic pain from the oral cavity to the esophagus.  The presentations will be by basic investigators in this field who have developed relevant model systems.  These have the potential for translational research to the patients you encounter every day.  Most of these investigators are new to our discipline, and part of the goal of having them at our meeting is to allow you to interact with them and possibly develop collaborations.

Can you imagine eating bugs?!  You have the opportunity to do so at the Bug Appetite Café in the new Insectarium, located right next door to our meeting.  As you try these tasty delicacies, I would like you to think about how the physical, sensory, and other properties of food affect the process of deglutition and eating behavior.   I think that you will find the session on this topic on Thursday thought (and research) provoking.

I am honored to announce that our Dodds-Donner Speaker this year will be Walter J. Hogan, MD.  Walt is an inaugural member of our Society.  He is past-president of the American Gastroenterological Association and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.  But of most importance, he had a long history of productive collaboration with one of the honorees of this lectureship, Wylie J. Dodds, MD.  Walt will draw on this experience in his talk on mentorship and research collaboration.

We will have some novel presentation formats for this program.  One is a "point-counterpoint," where two different speakers take opposing sides of controversial issues.
For younger investigators we will again have a "meet-the-mentor" luncheon session.  In addition, Rebecca German will give a luncheon session on "How to Give a Talk."  While primarily intended for younger investigators, there a few of us more senior types who could profit from a refresher on this topic, based on some MEGO (My Eyes Glazed Over) presentations we have all endured at past meetings.  

In reviewing what I have written so far, I realize that an earlier statement is incorrect:  the program is NOT completed.  That is because the majority of the program will be original research submitted by you, the membership.  In response to your completed surveys from the last meeting, we will increase the time available for each oral presentation to 10 minutes, with 5 minutes for discussion.  We are also giving more time to the posters by making two changes.  The first is that the Welcome Reception Thursday night will be combined with a poster viewing session, wherein poster presenters can discuss their work in a congenial setting.  Second, on the last day, we will have a Poster Plenary Session, wherein the Abstract Committee will give capsule highlights of what they feel are the top posters, while these few poster presenters field questions from the audience.  

We will have a closing awards ceremony, but not a banquet, because I figured you'd rather be spending Saturday night in the French Quarter, instead of sitting in a hotel meeting room.  To help in your Nawlins' forays, I have asked Stephanie Daniels to provide an insider's slant on activities to while away your free time in a side column.  One of the activities you might consider is volunteering to help rebuild homes that were devastated by Katrina.  We will be having links to these opportunities on the DRS website.

So, dear members, it is now up to you.  We are accepting abstracts even as I type.  I want you to give Greg Postma and his Abstract Committee team all the work they can handle.  If your topic idea didn't quite make it onto the program this year, submit compelling research on the area instead.  But I want to make one thing perfectly clear:  the abstract deadline this year is FINAL!  Yeah, yeah, I know we have extended this in the past.  However, we are a grown-up organization now and have to take deadlines seriously, especially with the volume of abstracts we are receiving.  What is the deadline? Sunday, November 9 at 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.  Well then, get busy.  

Looking forward to seeing you, and your abstracts, in New Orleans,

Your devoted President,

 

THINGS TO DO IN THE BIG EASY

Eating in NOLA: With so many places, this section is difficult. We all know the famous ones such as Commander's Palace or Galatoire's, so I will talk about one that is less well known to folks outside the city. Jacques-Imo's, 8324 Oak Street (www.jacquesimoscafe.com) located in the Carrollton section of Uptown (yes, you MUST get out of the Quarter). This is a casual place that is hugely popular with locals. Reservations are taken for parties of 5 or more and are a must OR just be prepared to wait and drink-they have a great bar. The food is home style Creole with huge entrees such as soft shell crab, most types of fish (I'm know there are non-seafood entrees; but I never pay attention to them). They also have vegetarian entrees. With each entrée you get two sides that are so good they make you want to slap your mama (this is a NOLA saying for something that is really good-especially when talking about food)-the sides include such New Orleans classics as red beans and rice, greens, butter bean, sweet potatoes. Jacque Imo's is a noisy place, so definitely not good for an intimate dinner, but if going with a rowdy group (or Steve Leder), this might be it. (It is 2 blocks off the St. Charles streetcar line).

Drinking in NOLA: Right up there with eating! One of my favorite places is The Column's, 3811 St. Charles (www.thecolumns.com). It was a house that has been converted to a hotel. It has great atmosphere inside and the best porch on which to sit, imbibe, and watch the streetcar pass. Need I say more? (President's Note: This hotel was the site for the notorious film debut of Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby).

Music in NOLA: With so much good food, you have to groove to some live, local music in order to work off those calories (but watch out for the drinking when you are doing this as it defeats the purpose). Right next door to Jacque Imo's is the Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak Street (www.mapleleafbar.com). It is a great bar and ideal place to catch music. All the great local bands play here. The Leaf is a small place that can really get rocking if the music is right. Rebirth Brass Band generally plays every Tuesday. One thing to remember, most, if not all, bars and music venues are NOT smoke free-sorry.

Daytime Fun in NOLA: If you didn't stay up too late the prior night listening to music, there are all kind of things to do in and around the city of NOLA during the day. I need to see what Gustav did to central Louisiana before I can report about swamp tours, so for this piece I will stay in the city. For the ½ day that we have off, I would definitely suggest touring around via the streetcar. You can visit City Park (www.neworleanscitypark.com) and the New Orleans Museum of Art by taking the Canal Street line of the streetcar. City Park was devastated by Katrina but it is coming back (in fact, if you want to volunteer on your afternoon, they could use the help). It is home of the Dueling Oaks (ginormous oak trees that are hundreds of years old). Inside the City Park is the Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden, which is just to the rear of the museum and is great! One of the public golf courses in City Park finally re-opened in August. You can take the St. Charles line of the streetcar to visit the Garden District and Uptown. The Garden District is great to walk around and check out the homes. Guided tours are available (www.tourneworleans.com). If you take the streetcar further Uptown, you get to Audubon Park (www.auduboninstitute.org -I was having difficulty with the Audubon website, perhaps effects of Gustav, so you may want to try www.neworleans.citysearch.com search under attractions for information) and Tulane University, both great to walk around. The path around Audubon Park is approximately 2 miles long with lots of birds in the lagoon, great oak trees, and a 9-hole public golf course. On the back side of the Park, is Audubon Zoo. It is considered one of the best zoos in the country. It is really great and has some unique creatures-especially those specific to Louisiana. You can also get to the Zoo by riding up the Mississippi on the John James Audubon Riverboat.

NOLA Vernacular: Neutral Ground. In most cities this strip of land separating the streets on a boulevard is referred to as the median. The term Neutral Ground came about as this was the location between the French and Spanish sections where residents of the respective sections could meet and do business. Absolutely no one says median in NOLA (even if transplanted to Houston). Knowing if a friend who is riding in one of the Mardi Gras parades is located on the neutral ground side or sidewalk side of the float is critical in order to catch beads!