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Kaul Appointed as Secretary General of the WGO

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Vivek Kaul, MD, professor of Medicine, was elected by the World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) Governing Council as its new secretary general, where he will also serve on the Executive & Finance committees.

The WGO is a global federation of 119 countries and their leading GI societies, and has active collaborations in place with the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). The WGO represents over 60,000 members worldwide. Established in 1958, the WGO is the leading international organization for Gastroenterology & Hepatology related education, training, and clinical practice guidance. Through its 24 international training centers, journal and guideline documents, the World congresses and the highly acclaimed TTT (Train the Trainer) workshops, the WGO serves its missions in close collaboration with national societies globally.

Prior to his current appointment, Kaul served as the immediate past chair of the WGO Endoscopy committee and also co-founded the Emerging Leaders Mentorship Program (ELMP) that pairs renowned mentors worldwide with interested mentees (especially from low resource environments) for their professional development. Kaul also serves on the WGO climate change working group and is a member of the WGO “Green Endoscopy” task force.

“I am very excited, honored, and humbled to represent URMC, NY, and the USA in this role. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to help increase our global engagement, visibility, and footprint. I look forward to partnering with University leadership to further our international missions,” Kaul said.

His four-year term began on January 1, 2024, and during this time Kaul will serve as a WGO liaison to international GI societies and work closely with the WGO president Geoffrey Metz (Australia) and president-elect Carolina Olano (Uruguay) to help develop future strategy across all missions of this organization.

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