ASCI / Emerging-Generation Awards, 2024
The Emerging Generation Awards (E-Gen Awards) recognize post-MD, pre-faculty appointment physician-scientists who are meaningfully engaged in immersive research.
About the awardee
Aaron Hecht, MD, PhD is a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Pennsylvania whose research focuses on the impact of the gut microbiota on GI disease. As a physician-scientist, his goal is to become a leader in the field, by championing both research and a robust scientific community.
Dr. Hecht’s passion for gastroenterology was sparked at Washington University in St. Louis, where he graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors for his thesis on intestinal epithelial integrity in inflammatory bowel disease. He went on to develop targeted probiotic treatments for the eradication of an intestinal pathogen at the University of Chicago, where he completed his MD and PhD degrees. He is now a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, which recruited him through the Physician-Scientist Program. His T32-funded research investigates the mechanisms by which diet affects pathogen colonization, using both mouse modeling and patient samples. His recent work demonstrates that dietary carbohydrates alter the colonization of intestinal pathogens, which in turn changes the outcome of disseminated infection.
Dr. Hecht has already been recognized as a rising leader in the field. He has received multiple awards, including the Crohn’s and Colitis Research Fellowship Award. As an advocate for early career physician-scientists, he initiated a program to recruit basic science residents into the GI fellowship and serves as a critical figure during annual residency and fellowship recruitment. He is also an active member of the Research Advisory Committee for the GI division. Nationally, he is an invited member of the American Gastroenterology Association Microbiome and Microbial Therapeutics council, which plays a critical role in planning the international Digestive Disease Week meeting. In the Summer of 2024, he will be promoted to Instructor in Medicine, where he plans to establish his independent laboratory on pathogen-diet interactions and novel treatment modalities for microbiota-related illness.