Willis Parsons, M.D.
Course Director, Medical Director
Dr. Parsons earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He completed a residency and fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, followed by an advanced endoscopy fellowship at Maine Medical Center, Portland. Currently he is the Medical Director of the Gastroenterology Center at Northwest Community Hospital (NCH), Arlington Heights, Illinois, specializing in advanced interventional GI procedures and the management of GERD and pancreaticobiliary disease. He has hosted over 150 live endoscopy courses and has performed more than 35,000 advanced endoscopic procedures.

Malcolm Bilimoria, M.D.
NCH Faculty
Dr. Bilimoria is the Director of the Illinois Center for Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary Diseases at NCH and Chief of Pancreas and Hepatobiliary Surgery. He earned his medical degree at Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Dr. Bilimoria completed a surgical residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and a surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Christopher Chapman, M.D.
Guest Speaker
Dr. Chapman earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship at The University of Chicago. He has been investigating and evaluating interventional endoscopic techniques and tools used to treat gastrointestinal disorders and obesity. His research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals including the Lancet, Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and Clinical Endoscopy. He is scheduled to be appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine, Director of Endoscopy, Director of Bariatric and Metabolic Endoscopy at Rush University Medical Center in February 2023.

Kumar Krishnan, M.D.
Guest Speaker
Dr. Krishnan graduated from medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He completed a residency at University of Texas Southwestern and Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. He completed a general gastroenterology fellowship at Northwestern University in Chicago. He currently serves as the Director of Endoscopic Innovation, Technology, and Education for Gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Krishnan currently serves on the ASGE Technology committee and is on the editorial board for Video Gastrointestinal endoscopy. He is a reviewer for the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Alimentary Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics and Diseases of the Esophagus. His primary interests include the management of pancreatic and biliary disease, interventional endoscopy and novel endoscopic therapy for digestive disease.

Edie Hardin, PA-C
NCH Faculty
Edie is a GI physician assistant at Northwest Community Hospital and works with Dr. Parsons at the Center for Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy. She has an extensive background in human anatomy and various GI conditions. She holds a Master of Medical Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Midwestern University.

F Otis Stephen, MD, FASGE, FACG, AGA
Guest Speaker
Dr. Stephen is an Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Small Bowel Diseases and Nutrition program at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He earned his medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Stephen completed Internal Medicine residency training at Johns Hopkins University/ Sinai Hospital and completed Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellowship training at St. Louis University.  He has extensive experience with all methods of device assisted enteroscopy, especially Double-Balloon Enteroscopy.

Natalie Cosgrove, M.D.
Guest Speaker
Dr. Natalie Cosgrove is an interventional endoscopist at the Advent Health Orlando Center for Interventional Endoscopy (CIE), where she is also the medical director of Clinical Quality and Safety in Gastroenterology. She received her doctorate of medicine at Temple University School of Medicine and did her internal medicine residency at the University of Virginia. She completed her gastroenterology fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and interventional endoscopy training at Washington University in St. Louis. Her main clinical interests include complex pancreaticobiliary diseases, management of pancreatic fluid collections, endo-hepatology, and patient safety and quality improvement.

Andy Tau, M.D.
Guest Speaker
Dr. J. Andy Tau graduated from Harvard and completed all his medical and GI training at Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center (Houston, Texas). Dr. Tau was awarded the Travis County Medical Society Ruth M. Bain Young Physician of the Year in 2021 as voted on by fellow physicians. Dr. Tau is published in recognized medical journals including Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He is currently a partner at Austin Gastroenterology, a GI Hospitalist, and the Ascension Seton Network Chief of Gastroenterology in Austin, Texas. His special interests include hemostasis, endoscopic vacuum therapy of perforations, and social media-based learning via #GITwitter (@DrBloodandGuts).

Mohamed Othman, M.D.
Guest Speaker
Dr. Othman is the William T. Butler Endowed Chair for Distinguished Faculty and Professor of Medicine in Gastroenterology and Hepatology Section at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Othman serves as the chief of Gastroenterology section at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. He has more than 80 publications and book chapters in the field of pancreatico-biliary disorders and advanced endoscopy. His ongoing research and grant funding is focused on clinical trials in the field of third space endoscopy, endoscopic submucosal dissection, and chronic pancreatitis. He is the associate editor of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Journal (GIE) and the founder of the Texas Interventional Endoscopy Group (TxIEG).

Jessica Widmer, D.O.
Guest Speaker
Dr. Jessica Widmer is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Long Island School of Medicine. She is the Chief of Endoscopy and Director of the Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship Program at NYU Langone – Long Island. She received her medical degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and completed residency training in internal medicine and GI Fellowship at NYU Langone – Long Island. She subsequently completed an Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship at NYP Weill Cornell College of Medicine, New York, New York. Her endoscopic practice includes EUS, ERCP, therapeutic EUS, advanced imaging techniques including cholangiopancreatoscopy, enteral stenting, endoscopic suturing, and EMR. She is actively engaged in fellows’ education as well as advanced endoscopic clinical research, and is a current member of the AGA, ACG, ASGE (Fellow, GOLD Class of 2022), NYSGE, T-EUS, FITE (Chair, ERCP/cholangioscopy committee), and WIE.

Patrick Okolo III MD MPH FASGE FACG, FHTC, NYSGEF
Guest Speaker
Dr. Patrick Okolo is the Executive Medical Director and System Chief of Gastroenterology in the Rochester Regional Health System (RRH), the largest health system in upstate New York.  He joined RRH from the Zucker School of Medicine at Northwell where he was Professor of Medicine and Chief of GI at Lenox Hill Hospital. Dr Okolo has served as Chief of Endoscopy at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He was also an Associate Professor with clinical interests in all aspects of therapeutic endoscopy, resectional therapies, para-bariatric syndromes and small bowel disorders. Dr. Okolo graduated from the University of Nigeria where he received gold medal/university prizes in Medicine and Surgery. He later moved to Indiana and trained in clinical genetics and internal medicine at the Indiana University Medical Centre. Dr. Okolo completed his training in gastroenterology/ hepatology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he also undertook advanced training in therapeutic endoscopy. His clinical reach interests center around adult and pediatric ERCP, novel endolumnal interventions, resectional therapies, small bowel enteroscopy, including metabolic and weight loss interventions and altered anatomy ERCP.