Welcome, everyone. I'm Mihir Vagh. I'm one of the course directors, and go ahead. I'm Catherine Byrne, one of the other course directors. So we want to welcome you to this first-year fellows course here at ASGE, and welcome to GI, welcome to gastroenterology. I'm sure you're enjoying being a consultant kind of role rather than doing general medicine. Actually, I love that part, not having to deal with all the other issues, but welcome. So it's going to be a fun three years and then many more years in gastroenterology. So this is, you know, an introduction to GI, to endoscopy, and to ASGE. So we're really glad you're here. So we'll get started with some introductions. Hello, everyone. I'm Prateek Sharma. I'm the president of the ASGE, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. And on behalf of the ASGE, I would like to welcome all the new fellows into the fold of the ASGE. So welcome to the ASGE family, and it's my pleasure to extend this warm welcome to you. You'll figure out over time that ASGE has a lot to offer once you are members of this great society, starting from a wonderful array of educational programs, guidelines, hands-on training, how best to use what kind of tools and devices in endoscopy, our flagship journals and a family of journals that ASGE has. I think all of you will definitely enjoy your ASG membership and the part of the ASGE family. Finally, I'd like to urge all of you not just to be a member, but to be an active member. Participate in our committee work, participate in the various SIGs and the courses that we have. So we want you to not just be a member, but be one of those active members of ASGE so that you can contribute to this vibrant society. Thank you. All right. So that's us. And I would say that, you know, to give you a little history, so the first year fellows course was not there when I was a first year fellow. And we set it up later and it's been one of the flagship, you know, educational offerings that the ASGE has. And it's become almost a given. So most training programs now, yeah, our fellows go for the first year fellows course. There's nothing to think about it, right? So it's a very nice venue to get together, to meet your, you know, other co-fellows all over the country and learn about endoscopy and the basic, you know, basic principles and topics. So it's been a fun many years of, you know, having this course here. And it's, you'll realize it is truly a family. When I was a first year fellow, my program director and he just said, you need to join the ASG. It's 20 bucks or whatever it is. I don't remember. And it's like the hospital will pay, the institution will pay for it. So I said, sure, why not? And I've been a member since, right? So I, and I've enjoyed every bit. And we kind of know everyone in ASG now. It is truly a family. We have each other's cell phones. We ask questions. We hang out at meetings and so on. So it's a fun, it's a fun group to be with. So it, this course has gone and helped more than 6,000 fellows through all the years that we've done this. And it's intentionally done in the very first year, first month of the first year of fellowship. So it's very basic. It's just on the basic procedures, how to be safe, how to be effective and introduce you to some of the, the tools that we use. You know, you'll have some, you know, today and as well as some hands-on experience tomorrow as well. And we have an outstanding group of faculty from, you know, different aspects of gastroenterology from all over the country, from, you know, academics, private practice, hybrid setups and so on. So just a wonderful group of people. So use, use this opportunity to connect, to network and get to know all of us. And we'll, we'll get to do the same with you as well. So special thanks to our supporters. A bunch of them you can see up there. We wouldn't be able to run this course without our grants from our industry and in-kind support. So we really want to thank them for helping us every year in putting this course together. And I guess, yeah, and I think we can go through some other issues, housekeeping and stuff. Yeah, so the logistic issues. So you guys will all be in a group A or a group B. So that's your red dot if you're A or blue dot if you're group B. The beginning of the session, you guys will all be in here together. And so this will be the only time you'll all be in this room. Later this afternoon, half of you will be in the room here for lectures. And then the other half will go to Tools of the Trade, which is in the conference room next door. Then you guys will switch. And then for tomorrow, half of you will do the hands-on in the morning and the lectures in the afternoon. And then the other groups will flip-flop. So everyone will get the exact same content. Just kind of splitting everyone up so there's enough room for everyone in the hands-on room. Just make sure you follow your group, though. So that's a reminder for that. For the hands-on lab, if you haven't seen the bathrooms yet, you actually get to the hands-on lab through the bathrooms. There are lockers in there also. So if you want to leave some of your stuff in the lockers there, you can. Just really important to know that you can't bring any food or drink into the hands-on lab. And that's all going to be tomorrow. So that will be Saturday. And then there are gowns inside the hands-on lab, disposable gowns for you guys to use during the hands-on sessions. That's just a little map of the whole setup. We're in the auditorium right now. The conference room where you will have Tools of the Trade later this afternoon in one of the sessions is right next door to us on the other side of the snacks. And then right across the hall is the bathrooms, the lockers, and then that's where you'll enter the hands-on lab when you go there tomorrow. I think that's it. I'll just remind that it wasn't in the slide, but we will have – there is a reception for everybody after we're done today. I believe that starts at 5 o'clock, and that's just going to be out here in that open lobby and out on the patio. And then please, like, have fun and definitely ask questions. I feel like I did come here – I guess I was one of the early people because I started fellowship in 2007, so I don't think I realized that the course had only been going on then for a couple years. I was probably one of the shy fellows then that didn't ask a lot of questions. So I will encourage you not to do that, and please ask tons of questions. Like, this is your chance. There's no silly or stupid questions here. We know you guys are just starting, so please, like, use all of us, the faculty. Again, we're from all over the country, different institutions, different type of practices. You'll probably get a lot of different answers when you ask us – you know, you'll ask different people the same question and get a lot of different answers because people have, you know, different ways of doing things. So please ask a lot of questions during the lectures, and definitely, you know, in the hands-on session, do as much as you can. Get your hands on everything. This is your chance to do anything, and you can't cause a complication. Perforations are okay in this setting. Oh, yeah, there was another slide. So there is a virtual audience here right now also, so we want to keep that in mind when you guys are asking questions in the room. So the microphones on the tables, if you have a question for the speaker, just press that button. It's going to have a little green light. That means you're live. You don't have to hold on the button. Just press it once. You'll be live to ask a question, so please use that because even though the audience in the room may be able to hear you, the virtual audience won't be able to hear your question unless you use that, and then just push it again to turn it off after your question's done. And if you are in the virtual audience right now and you have a question that you'd like to ask the speaker, you're going to just put that in the Q&A, and then we will be asking those questions to the speakers. Wi-Fi, you guys have probably already figured that out, but if not, it's the ASGE guest network. You don't need a password. And then just a note also, all the presentations from all the lectures that you'll see during this whole course are going to be available for you to access on GI Leap. Go ahead and do this if you guys haven't. There are some questions embedded in the lectures today, and this is how you can answer the questions during the lecture. I think this will come up a couple other times if you don't capture it right now. Anyone need more time? Got it. Okay. And then this is the brand new slide. You have a chance to win a gift card if you log in today and update all of your information for the ASGE. This will be entered into a raffle to win a gift card. There's a deadline, 6 p.m. today. Okay. I didn't know that, but I'm glad I pointed it out. That's what the gift card is.

ASGE

gastroenterology

fellows course

endoscopy

networking