Young Investigator Prize Laureates
2022 Laureate
Jocelyn Silvester, MD, PhD
Dr. Silvester is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Director of Research for the Celiac Disease Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, and co-Investigator on the Manitoba Celiac Disease Cohort Study. Dr. Silvester’s work bridges advocacy, translational research, and clinical research in both adults and pediatrics. In a short period of time, she has changed the face of celiac disease research with innovative and groundbreaking work, including being involved in clinical trials for alternative therapies to a gluten-free diet and leading a consortium of pediatric celiac centers across the United States to develop tools to improve follow-up care. Her early contributions to the Manitoba Celiac Disease Cohort Study lent valuable insights to the natural history of the condition, and her development of the GF-EAT questionnaire has given the celiac disease community a short, easy-to-administer way to assess adherence to the gluten-free diet. She led the DOGGIE-BAG study, which highlighted the impossibility of total gluten avoidance, and provided a template for how to study the gluten-free diet and how to measure gluten in food and in vivo. Dr. Silvester is co-Chair of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Celiac Disease Special Interest Group and serves on the AGA Institute Council Basic and Clinical Intestinal Disorders Section.