UAB General Surgery Resident Tejeshwar Jain, M.D., received an Excellence in Research Award at the 2024 American College of Surgeons (ACS) annual meeting for his project entitled “Targeting a developmental pathway improves chronic pancreatitis in murine models.”

In his project presented at the ACS annual meeting, Jain evaluated resected pancreatic samples from patients with chronic pancreatitis, in addition to utilizing a mouse model for further comparison. He found that the hedgehog signaling pathway, which is a conserved developmental signaling pathway, was upregulated in both groups.

Based on this finding, Jain administered an FDA approved hedgehog pathway inhibitor, Vismodegib, in the mouse models and observed a significant improvement in various parameters of chronic pancreatitis, including the reversal of pancreatic fibrosis and recovery of acinar cell mass.

Currently, there are no curative treatment strategies for patients with chronic pancreatitis, and existing options are limited to symptomatic treatment. Additionally, hedgehog inhibitors are already approved for clinical use in conditions such as basal cell carcinoma, which means Jain's findings could potentially be translated into clinical applications for chronic pancreatitis treatment.

Prior to starting his general surgery residency at UAB, Jain completed his medical education at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He is currently pursuing research through his residency under the mentorship of Vikas Dudeja, M.D., the director of the UAB Division of Surgical Oncology.