Williams' colitis research honored at national conference for surgeons
Lacey Klotz |
Amanda Williams (’03), instructor of biology at Lipscomb, was recently named one of three winners for Best Clinical Podium Presentation at the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles, California. 
Over 100 presentations were given at the conference held from April 30-May 4, and Williams received the clinical research award for her research on “Indeterminate Colitis Precision into Crohn's Colitis and Ulcerative Colitis using Molecular Biometrics." Within her abstract that was written in conjunction with her advisor at Meharry Medical College, Dr. Amosy M'Koma, and other investigators at Vanderbilt University, Williams sought to discover if there are biomarkers that can help clinicians better differentiate between Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis in patients.
Other authors on the abstract were Amos M. Sakwe, Ph.D., M.S.C.I.; Duane T. Smoot, M.D.; Mary K. Washington, M.D.; Billy R. Ballard, D.D.S., M.D.; Timothy M. Geiger, M.D.; and Amosy E. M’Koma, M.D., M.S., Ph.D.
“I am truly honored to have been named a winner of such a prestigious award and conference for colon and rectal surgeons,” said Williams. “The society pre-determines which submitted abstracts will be among the oral and ePoster presentations, and I was honored to have been chosen as an oral presenter alone; winning one of the three awards, was definitely an unexpected blessing.”
The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons is an association of over 3,000 surgeons and other health care professionals. The goal of the annual scientific meeting is to improve the quality of patient care by maintaining, developing and enhancing the knowledge, skills, professional performance and multidisciplinary relationships necessary for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients with diseases and disorders affecting the colon, rectum and anus.
Williams, who teaches research methodology at both the graduate and undergraduate levels at Lipscomb, as well as a biology seminar class and advises students’ required research for course credit, began her research with Meharry and Vanderbilt two years ago as part of a Ph.D. program at Meharry Medical College in Nashville.
“Currently, about 30 percent of inflammatory bowel disease patients are either misdiagnosed or cannot be diagnosed, the latter patient group are then identified as having ‘indeterminate colitis,’” said Williams. “This is a major problem because although the two diseases present in the clinic very similarly, the treatment for the two differ greatly.
“This paper has focused on an antimicrobial peptide called human alpha defensin-5 (HD5), which we have shown is expressed up to 60-times higher in Crohn's colitis patients than ulcerative colitis patients, and on the potential of HD5 as a biomarker. Therefore our future work will be two-fold: developing a diagnostic tool for clinicians to use on patients so that they can more easily and readily diagnose Crohn's from ulcerative colitis, and, secondly, determining what happens in the colon when HD5 is so highly expressed.”
A native of Providence, Kentucky, Williams graduated from Lipscomb with a degree in biology in 2003, and attended Vanderbilt University for her Master’s Degree in 2008. In 2009, she came back to Lipscomb to teach as part of Lipscomb’s Department of Biology in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
Williams says that her research has helped her to relate to her students personally, and to stay effective in the classroom.
“I am a full-time teacher, student, wife and mom, and I think I really can relate to my students, especially those who are in the graduate program, when it comes to balancing it all,” said Williams. “I enjoy being able to share that with them and encourage them through that.
“I enjoy doing research because I feel like to be a really effective professor, especially in higher education, you have to stay on top of your field. In the sciences, they are changing every single day, so you have to stay on top of not only the current research that’s out there, but also the new methods, since they change so rapidly as well.”
Williams has published her research in nine journals including The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Cancer Research, and Gastroenterology, and says she is working to get this latest research published as well.
Williams also received Lipscomb’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Excellence in Scholarship Award in April 2015, and Meharry’s First Year Ph.D. Award in October 2014.
To learn more about Lipscomb’s Department of Biology in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences visit: biology.lipscomb.edu.