Research Interests:
The interventional pancreaticobiliary/endoscopy research group at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has extensive experience in designing and conducting high-impact, large-scale multi-center RCTs. This group has focused specifically on inflammatory conditions of the hepatobiliary pancreatic system. In the last 5 years alone, their research group has led several transformational studies, including a randomized trial of rectal indomethacin for preventing post-ERCP pancreatitis (Elmunzer, NEJM 2012), which broadly and meaningfully changed clinical practice worldwide; a randomized sham-controlled trial of ERCP and sphincterotomy for type 3 sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (Cotton, JAMA 2014), which largely eliminated the unsafe use of ERCP for this controversial indication; and a comparative effectiveness trial of fully-covered self-expanding metallic vs. plastic stents for benign inflammatory biliary strictures (Coté, JAMA 2016), which has ushered in a paradigm shift in ERCP practice.

Dr. Elmunzer is personally a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded investigator whose research interests include clinical trials in gastrointestinal endoscopy, colorectal cancer screening, and improving the safety of ERCP. He has been the PI and study group chair of two NIH-funded randomized trials, including an ongoing U01-funded RCT comparing strategies for the prevention of pancreatitis after ERCP. He is also engaged in a series of research initiatives which aim to bring important scientific discoveries to the forefront of clinical practice.