Thomas E. Kowalski, MD

"I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this year’s Distinguished Educator Award. I thank the members of this amazing organization, the governing board and those that supported my nomination {for an award that recognizes one’s] dedication to teaching and endoscopic training. I am proud to be part of an organization that recognizes physicians who spend every day teaching, training and mentoring while meeting the demands of patient care, clinical documentation and local administrative responsibilities in addition to balancing family and outside interests. There are so many outstanding physicians that meet this challenge, and I accept this award on their behalf.   

The ASGE has been such an important part of my career. Like many members, I joined the ASGE as a gastroenterology fellow. The ASGE has provided me with colleagues, mentorship, professional growth and friendship. It is important to recognize that teaching and mentoring are reciprocal. I am constantly invigorated and learn from my students and trainees. Every question is an avenue to learn together. For me, there is nothing more rewarding than this interaction and then watching [students and trainees] become successful gastroenterologists and developing a web of lifelong colleagues and friends. I thank each one of my trainees for contributing to my life. Special thanks to my colleague and friend, Dr. David Loren. For 22 years, we mentored each other. Our dedication to education and remarkable compatibility made advanced endoscopy at Jefferson a pleasure. Most importantly, I thank my wife, Margaret Ann, and our sons, Brandon and Carter, for providing balance to my life and for their unending love and support. They also are recipients of this award."

Dr. Kowalski graduated from Cornell University and earned summa cum laude honors from the State University of New York School of Medicine at Buffalo. His medical training included a residency in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and a gastroenterology fellowship and an advanced endoscopy fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Kowalski is a professor of medicine and the director of gastrointestinal endoscopy and the director of the pancreaticobiliary with the Advanced Endoscopy Section at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Kowalski built the Advanced Endoscopy Program, and he initiated and fostered the Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship program at Jefferson. He is on the board of directors for the Thomas Jefferson University Center for Pancreas, Biliary and Related Cancers. Dr. Kowalski has focused on education, teaching, endoscopic training and mentoring. He has directed and been faculty for numerous national didactic and hands-on courses. Through the ASGE, Dr. Kowalski updated, reorganized and provided oversight of the popular First Year Fellow’s Endoscopy Course. He helped develop ASGE’s Endoscopy Unit Recognition Program, and he directed the Improving Quality and Safety in Your Endoscopy Unit Course and the Fundamentals of Endoscopic Suturing STAR Certificate Program. Dr. Kowalski was the ASGE’s representative to the AMA’s Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, and he was a member of the Tri-Society Workgroup for Measure Development. 

Dr. Kowalski has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts on advanced endoscopy and endoscopic training. For 15 years, he has been honored as one of Philadelphia’s Top Docs. 

Dr. Kowalski’s interest in teaching and endoscopic training led him to join GI Rising, a charitable organization that is dedicated to bringing GI education, expertise and endoscopic training and care to Rwanda.