In 2025, we marked 30 years of CGA-IGC by returning to St. Louis, MO, where it all began.
To celebrate this milestone, we invited our past presidents to reflect on their time in office, sharing personal insights, memorable moments, and a few fun clips along the way. These reflections were featured during our annual meeting in St. Louis. If you weren’t able to join us, you can watch them below.
From 1995 to now, we thank our leaders who have served as true custodians, each passing the torch to the next, leaving their unique mark on the society.
Regardless of their profession, their dedication has shaped CGA-IGC into the thriving society and community it is today. Our past presidents are not only part of our history, but remain an integral part of our future, continuing to inspire the society as we move forward.
Meet our past presidents below—through a short introductory video and a slideshow highlighting the annual meeting each president presided over.
The story of CGA-IGC begins in 1995, when James Church suggested that clinicians and researchers in the US who were interested in hereditary colorectal cancer meet. Ira Kodner volunteered to host the meeting in St. Louis, and the attendees agreed to continue meeting annually.
Miguel Rodriguez-Bigas hosted the gathering in Buffalo in 1996, and the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal Cancer was officially born. The following year, James Church welcomed attendees to Cleveland for the first academic meeting. CGA-IGC returned to St. Louis in 1998 for another meeting hosted by Dr. Kodner, and in 1999, David Rothenberger carried the torch to Minneapolis.
These formative years were crucial. They laid the scientific foundation on which CGA-IGC still stands, and they set the tone for what the community would become, multidisciplinary, collaborative, and deeply committed to advancing the field.
It was also a time of great strides for the hereditary GI cancer field, in large part because of the work being done by CGA-IGC members. Between 1993 and 1997, MSH2, MLH1, and MSH6 were identified as genes that caused Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer, now known as Lynch syndrome. The Amsterdam II criteria and Bethesda guidelines were published to aid in identifying families with this condition; additionally, APC protein truncation testing for FAP became available.
Learn more about CGA-IGC’s 30-year history by exploring each decade below!
The 2000s brought major cultural change, this decade marked the dot-com bubble burst and the rise of iTunes and the iPod era, transforming how music was consumed. It was also the decade where Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005), and the first iPhone (2007) reshaped how people connected, shared, and consumed culture.
It also saw the steady growth of our society. By 2000, the Group had formally adopted its Bylaws and Constitution, and the first Council was established under President Terri Berk. CGA-IGC’s early meetings were a labor of love for the Cleveland Clinic staff, without an outside administrative company, they were in charge of registration coordination and meeting logistics. In those early days, the annual meetings were held in conjunction with larger surgical, human genetics, or genetic counseling conferences—an arrangement that encouraged cross-specialty engagement and fostered the powerful, multidisciplinary collaborations.
The 2010s were a decade of rapid change and innovation. Streaming platforms like Netflix and Spotify reshaped how we watched and listened.
The 2010s were also a pivotal decade for our society. During this time, we strengthened our governance with a clear mission and vision, and engaged a professional management company so volunteers could focus on advancing the science that drives our field. Membership expanded, with more members actively contributing through the new structure, and by the end of the decade, our community had grown to over 300 strong.
Our annual meetings also grew in size and impact, moving from city to city and connecting with the hereditary GI cancer community where they live and practice. One memorable year was 2012, when Superstorm Sandy disrupted travel and reduced attendance at the Boston meeting, yet the resilience of our members ensured the science continued to be shared.
The 2020s began with a global pandemic that reshaped how we connect, work, and experience culture. Streaming platforms became the dominant way to watch movies and shows, while TikTok transformed music discovery and fueled viral moments that defined the decade.
The 2020s so far have been about adaptation and creativity, blending technology, culture, and everyday rituals in ways that continue to shape how we live and connect today.
The pandemic also impacted CGA-IGC, with the 2020 and 2021 Annual Meetings held virtually. Post-pandemic, CGA-IGC began holding stand-alone meetings and launched several new partnerships with professional organizations and patient advocacy groups, marking the beginning of a new era for the society. With the momentum of these successes, 2024 was the right time to revisit our plans for the future, and a new 3-year Strategic Plan was developed.