Training Sites
Fellows train at six different hospitals in the Seattle Area. In addition they have the opportunity to see patients from a much broader geographical range in the Pacific NW region.
The University of Washington is the referral base for the WWAMI region and fellows routinely see and treat patients from Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, in addition to Washington State.
University of Washington Medical Center
The University of Washington Medical Center at Montlake (UWMC) is one of the nation's leading academic medical centers. This is a tertiary care hospital with large volumes of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, advanced therapeutic procedures, and complicated motility disorders. Patients travel from across the WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) for these specialized services. Patients are also referred from UW neighborhood clinics, and community practices. First year fellows run the general GI and therapeutic endoscopy services, while second and third year fellows have the opportunity to rotate through electives focusing on inflammatory bowel disease, advanced therapeutics, motility, nutrition, radiology, and colorectal/bariatric surgery.
UWMC is also one of the largest liver transplant centers on the West Coast, transplanting around ~80 patients per year. First year fellows spend two months rotating on the transplant hepatology service. They participate in transplant committee meetings and pre and post transplant clinics. Second and third year fellows rotate on the transplant hepatology service as well but spend the majority of their time in advanced hepatology and transplant hepatology clinics.
Harborview Medical Center
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) is one of the premier cancer hospitals in the country, consistently ranked in the top ten cancer care hospitals in the United States. Nationally recognized and unmatched in the region, SCCA patients benefit from the world-class research performed by its founding partners: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine. SCCA is the intersection of compassion and hard science, bringing together leading research teams and cancer specialists. Fellows spend the mornings at the SCCA in a combination of clinic visits and outpatient endoscopy procedures and then see admitted patients at the university medical center in the afternoons. This rotation provides fellows with exposure to a diverse array of diseases specific to cancer patients, including graft-versus-host disease, immune related colitis and familial cancer syndromes.
VA Puget Sound Health Care System
Since 1923, VA Puget Sound Health Care System has distinguished itself as a leader in teaching, research and patient care while earning prestigious recognition as part of the largest health care network in the country. As the primary referral site for VA's northwest region, VA Puget Sound provides care for Veteran populations encompassing Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Oregon. It serves the health care needs of more than 105,000 Veterans living in 14 counties around the Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest. Fellows run the inpatient consult service and participate in outpatient procedures. VA rotations provide junior fellows with the time to hone their endoscopy skills.
Virginia Mason Medical Center
Established in 1920, Virginia Mason (VM) began as an 80-bed hospital with six physician offices. The founders' vision was to provide a single place where patients could receive comprehensive medical care, a "one-stop shopping" place for virtually any medical problem or need. VM is a tertiary care center for pancreatico-biliary diseases with a focus on state-of-the-art Advanced Endoscopic procedures for diagnosing and treating difficult GI disorders. Senior fellows spend a total of three months at Virginia Mason splitting their time between inpatient consults and procedures, outpatient clinics, manometries, capsule endoscopies, and outpatient procedures.
Pacific Medical Centers
Pacific Medical Centers (PacMed) is a private, multi-specialty medical group practice with 11 clinics in the Puget Sound area. The PacMed network is one of the largest throughout the Puget Sound and offers patients more than 150 providers for primary and specialty care. This rotation provides senior fellows with exposure to a bustling ambulatory surgical center, located in the First Hill neighborhood of downtown Seattle, with high volumes of routine screening colonoscopies and diagnostic EGDs. Here fellows get to experience the “real-life” practice of gastroenterology.