Pathways

Our major endeavor is to train fellows for careers in academic medicine through one of three routes: Clinician-Teacher, Physician-Scientist, and Hepatology Fast Track.

This is unpublished

Clinician Teacher

The Clinician Teacher Pathway is a three-year program in clinical gastroenterology and hepatology. The emphasis is on excellence in patient care, teaching, and clinical research. All fellows on this pathway will have both general gastroenterology rotations in our core hospitals and clinical rotations in advanced hepatology, liver transplantation, management of GI and hepatic issues in oncology patients, and an introduction to interventional endoscopy. Fellows will attend weekly outpatient clinics in general gastroenterology and in several specialty areas. All fellows must choose a faculty preceptor for longitudinal clinical research projects that continue through the third year. It has been our experience that fellows on the Clinician Teacher pathway often diverge in their interests after the start of fellowship. The faculty will offer selected fellows advanced training in hepatology and therapeutic endoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, laser endoscopy, and other specialized endoscopic techniques. The faculty will also make available a curriculum designed to prepare fellows for careers in medical education. This curriculum involves instruction in clinical research, study design, quality improvement, oral presentation, academic writing, and teaching methods. Selection for advanced training is based on mutuality of interest and performance early in fellowship. This pathway is congruent with the Clinical Track of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and prepares fellows for careers in academia or in private practice.

Physician Scientist

The Physician Scientist Pathway is intended for fellows who wish to develop skills that will enable them to become independent research investigators. This pathway requires a commitment to an extended period of fellowship, the majority of which will be spent learning research techniques. We offer training in five fields: Carcinogenesis and molecular genetics; molecular biology and gene therapy; cell biology and biochemistry; molecular microbiology; and epidemiology and outcomes research. Trainees in the latter field will be jointly sponsored by the Division of Gastroenterology and the University's School of Public Health. Fellows on the Physician Scientist pathway will rotate through our core hospitals and have longitudinal outpatient clinic training, to enable them to be fully trained as gastroenterology and hepatology consultants. This pathway is congruent with the Basic Science Research track of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and is funded by a T32 training grant from the National Institutes of Health. Note, this usually requires 4 years of training.

Hepatology Fast Track

We offer a ABIM/AASLD Pilot Program in Transplant Hepatology, which allows selected Fellows who have successfully completed 2 years of training in our GI Fellowship Program to enroll as a Transplant Hepatology Fellow in the 3rd year of training. This alternative pathway is contingent on successful acquisition of ACGME milestones by the end of the second year as determined by the Clinical Competency Committee of the Fellowship Program.