Following the fellowship, trainees will be fully prepared for board-certification in gastroenterology. Learn more:
The gastroenterology faculty is dedicated to the goal of providing a comprehensive educational environment that fosters the professional development of fellows, thereby enabling them to become proficient gastroenterologists. While the faculty believes that clinical experience is the principal foundation of gastroenterology education, they also believe that a significant portion of the fellow’s education is achieved through lectures, conferences, teaching rounds, research, and an up-to-date comprehension of gastroenterology literature. Therefore, the gastroenterology curriculum is designed to afford fellows the opportunity to attend lectures, conferences, participate in teaching rounds, conduct research and also have sufficient time for review and study of current literature.
The program also stresses the role of gastroenterologists as consultants and the need to establish the skills necessary to communicate effectively with referring physicians. Every aspect of training includes the cultivation of an attitude of skepticism and inquiry and a dedication to continuing education that will remain with the fellows throughout their professional careers. A major contributor to the enhancement of a scholarly attitude is active participation in one or more research projects, ideally followed by presentation of the work at a national meeting and publication of a paper in a peer-reviewed journal.
The field of gastroenterology has been divided into 17 areas in the Gastroenterology Core Curriculum, and into 19 core knowledge areas requiring achievement of competency as defined by the ACGME subspecialty program requirements, encompassing the breadth of knowledge and skills required for the practice of gastroenterology. These areas include not only the traditional curricular content of gastroenterology and hepatology but also associated disciplines such as nutrition, pathology, radiology, surgery, endoscopy, and research.
Fellows will provide care for patients in the hospitals’ intensive care units (including medical, cardiac, surgical, cardiothoracic, neurosurgical, and trauma units), as well as in a variety of outpatient settings where fellows will provide continuity care to ambulatory patients. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in various subspecialty clinics, IBD, Celiac, and Liver Transplant clinics. A rotation in pediatric gastroenterology is available through an affiliation with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Fellows will learn endoscopy at our two core teaching hospitals and two ambulatory endoscopy centers. These facilities include all state-of-the-art general and advanced endoscopy equipment, including ERCP, cholangioscopy, electrohydraulic and laser lithotripsy, EUS and fine needle aspiration, capsule endoscopy, digital video imaging, radiofrequency ablation, endoscopic mucosal resection, placement of advanced enteral nutrition devices, and enteral and pancreatico-biliary stenting. We are the first in the region to pioneer and perform numerous innovative and advanced procedures. A full complement of support services, including anesthesiology, pathology, diagnostic and interventional radiology, surgery, and oncology are available.
Fellows will attain competence in performing all ACGME-required GI procedures and have the opportunity for exposure to advanced endoscopic techniques. Each year, one senior fellow who demonstrates inclination and aptitude towards a career in advanced endoscopy may be selected to spend a concentrated year training to competence in ERCP and EUS.
Fellows in our program will be assigned each year to rotations consisting of 12 blocks of approximately 1 month each at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) or West Penn Hospital (WPH).
Below is a typical rotation schedule. Individual programs will vary, especially during the third year, according to the fellows' interests:
AGH/WPH Inpatient Consult Floor - All inpatient or emergency room consults received will be evaluated and consultative opinion rendered. Daily attending teaching rounds will be made. The team will generally consist of three fellows (a combination of two 1st and one 2nd year fellows).
AGH Hepatology - The fellow will see all inpatient hepatology consults, including liver transplant issues, under the supervision of the faculty hepatologist. Attendance at the weekly Liver Transplant clinic is required.
AGH/WPH GI Lab - The fellow will be responsible for performing all scheduled GI lab endoscopic procedures, both inpatient and outpatient.
Nutrition - The fellow will be exposed to the management of inpatient and outpatient nutritional issues under the direction of medical nutritionist, Dr. Vazquez.
Research - All fellows must complete two scholarly projects prior to the completion of their three year training.
Patholog Elective - Fellows will participate in daily reviews of gross and microscopic pathology specimens with the Pathology attending physician.
Radiology Elective - Exposure to CT Body, and GI Fluoro/MRI will occur. Allowances can be made should the fellow have a specific interest in other areas of radiology (for example, nuclear medicine, interventional radiology).
Pediatrics Elective - This will take place at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The rotation will consist of 2 weeks in an outpatient pediatric GI clinic. Longer experiences incorporating in-hospital care are available
Introduction to Advanced Endoscopy Elective - This elective is designed for fellows who might have an interest in pursuing higher level training in advanced therapeutic endoscopy, or who simply wish a more concentrated but limited exposure to these techniques.
Outpatient Endoscopy Elective - The North Shore Endoscopy Center (NSEC) and McCandless Endoscopy Center (MCC) have a high-volume, relatively fast-paced schedule of endoscopic procedures. Participation will give the fellow a closer approximation of a “private practice” model, and should serve to improve efficiency and bolster the fellow’s procedural volumes and experience. This experience will be made available only to senior (2nd and 3rd year) fellows who have already attained substantial experience with basic endoscopic procedures.
Fellow Ambulatory GI Clinic - Fellows will attend Ambulatory GI Clinic an average of 1/2 day/week. Each fellow’s preceptors will change annually to provide exposure to different styles of practice, and different subspecialty foci, ex: IBD, Hepatology, pancreaticobiliary disease.
Advanced GI Consults (Intro to Academics) - An elective experience for third year fellows to foster teaching skills in the academic arena. Fellows will supervise the GI Consult team, providing guidance and education to junior trainees, to simulate the role of an academic gastroenterologist. Focus is to foster skills in small group teaching and feedback.
Capsule Endoscopy Training, pH Probe/Manometry Training, and Addiction Medicine - Focused experiences in each area provide training to competence in the interpretation of capsule endoscopy, pH probes and manometry studies, and provides fellows experience in the diagnosis and management of substance overdose and withdrawal.
Allegheny General Hospital Campus
Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) located on Pittsburgh’s historic North Side serves as our program’s main inpatient teaching site. This is a (661 beds) quaternary care teaching hospital that supports 20 residency and 23 fellowship training programs.
Federal North professional building houses the GI Division administrative offices and outpatient clinics, as well as an ambulatory outpatient endoscopy center.
West Penn Hospital Campus
West Penn Hospital (WPH) in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood, approximately fifteen minutes from AGH, houses inpatient facilities and laboratories.
The S.T.A.R. Center (Simulation, Teaching and Academic Research) Center – located adjacent to WPH, is a nationally recognized state-of-the-art center providing simulation training to students, residents, and fellows.
Other Sites
The North Shore and McCandless Endoscopy Centers provide senior fellows supplemental experience in performing endoscopy in ambulatory patients.
A comprehensive conference schedule supports the experiential training received by fellows. Conferences occur four days per week.
A series of lecture topics intended to introduce the fellows to the literature of gastroenterology and provide an understanding of the pathophysiologic basis for gastrointestinal diseases and a broad range of affiliated topics including research, ethics, and genetics. Topics cover all areas required by the GI Core Curriculum.
