Education & Training

The Gastroenterology Fellowship Program at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University, provides hands-on, focused clinical education and training with the goal of advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases of the gastrointestinal and liver organs.

Learn more about training in the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program:

• Curriculum
• Rotations
• Endoscopic Rotations
• Conferences

Gastroenterology Fellowship Rotations

Fellows in the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program will experience the following rotations over three years:

First-Year Fellows

First-year fellows have their main experience rotating in the following services:

• Clinical consult subspecialty services (gastroenterology and liver)
• Endoscopy services at University Hospitals and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
• Outpatient rotation in hepatology and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• The inpatient gastroenterology service at University Hospitals

Second-Year Fellows

Second-year fellows spend eight weeks on research projects and the remainder on clinical subspecialty services at University Hospitals and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. Although only two months of formal research time is allotted, available free time during other rotations usually advances the progress of research projects to completion.

Third-Year Fellows

Third-year fellows spend six months in dedicated scholarly pursuits. The third-year program is founded on the establishment of an outstanding comprehensive knowledge of gastroenterology and hepatology gained during the first two years of training. The acquisition of excellent procedural and consultative skills together with progress toward completion of research projects, also lays a firm foundation for the third year. Regular discussions between fellows, program director and other faculty advisors during the first two years of training aid in defining specific opportunities for the third year, so that an individualized program can be established. Third-year fellows also rotate at a community-based endoscopy unit to gain experience with a different practice model.

Clinical Gastroenterology Endoscopy Training

Endoscopy is an essential part of clinical gastroenterology. The goal of endoscopic training during the fellowship will be to produce gastroenterologists who are competent in the performance of the basic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures associated with the following:

• Colonoscopy
• Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy
• Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)

Fellows will also have an opportunity to be introduced to enteroscopy, capsule endoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and diagnostic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology Track

The Gastroenterology Fellowship Program at University Hospitals offers a Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology Track, one of a limited number of institutions that offer this American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)-approved pilot program. Interested fellows typically apply in the second year of training.

The program consists of two years of general training in gastroenterology and hepatology followed by a third year that is focused on inpatient (six months) and outpatient (six months) training in hepatology. During the third year, fellows still attend all divisional conferences, perform endoscopic procedures and continue with their research projects. At the end of the third year, they are considered to be board-eligible for both gastroenterology and transplant hepatology, thereby reducing the usual training period by one year.