The Gastroenterology Fellowship Program at Lankenau Medical Center (LMC) is a three-year program that provides comprehensive clinical training in gastroenterology (GI) and hepatology. The fellowship requires 18 months of inpatient consultations. An additional 18 months of training focuses on subspecialty electives including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), hepatology, GI motility, advanced interventional endoscopy, GI oncology, and functional bowel disease. Emphasis is placed not only on clinical care in the acute care setting, but also in the ambulatory setting. Fellows are exposed to a very wide range of patient demographics and disease processes in both the community hospital and urban, tertiary care center setting.

Clinical training is primarily based at LMC, but includes rotations at Jefferson University Hospital, a major orthotopic liver transplant center. Extensive endoscopic training is provided throughout all three years and includes training in advanced procedures such as ERCP. Weekly fellows’ conferences and multi-disciplinary conferences provide forums for didactics and review of the most up to date information and society practice guidelines on all areas within GI and hepatology.

Research is not the main focus of our program, but understanding and critically reviewing the literature and participating in at least one clinical or basic science research project during fellowship is required. Teaching opportunities are abundant at fellows’ didactic conferences, internal medicine resident conferences and hands-on training of students rotating from medical and physician assistant schools.

Upon completion of our fellowship program, all fellows are expected to:

  • Understand the pathophysiology and natural history of GI and liver diseases
  • Manage basic and complex GI and liver diseases in the acute care setting
  • Manage basic and complex GI and liver diseases in the ambulatory setting
  • Evaluate pre and post-liver transplantation patients
  • Know up -to -date society guidelines in the management of GI and liver diseases
  • Read and interpret motility studies of the upper and lower GI tracts
  • Read and interpret wireless capsule endoscopy studies
  • Read and interpret GI radiographic studies including CT scans and bleeding scans
  • Perform the following endoscopic procedures:
    • Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)
    • Esophageal dilatation
    • EGD with pH probe placement
    • EGD with botox injection
    • EGD with foreign body extraction
    • Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)
    • Colonoscopy with polypectomy
    • Non-variceal hemostasis including epinephrine injection, clips, thermal therapy, hemospray
    • Variceal hemostasis
    • ERCP, sphincterotomy, and biliary stent placement
      • Write a research IRB proposal and conduct an original research study from start to finish
      • Critically review literature and understand basic statistics and epidemiology
      • Read and interpret representative histologic slides of various GI and liver pathology

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