ACGME Gastroenterology Fellowship
Welcome to the UCSF Gastroenterology Fellowship Program!
We are excited to welcome you to our dynamic and diverse community at UCSF. Our fellowship program is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of leaders in gastroenterology and hepatology through comprehensive training, innovative research, and a commitment to compassionate patient care.
At UCSF, you will have the opportunity to work alongside world-renowned faculty and a talented group of fellows in a wide range of clinical settings, including our academic tertiary care center, a safety-net county hospital, and a VA medical center. Our program is designed to provide a balanced and rigorous training experience that fosters both clinical excellence and scholarly achievement.
We are looking for enthusiastic and driven individuals who are eager to learn, grow, and contribute to our vibrant community. We invite you to explore all that our fellowship has to offer and to consider joining us in our mission to advance the field of gastroenterology and improve the lives of our patients.
We look forward to meeting you!
Priya Kathpalia, MD
Program Director
The UCSF GI fellowship encompasses two distinct training pathways, the clinical educator and research tracks. Within the research track, fellows can elect to pursue either clinical research or laboratory-based, basic science investigation.
Research
Diversity
Family Friendly
Living in San Francisco
Both tracks ensure superior clinical and research training in gastroenterology and hepatology. Eighteen months of clinical exposure with rotations among the three major teaching hospitals affiliated with UCSF are required of all fellows, ensuring each fellow has exposure to a diversity of clinical diagnoses and patient populations.
Research fellows spend an additional 18 months devoted primarily to research, either clinical or basic science. Clinical fellows have devoted research time in their senior years in addition to exposure to advanced clinical training in areas that include transplant hepatology, advanced therapeutic endoscopy and inflammatory bowel disease.
All fellows are required to attend didactic sessions that are scheduled regularly throughout the academic year. GI Grand Rounds is a weekly conference where local and national experts speak on various topics within gastroenterology and hepatology. The first half of the academic year the GI Grand Rounds series also includes a Fellows Course which provides fellows with a foundation of evidence-based approach to common topics in gastroenterology and hepatology. Each site also has additional educational activities including Quality Improvement Conferences, Med-Surg conference, IBD conference, Mt. Zion Case Conference, Pathology and Radiology conferences.
Clinical Educator Track
One of the greatest strengths of the GI Fellowship at UCSF is the robust clinical experience. Fellows in the Clinical Educator track are exposed to the basic general GI curriculum in the first year of fellowship and can refine their educational experience in the second and third year of training to emphasize exposure to advanced rotations including advanced therapeutics, liver transplant and inflammatory bowel disease.
The focus of the clinical track is on clinical gastroenterology and hepatology. Fellows in this track are engaged in a number of clinical rotations during their second and third years including Liver Transplantation (Moffitt-Long), the advanced endoscopy rotation where fellows learn ERCP and have exposure to endoscopic ultrasound and other advanced procedures such as endoscopic mucosal resection, enteral stent placement or deep enteroscopy (Moffiit-Long and Mission Bay), Center for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease (Mt. Zion), and serve as the senior fellow at SFGH and SFVA. Fellows participate in a number of teaching responsibilities including organizing case conferences at respective sites, teaching first year medical students during their GI/Liver block and giving an annual grand rounds presentation. In addition to their clinical duties, fellows in the clinical track are expected to engage in scholarly activities. Fellows receive protected time for research through a combination of month-long blocks and dedicated days within clinical rotations. Research projects can be in either gastroenterology or hepatology and cover a broad range of areas including clinical research, patient safety, quality improvement, or projects related to medical education. At the beginning of the second year all fellows are encouraged to enroll in the introductory methods for the Advanced Training in Clinical Research course to augment their skills in clinical research.
ABIM pilot
GI + Transplant Hepatology in a single 3-year program
The UCSF GI fellowship program participates in the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) pilot program to integrate formal, competency-based Transplant Hepatology training into the 3-year GI fellowship program. The pilot program has the approval of ABIM and ACGME and graduates will be eligible to take both GI and Transplant Hepatology ABIM board certification examinations after 3 years of training. Fellows matched to the clinical educator track are eligible for this program and apply during the first year of fellowship. Up to one fellow per year may enter the program. This pilot program is separate from but analogous to the 1-year Transplant Hepatology fellowship offered after the completion of the full 3-year GI fellowship.
Research Track
The focus of the research track is to have fellows intensely pursue their research for two to three years. The goal is to train physician-investigators and equip them with the skills to secure research funding after their fellowship. Fellows entering this training pathway are expected to compete for extramural research funding soon after the completion of fellowship and to enter academic careers devoted primarily to investigation. Research time during the research training pathway will be primarily funded by the division’s GI and Hepatology NIH sponsored T32 training grants. Fellows may pursue basic science research or clinical research. Prospective investigator trainees are required to identify a mentor and area of research during their first 8 months of fellowship, and obtain approval for research support from the division’s training grants. During the second and third years, research track fellows will have 18 months of protected research time. During this time fellows can engage in basic science courses and conduct laboratory research, or they can participate in clinical research and obtain a Master’s Degree in Clinical Science through the Advanced Training in Clinical Research program. The remaining 6 months will be devoted to clinical activities.