Fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Our three-year, ACGME-accredited fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology is designed to provide excellent clinical and research training so that you have the foundational knowledge, clinical judgment, and procedural skills to become a specialist in digestive diseases.

During the first 12 months, all fellows in the program will focus on clinical training. Our program provides detailed instruction in consultative gastroenterology and hepatology and hands-on endoscopic skills so that you develop the proficiency needed to practice independently.

You will complete clinical training at Yale New Haven Hospital, a 1,541-bed facility over two sites in New Haven, the York Street Campus, and the Saint Raphael Campus, and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven. Throughout your fellowship, you will see patients from a demographically diverse population with a wide variety of common and rare gastrointestinal (GI) and liver disorders.

You will work under the direct supervision of faculty members from the Section of Digestive Diseases. You will be able to provide an initial evaluation of patients and develop treatment recommendations.

As part of our deep commitment to advancing the field of medicine, all fellows will complete scholarly projects during their three years. You will work closely with your faculty mentors to identify potential projects, design the study, and complete the research. Research is a cornerstone of our work, and our faculty members are engaged in a wide range of basic laboratory research activities and patient-oriented clinical research.

After the first 12 months of your fellowship, trainee pathways vary according to track (clinical or research) and are highly personalized to each fellow’s ultimate career goals. Tracks of interest are declared and discussed during the recruitment season and are matched in advance of arrival for fellowship training.

Fellows who match the clinical track, which is ideal for trainees focused on a career devoted to academic clinical practice, will receive another two years of clinical training, including three-six months of research time. In this track, you will get focused experience and training in advanced endoscopy training, inflammatory bowel disease, motility, transplant, genetics of hepatology and gastroenterology, and obesity medicine. You will also be allotted time to participate in relevant clinical research with guidance from your faculty member.

Trainees interested in future careers as physician-scientists (including basic, translational, clinical research) are ideal for one of our two research tracks:

• NIH T-32-funded research track
• VA-funded clinical research track in hepatology.

These tracks provide protected research time during the second and third year of fellowship and include a core curriculum and supervised research under the direction of a faculty member. As a fellow in our research track, you will have a research advisory committee to help guide your work. Research fellows are encouraged to enroll in a master’s or PhD program to obtain additional research skills during this time.

As a fellow, you will have full access to Yale’s robust research enterprise, including:

• State-of-the-art technology to support basic, clinical, and translational research
• Strong mentors with a track record of helping fellows obtain grant funding to conduct research
• Formal and informal opportunities to learn about new research techniques from faculty and visiting clinicians and scientists from around the world.

Fellows in the research track can focus on:

• Gastroenterology – The Investigational Training Program in Gastroenterology supports trainees interested in the physiology and pathophysiology of gastrointestinal (GI) tract function.
• Hepatology – The Investigational Training Program in Hepatology supports trainees interested in the study of diseases that affect the liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, and pancreas. Fellows have access to the Yale Liver Center, which provides clinical and investigative resources for studying liver diseases. Our fellows also have access to other faculty performing research on liver physiology and disease.
• Clinical Investigation – The Training Program in Investigative Medicine is designed to provide physicians with a period of advanced study in research after their clinical training, which will lead to a PhD degree. The program emphasizes both disease-oriented and patient-oriented research training. The usual time course to complete all the requirements for the PhD is 4-5 years of fellowship training.

We are committed to supporting your individual career goals and will work with you to design a training program to meet your specific needs.

We are committed to supporting your individual career goals and will work with you to design a training program to meet your specific needs.

For example, past fellows have trained with mentors in other departments, including the Departments of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Cell Biology, Biology, Pathology, and Genetics. As a trainee, you can attend lectures or participate in research activities related to your area of study. We also have established interdepartmental and interdisciplinary programs that promote cooperative research activities.

Our curriculum is based on the ACGME’s core competencies: patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. We can provide our entire curriculum to interested applicants upon request.

We hold regular teaching conferences to ensure our fellows can learn about all the core topics in gastroenterology and hepatology from experts in the field. Some of our regularly scheduled conferences include:

• Weekly Grand Rounds
• Weekly Pathology Review
• Monthly Conference on Morbidity and Mortality
• Monthly Quality Assessment Committee
• Weekly Liver Tumor Board
• Weekly Digestive Diseases Didactic and Case Presentations
• Monthly Journal Club

You can apply for the fellowship through the Electronic Residency Application Services (ERAS) portal. If you have any questions, please contact our fellowship program coordinator.