Fellowship Program
MISSION STATEMENT
The primary mission of our 3-year fellowship program is to teach the art and science of gastroenterology to highly motivated and accomplished internists. Trainees become familiar with the presentation, natural history, pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal, liver and hepatobiliary diseases through outpatient and inpatient care, endoscopic activities, divisional and departmental conferences, participation in research, and independent self-motivated learning. Clinical duties are split between the University of Missouri Hospital and Clinics, the Harry S. Truman VA Hospital and its clinics, as well as the Columbia Regional Hospital. Graduates of the training program are fully prepared to enter independent clinical and academic practice.
OVERVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
The gastroenterology fellowship program at the University of Missouri-Columbia has a long history of graduating outstanding gastroenterologists. Graduates of our training program are in private practice and academic programs throughout the country.
Our program, which was recently granted a 5-year accreditation by the ACGME, is designed to provide opportunities for fellows to develop clinical competence in the broad field of gastroenterology, including hepatology, endoscopy, clinical nutrition, and GI oncology.
In keeping with ACGME requirements, a minimum of 18 months of clinical experiences is required, including the equivalent of 5 months of hepatology. The other 18 months of training is dedicated to elective fields of clinical training and to research oriented to enhance competency.
Dr. Jamal Ibdah was recruited as Division Director in 2005 and is in the process of establishing clinical centers of excellence in hepatology, ERCP/EUS, innovative therapeutic endoscopy, inflammatory bowel disease, motility, and nutrition. Fellows will get the opportunity to tailor their electives to their interests and anticipated future careers (be they in private practice or academic). Certainly, our hope is that a significant number of our trainees will go on to academic careers and be leaders in the field of gastroenterology.
Clinical training currently is divided between the University Hospital and Clinics, the Harry S. Truman VA Hospital, Columbia Regional Hospital, and the Fairview Digestive Health Clinic, which opened in August 2007. These centers, which are located in close proximity to one another, offer outstanding facilities and serve a large primary care and referral population throughout mid-Missouri. Training time is divided between the inpatient and outpatient settings. As with most subspecialty training programs, teaching and management rounds are combined in our GI fellowship program. Rounds are patient-based, in which current cases are presented as a basis for discussion of such points as interpretation of clinical data, differential diagnosis, pathophysiology, specific management of the patient, the appropriate use of technology, the incorporation of evidence and patient values in clinical decision making, and disease prevention.
All fellows do a minimum of six months of research (clinical, translational, or basic) during their fellowship, under the direction of a faculty mentor. All research projects are also formally monitored by a GI mentoring committee, composed of experienced researchers. It is the expectation of the GI faculty that the fellows’ research will be productive, and that it will be published, at the least, as an abstract in a peer-reviewed journal, and be submitted for presentation at a national subspecialty meeting. Fellows are also expected to write up their projects in manuscript form and to submit it to a peer-reviewed journal.
The GI division has a variety of educational conferences that fellows attend and participate in (e.g. GI Grand Rounds, Basic Science conference, Core Curriculum conference, GI Journal Club, Clinical Path conference, GI Medical-Surgical conference, GI Radiology conference, GI/Liver Pathology conference, GI Research conference, and visiting professor conferences). During their training, fellows also attend two or more national meetings and conferences that supplement their educational experience.
The GI division has seven clinical GI fellows and one research fellow for the 2006 to 2007 academic year, but additional expansion of the GI fellowship program is anticipated for the 2008-2009 and the 2009-2010 academic years.
The division also began offering two one-year advanced endoscopy fellowship positions beginning with the 2007 to 2008 academic year.
Columbia is a wonderful community of about 90,000 located in Mid-Missouri between St. Louis and Kansas City. We are home of the flagship campus of the University of Missouri System. UMC has an undergraduate student body in excess of 20,000 and over 6,000 graduate students. There are two other colleges in Columbia-- Columbia College and Stephen’s College. Columbia offers innumerable cultural opportunities and has a highly regarded public school system.
FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION PROCESS
