MISSION STATEMENTS

Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas
To operate as an integrated health care system, which exists to serve people as an extension of the Christian ministry of healing, by offering a continuum of quality services with a commitment to patient care, medical education, research, and community service.

Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship Program
To provide quality training in the clinical management of patients with digestive diseases founded on scientific principles, embracing recent discoveries, and enabling trainees to assimilate future developments, thereby allowing graduates of the program to provide high quality medical care for years to come. To imbue trainees with the abilities to add to the fund of knowledge about digestive and liver diseases and to explain that knowledge to colleagues and lay persons in educational settings. To emphasize the acquisition of technical skills in clinical practice, research, and education in order to achieve these purposes in an environment promoting humanistic values and ethical behavior.

HISTORY OF THE GASTROENTEROLOGY FELLOWSHIP AT BAYLOR
Baylor University Medical Center has a long history of emphasis on digestive diseases. Dr. Cecil Patterson, who completed his medical school training at Baylor College of Medicine in 1931 and his internal medicine and gastroenterology training at Baylor Hospital in 1933, was a pioneer of endoscopy in the United States and was one of the first to perform sclerotherapy for esophageal varices in the 1940’s. The modern era of gastroenterology at Baylor began with the arrival of Dr. Dan Polter and the establishment of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program in 1971. Since that time, Baylor has trained over sixty gastroenterologists and has invested in the latest technology, gaining recognition as the premier clinical gastroenterology resource in the region. Dr. John Fordtran came to Baylor University Medical Center as Chief of Internal Medicine in 1979 and established a strong gastrointestinal research laboratory, publishing over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers. One of the earliest and busiest liver transplant programs in the country was started by Dr. Goran Klintmalm in 1985, strengthening Baylor as a center for patients with liver disease. Development of the Diagnostic Center for Digestive Diseases and the Gastrointestinal Physiology Laboratory in the 1980’s further established Baylor as a center of excellence in gastroenterology and hepatology. Through these actions, the Gastroenterolgy division at Baylor University Medical Center has achieved a national reputation. The new millennium has seen the development of separate gastroenterology and hepatology divisions under the leadership of Drs. Rick Boland and Gary Davis, national leaders in their fields. This reorganization has allowed for the continued expansion of resources devoted to gastroenterology and hepatology at Baylor. A new 18,000 square foot Gastroenterology Lab featuring state-of-the-art equipment and a new 4,000 square foot unit for the Fellows’ Clinic, GI Physiology Lab, and academic offices are the latest additions. The Gastroenterology and Hepatology Divisions at Baylor also have gained stature from the accomplishments of their fellows. Most have gone on to careers as successful and respected gastroenterologists in communities across the region. Others have gone on to careers in academic centers as clinicians, researchers, and educators.