FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Gastroenterology fellows gain extensive experience in clinical consultation, patient management, and the following procedures: flexible sigmoidoscopy; upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, including dilatation of strictures and percutaneous gastrostomy; small bowel endoscopy; colonoscopy, including polypectomy; clinical and endoscopic management of gastrointestinal hemorrhage, including the use of cautery and sclerotherapy; and the performance and interpretation of esophageal motility studies and esophageal pH monitoring.

Additionally, fellows become skilled in nutritional disorders and their management, including total parenteral nutrition, tube feedings, and other forms of dietary therapy.

Fellows training at Baylor receive intensive exposure to patients with a wide variety of gastrointestinal and liver disorders. Fellows spend two years in clinical training in general gastroenterology, including six months of such scholarly activity as research projects and publishing papers.

To qualify for a gastroenterology fellowship, candidates must have completed an internal medicine residency in an ACGME-accredited program and be board-eligible or board-certified.

FACULTY
A prime resource of the Gastroenterology Fellowship at Baylor is the depth and devotion of the faculty. Faculty members have a variety of interests, both clinical and investigational, practice in different settings, and have distinctive types of patients. This makes for an assortment of clinical experiences for each fellow that run the gamut from “routine” clinical problems, such as heartburn or abdominal pain, to esoteric complaints that have defied extensive evaluation elsewhere. This also gives the fellows exposure to a variety of practice styles and settings. The faculty members are graduates of training programs throughout the country, and this also enhances the spectrum of approaches to clinical problems to which the fellows are exposed. The faculty includes skilled educators and accomplished researchers, as well as crackerjack clinicians. Therefore, the fellows have the opportunity to see different sorts of role models as they sort out their professional personas. Each faculty member is dedicated to his or her role as a teacher and spends the bulk of each day with the fellow rotating with them. Faculty members are trained in educational techniques and are excellent judges of the fellows’ progress. They provide immediate feedback through the course of their interactions with the fellows.