Clinical Training

Fellows Trained in a Variety of Pediatric GI Skills and Procedures

Our fellows acquire the necessary clinical skills to independently practice pediatric gastroenterology at the end of their training program. This occurs through a wide range of clinical training experiences including:

• Endoscopy training
• Fellow continuity clinics
• Outpatient specialty gastroenterology clinics:
  • Aerodigestive
  • Bowel rehabilitation
  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Eosinophilic esophagitis
  • Inflammatory bowel disease
• Outpatient general gastroenterology clinics
• Pediatric gastroenterology inpatient and consultative service

GI Procedures

The faculty of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition perform more than 2,500 procedures each year. Fellows are trained in a wide range of gastroenterology procedures including:

• Anorectal manometry
• Bleeding control of variceal and non-variceal bleeding
• Breath hydrogen analysis
• Colonoscopy
• Diagnostic and therapeutic esophagogastroduodenoscopy
• Endoscopic placement of transpyloric feeding tube
• Esophageal dilation
• Esophageal manometry
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy
• Gastrointestinal foreign body removal
• Pancreatic function testing
• pH impedance monitoring
• Rectal suction biopsy
• Snare polypectomy
• Videocapsule endoscopy

Away electives including the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society training program, and the Visiting IBD Fellow program sponsored by CCFA.

First Year Clinical Training

The first year of the fellowship program is devoted to clinical training during which fellows spend the majority of their time on the inpatient service where they acquire clinical and procedural skills in the evaluation and management of children with gastrointestinal and nutritional diseases. Toward the end of the first year, fellows have one month of research rotation, during which time the fellow meets with the division chief and program director to choose a scholarly project and start forming a scholarly oversight committee.

Second and Third Year Clinical Training

In the second and third year of the program, fellows focus primarily on translation or clinical research projects and participate in multispecialty clinics focused on:

• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Eosinophilic Esophagitis
• Short bowel syndrome
• Cystic fibrosis-GI
• Aerodigestive disorders

These clinics allow fellows a concentrated experience and exposure to these patient populations overseen by clinical faculty with wide-ranging experience in these areas. Fellows will perform procedures (one day per week) in their second and third year of the fellowship program. Throughout the fellowship training, fellows maintain weekly continuity clinic, which is a half day per week at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. In their third year, depending on their interests, they can pursue electives in motility training, hepatology or inflammatory bowel disease. These rotations expose fellows to diverse patient populations, as well as to an outstanding faculty representing clinical and scientific expertise in areas of pediatric gastrointestinal and liver disease.