GOALS/MISSON
Welcome to Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s Gastroenterology Fellowship program. Our overall goal is to prepare our fellows to be competent and caring physicians who have the skills of lifelong learning necessary to incorporate new knowledge and methods into their practice of gastroenterology and hepatology and to adapt to a changing professional environment. The fellowship motto is simple: Excellence in Patient Care & Professionalism, Every Patient, Every Time.
CLINICAL TRAINING
The Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) Gastroenterology Fellowship is an ACGME accredited program where fellows are exposed to a large diversity of cases through our clinical sites. The Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) is the primary affiliate and clinical site. State-of-the-art clinical, laboratory, endoscopic and medical records facilities are present. A diverse patient population of all ethnicities, ages & gender is available for the fellow to have experience with a variety of clinical problems and stages of disease. Fellows also have the opportunity to rotate at University Hospital/New Jersey Medical School in Newark, and the Veterans Affairs Health System in West Orange and Lyons, NJ.
Fellows have appropriate supervised experience to develop skills in providing consultative services and communicating with physicians and other members of the health care team and being a professional advocate for the patient within the healthcare system. Skilled faculty preceptors supervise each fellow during performance of all procedures and a procedure log is maintained by each fellow. Instruction is provided on the indications, contraindications, and techniques of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, complications, limitations, interpretation of endoscopic appearance.
In recognition of the importance of outpatient medicine to the practice of gastroenterology, all fellows spend at least one half day per week for the entire 3-year period in an ambulatory care clinic in which both new and continuity care patients with gastroenterological diseases are evaluated and managed.
EDUCATION
The fellowship program curriculum provides the opportunity for trainees to achieve cognitive knowledge and procedural skills, develop interpersonal skills, professionalism, cultivate humanistic attitudes, ethical behaviors and gain supervised practical experience as a consultant in treating a wide range of clinical problems- acute and chronic- in varied patient populations (different ethnicities, age groups, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds).
Fellows have ready access to specialty-specific and other appropriate reference material in print or electronic format through the Rutgers University Libraries. Electronic medical literature databases with search capabilities are be available from any location.
Didactic Conferences are held on a regular basis and all fellows participate actively in the planning and participation of these conferences. Clinical conferences include GI tumor board, liver tumor board, mortality and morbidity conference, board review and GI pathology conference. Additionally these are also multidisciplinary and attended by gastroenterologists, surgeons, oncologists, radiologists and pathologists.
RESEARCH
The Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, and the Department of Medicine are committed to providing the best overall learning experience and to create an environment conducive to inquiry. Research and scholarly activity are very important aspects of the fellowship as well. Fellows receive mentorship through faculty in their area of interest, who help them achieve their targets. Fellows are given extensive time for research during research rotations despite their rigorous clinical training at this time. To facilitate their efforts, the Program Director and the Division will provide the necessary technological and educational tools.
RECENT CHANGES
The recent recruitment of renowned, technically-skilled and dedicated faculty over the past three years has contributed towards strengthening the academic and clinical success of the division, and giving the fellowship training an excellent educational and learning experience. The GI fellowship program had expanded to include a total of 3 incoming fellows beginning in the academic year 2019/2020. Our division also has a one-year Hepatology Fellowship (non-transplant) and a one-year Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Fellowship.