Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition

Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition

Fellowship Program
Chris Forsmark, M.D., Director, GI Fellowship Program

Overview - Admission Requirements - Nature of the Training - Formal Education
Procedural Training - Facilities - Current and Former Trainees
Living in Gainesville - Additional Information

Fellowship Training: an Overview

UF offers 3 fellowship positions each year for highly qualified physicians dedicated to obtaining the highest quality training in all aspects of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition. The UF program is distinctive because of its commitment to providing fellows with:

  • The opportunity to learn all diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to qualified individuals;
  • An intensive exposure to all aspects of clinical hepatology including transplantation;
  • The ability to obtain additional formal education; as well as
  • Exposure to clinical, bench, and transitional research opportunities.

The hallmark of the program is its excellent balance between clinical medicine and research. Research may be at the basic level or be clinical in nature. The GI division at the University of Florida has a long history of training the future leaders of our discipline. We are committed to training successful academicians, with our educational program being highly customized to the trainee's individual intellectual interests.

Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
Box 100214, Gainesville, FL 32610
352.392.2877 - FAX 352.392.3618

Admissions and Admission Requirements

Admission to the UF fellowship training program in gastroenterology is open to all physicians who are board-certified or board-eligible in Internal Medicine. Furthermore applicants should either be, or be eligible to be, licensed as physicians by the State of Florida. UF requires that applicants use the GI Program Directors' Universal Application Form, available on-line at the GI Program Directors' website.

All trainee applicants who are considered possible fellowship candidates will be invited to Gainesville for full-day interviews between November and March of the year prior to starting training.

Please note that UF is participating in the "Match"

GI Fellowship Application Information:

We use the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for all applicants.

For Fellowship Applications please submit the following via ERAS:

  • CV
  • Personal Goals Statement
  • 3 Letters of Recommendation (one from the Program Director)
  • USMLE Scores (must past step III prior to starting Fellowship) or equivalent scores
  • Medical School Transcript
  • Medical School Diploma
  • Wallet-sized color photo

Nature of the Training

The UF training program provides fellows with full exposure to all aspects of gastroenterology. As a part of this training, fellows are urged to obtain advanced training (i.e., second tier training) in one of the following areas:

  • Hepatology
  • Nutrition
  • Advanced Procedures (including ERCP and EUS)
  • Motility
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Finally, the UF Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases maintains an active clinical and basic research environment. Trainees wishing to pursue academic careers will be provided with all the protected time necessary.

Formal Education

Divisional education activities include a weekly research conference, a weekly combined medicine-surgery problems conference in which the fellows and outside physicians present interesting cases to be discussed by the faculty, and a monthly journal club. In addition, there is a one-hour lecture series for medical students and house officers three times a week. This series focuses on nutritional diseases, and is provided by the faculty and fellows. Finally, a liver biopsy conference and a liver transplant conference are also held each week.

Depending on a trainee's interests, additional courses can be taken in from the Department of Health Economics including study design, biostatistics, and outcomes. Also, the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research (ICBR) offers a wide variety of "hands-on" courses covering all aspects of basic research. These courses are usually taken during the second year of fellowship training.

Procedural Training

Full exposure to all procedures performed by gastroenterologists is provided to fellows during the course of their training. Depending on an individual's interests and academic potential, competency in all procedures including those identified as "3rd tier" can be attained during the 3 year training period. Regardless of career interests, all trainees receive training in general procedures far in excess of what is required by the ASGE.

Facilities

SHANDS HOSPTIAL: The 576-bed Shands Hospital and the University of Florida Clinics serve as a tertiary care referral center that averages 23,500 inpatient admissions and 280,000 outpatient visits per year. The Medicine Service occupies 100 beds including a 14-bed ICU-CCU. The patient population is varied and includes a broad range of severity and complexity of illness. Approximately 50% of the patients are referred by physicians throughout the State of Florida and southern Georgia for specialized care or procedures. Another 20% are admitted through the department's outpatient clinics, while 30% of all patients are admitted from the emergency department for serious acute and chronic medical problems.

There is a 20-bed inpatient Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition service at Shands Hospital devoted to patients with digestive and liver diseases. Consultation services are provided at Shands Hospital and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The state-of-the-art computerized video endoscopy suites at Shands Hospital and the Gainesville VA Medical Center provide full service diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy and performed over 8,000 endoscopic procedures in 1999-2000. Shands Hospital at the University of Florida is one of the country's top 10 most active liver transplant programs, performing over 100 liver transplants per year.

The unique gastrointestinal diagnostic laboratory offers testing that is often not found at other medical centers. Studies include pancreatic secretory tests, 14C and 13C xylose breath tests for detecting bacterial overgrowth, Helicobacter pylori breath test, serum trypsin levels, esophageal and anorectal manometry, 24 hour pH studies and evaluation of small bowel motility. These capabilities attract patients to the medical center from all over the United States.

VA MEDICAL CENTER: The Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) is an acute-care general medical-surgical hospital located across the street from Shands Hospital. The GI division provides consultative services to inpatients, runs an active endoscopy suite, and staffs five outpatient GI clinics. The VAMC is a major referral center for veterans in the southeastern United States providing gastrointestinal and hepatology care to 70,000 veterans in the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Healthcare System.

Current and Former Trainees

Approximately half of our former trainees are in private practice throughout the United States, and half are in academic positions around the world. A listing of our current and former trainees is maintained on a separate page

Living in Gainesville

Gainesville is a bucolic university-town of ~100,00 individuals. Mild winters and year-round sun make for an active, outside-oriented lifestyle. The cost of living in Gainesville is amazingly low, with housing so affordable most house officers and fellows are home owners. Both the Atlantic and the Gulf are ~1 hour away, making the beach a part of the entertainment landscape. The university serves as a major draw for the cultural arts, possessing phenomenal facilities including the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the Harn Museum of Art, and the Florida Museum of Natural History. The hardest part about coming to Gainesville is that nobody ever wants to leave.

Information can be obtained by:

  • Calling the GI office at: (352) 392-2877
  • Faxing a request to the GI office at: (352) 392-3618
  • Sending a written request to:
    Fellowship Information
    Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
    University of Florida
    Box 100214
    Gainesville, FL 32610
  • Or by email: Gastroenterology Fellowship Information

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