Program Overview

The Gastroenterology Division and Endoscopy Suite of the North Division of Montefiore Medical Center are located on the fourth floor of the hospital.  More than 4,200 procedures are performed annually in the Endoscopy Suite, including upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, biopsy, polypectomy, PEG (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy), ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) and endoscopic ultrasound.

Patients in the hospital have access to residents in internal medicine and fellows in gastroenterology.  Ambulatory care is provided in a modern outpatient setting at the gastroenterology clinic and in the faculty's offices.

The Gastroenterology Fellowship Program

The Gastroenterology Fellowship Program is a fully accredited, three-year program with one new fellow per year.  Fellows receive a wide variety of experiences and are exposed to patients from numerous ethnic groups and backgrounds.  The core faculty members hold teaching appointments at New York Medical College.  Their areas of expertise include general gastroenterology, clinical nutrition, hepatology, pediatric gastroenterology, pancreaticobiliary endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound.

Fellows are responsible for inpatient consultation and follow-up of patients.  Every patient is discussed with a faculty member. Patients are seen in the Emergency Room, Intensive Care Units or regular floors and are followed from admission to discharge.  Fellows also follow patients in the ambulatory care setting under the supervision of the faculty (Hilary I. Hertan, MD, and Nejat Kiyici, MD). The full spectrum of clinical experience is available to fellows, from healthy adults and children to patients with acute illnesses.

The Gastroenterology Faculty

Board-certified gastroenterologists are available to provide clinical, basic science and procedural training to our fellows on a 24-hour basis, 7 days a week. Full-time and private gastroenterologists are easily contacted at night and come into the hospital to see patients and perform procedures with fellows.  Faculty members participate in most conferences, enhancing the trainee's didactic and practical knowledge.

Education and Research

The Division of Gastroenterology at the North Division of Montefiore excels in teaching and research.  A daily conference, held at 7:30 AM, includes didactic teaching, journal clubs, endoscopic videos and conferences.  Morning report, GI Surgery Conference and Tumor Board Conferences revolve around clinical case discussions.  GI/Pathology and GI/Radiology Conferences are held twice a month. There is also an extensive Nutrition and Gastroenterology Grand Rounds Lecture Series.  Approximately 25 to 30 conferences are held on a monthly basis. Our fellows are very strong academically and take great pride in teaching residents and medical students. In addition to conferences at the North Division of Montefiore, fellows present cases and seminars at Gastroenterology Grand Rounds at New York Medical College and teach physician assistant students at Mercy College.

The board pass rate of our graduating gastroenterology fellows reflects our program's strong commitment to teaching. Numerous clinical and research projects in our department have resulted in publications, abstracts, book chapters and presentations at national and international meetings, such as those of The American College of Gastroenterology and The American Gastroenterological Association Digestive Disease Week Meetings.

Conference Schedule