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Clinical Fellow Track

There is a formal expectation that all fellows will actively participate in scholarship. This is not only a priority for the division but also a requirement for the fellowship to maintain ACGME accreditation.

Each first-year fellow must choose between the Clinical Educator and Clinical Research pathways.

Clinical Educator

The aims of the Clinical Educator Pathway are to:

  • Engage fellows in clinical teaching
  • Provide an opportunity to create and give didactic lectures
  • Provide an opportunity to produce a substantive educational product or complete an education-related research project

Fellows will have opportunities to receive formal training in education and program building.

  • Year 1 of Fellowship
    • Apply for Clinician Educator Pathway
    • Identify a mentor and decide on an educational scholarly project
  • Years 2 and 3
    • Design and complete educational scholarly project
  • Additional requirements
    • Deliver two advanced level lectures per year during the second and third years of fellowship on a clinical topic (total of four lectures during fellowship)
    • Alternatively, fellows can choose to run one evening board review session as a substitute for the second lecture
    • Complete two original or non-original work

Definitions for Clinical Educator Pathway

Fellows must be active participants in the design, performance, and evaluation of any educational project. Wherever feasible, fellows are encouraged to publish or present results at national meetings, although this is not a requirement per se and may not be applicable to some projects.

  • Develop a curriculum including concept, design, recruiting speakers, advertisement, CME accreditation and funding (if applicable), and post event evaluation. The curriculum could be for:
    • Medical students
    • Residents (e.g. ambulatory lecture series)
    • GI Fellows  (e.g. use of simulators, endoscopic skills camps)
    • Nursing staff
    • Faculty Development
  • Develop and validate a method of assessment for competence or an educational tool, for example
    • Endoscopic skills assessment
    • Video instructional tool
  • Complete a systematic review/meta analysis on a chosen topic and present the results to the fellows and faculty

Definition of Clinical Educator Lecture

A review of a clinical topic to be presented during the weekly conference on a given topic to be chosen in advance. There will be a faculty mentor for each presentation and it is expected that the content will be reviewed with the assigned mentor.

Clinical Research

The aim of the Clinical Research Pathway is to train future leaders in clinical and outcomes research. Fellows who show outstanding aptitude may be considered for enrollment in the T32 Research Fellowship track

  • Year 1 of Fellowship
    • Apply for Clinical Research Pathway
    • Work with program directors to identify research mentorship team and potential areas of research
  • Years 2 and 3
    • Develop and start a project with research mentors
    • Complete Research Project
  • Additional Requirements:
    • Deliver a ‘State of the Art’ lecture at Digestive and Liver Disease Grand Rounds (Wednesday Forum) on the area of clinical research (Year 3)
    • Complete one original research project
    • Complete one non-original work
    • Complete the online training of Research HIPAA, Good Clinical Practices, and Human Subjects Protection

Definitions for Clinical Research Pathway

Fellows must be active participants in the design, performance, and submission for publication of any study. Studies must include a hypothesis, aim(s), appropriate methodology, collection of data, creation of an appropriate dataset, analysis of data, and production of a manuscript under the guidance of a member of the GI division. Research projects may occur outside of the division, only with the approval of the Fellowship Program Director and the Fellowship Research Committee.

Examples of acceptable and encouraged clinical research include the following:

  • Systematic review
  • Case-control study
  • Prospective cohort study
  • Clinical trial
  • Cost-effectiveness analysis
  • Meta-analysis

Definition of State of the Art Research Lecture

  • The type of lecture that an Assistant Professor candidate would give when interviewing for a position
  • 60 minutes in duration, with 45-minute presentation and 15 minutes for questions
  • First 30 minutes is usually a grand-rounds overview of the field of study, followed by 15-minute presentation of the research project and results.

General Expectations

It is expected that time allotted for scholarly activities will be used for that purpose. It is also expected that the Fellow will be physically present at their assigned hospital site performing their scholarly activities. Time away from scholarly activities during the research/elective rotation is allowed for:

  • Regularly scheduled teaching conferences
  • The Fellow’s ongoing gastroenterology and/or liver continuity clinic

Absences for any other reason need to be approved by the fellowship program leadership.

Because failure to complete the scholarly activity requirements could result in a deferment of board eligibility, if a Fellow's scholarly activity is not progressing as expected (determined by the minimum benchmarks listed below), it is expected that clinical electives will be used to provide the necessary additional time required to complete their activities.

Activities that will not meet the scholarly activity requirement for completing the Fellowship include:

  • Collection of research data only with no attempt at publication.
  • Submission of data in abstract format only (without acceptance and presentation).
  • Research manuscript in progress at the end of Fellowship.
  • Planning of educator project without carrying it through.
 
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