Program Information
Fellowship Leaders
An Educational Committee consisting of faculty members and fellows provides guidance and oversight to our fellowship program. The committee is responsible for overseeing the academic aspects of the program, including the structure of rotations, electives, didactic activities, and recruitment.
The members of the Educational Committee are:
- Dr. Meghana Sathe – Fellowship Director
- Dr. Charina Ramirez – Associate Fellowship Director
- Dr. Bradley Barth – Division Director
- Dr. Norberto Rodríguez-Báez – Associate Director for Education Affairs
- Dr. Isabel Rojas Santamaria – Associate Director for Clinical Affairs
- Dr. Nandini Channabasappa – Faculty Representative
- Dr. Bhaskar Gurram – Faculty Representative
- Dr. Megha Mehta – Faculty Representative
- Allison Miles – Fellowship Coordinator
- All Fellows
Our program also has a Clinical Competence Committee that is in charge of reviewing evaluations and the progress of all of our fellows. The committee is also responsible for preparing the semiannual milestones evaluations of each fellow for the ACGME and providing advice to the training directors regarding a fellow's progress, including recommendations for promotion.
In addition, each fellow has a Scholarly Oversight Committee that provides support and guidance in the development of the individual scholarly activity. This committee consists of three or more UTSW faculty members, including the fellow's primary research mentor, in order to allow for a broader perspective for overall career guidance.
Learn more about our program below.
Faculty
Our program consists of 22 faculty members offering expertise in general gastroenterology as well as all subspecialty areas. Our faculty members are nationally recognized experts in the gastroenterology field and actively pursue research in many important areas of gastrointestinal and hepatic diseases. Ongoing research activities are supported by various industry entities and several agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.
See a list of faculty.
Past, Present, and Future of the Gastroenterology Division
UT Southwestern’s Pediatric Gastroenterology Division was established in the late 1970s. In 1978, with the encouragement of Chief of Gastroenterology Dr. John Fordtran, Dr. Patricia Brannon became UTSW's first trained pediatric gastroenterologist. Dr. John Andersen, who also trained under the mentorship of Dr. Fordtran, soon became the second, and in 1979 he was named the first Chief of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Division. During this early period, the faculty participated in active research with Dr. Fordtran and his successor as Chief, Dr. John Dietschy, who were exploring cholesterol metabolism, sterol and lipoprotein synthesis, and liver metabolic pathways. These areas continue to be a focus of UT Southwestern researchers; notably, Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1985 for their pivotal work in cholesterol metabolism.
The years leading up to that announcement were an exciting time for the UTSW group of physician-scientists who would see patients in a busy clinical practice, develop novel research protocols and animal studies, and begin to develop the still-new subspecialty of pediatric gastroenterology as a formal training program. Between 1979 and 1992 leadership of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Division passed from Dr. Andersen (1979) to Dr. David Keljo (1983) and subsequently to Dr. William Belknap (1986) and Dr. Robert Squires (1988). Dr. Andersen returned as Division Chief in 1992 and oversaw the merger of four Dallas-area pediatric gastroenterologists in private practice with four full-time pediatric gastroenterologists at UT Southwestern. Under Dr. Andersen's leadership, the GI Fellowship was renewed in 1994. The fellowship program proved to be fertile soil for development of future leaders, and the Division continued to expand and began to differentiate along programmatic lines.
In November 2011, Dr. Andersen was appointed Vice Chair of Clinical Operations for Pediatrics, and Dr. Andrew Feranchak became Division Chief. Under Dr. Feranchak's leadership, the Division continued to flourish. Following Dr. Feranchak's departure, Dr. Bradley Barth became interim chief and later was named Division Chief in 2019. With his leadership our division continues to expand top-notch clinical programs in all areas of pediatric gastroenterology, including hepatology and liver transplant, therapeutic endoscopy, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal failure, neurogastroenterology and motility, metabolic and fatty liver disease, cystic fibrosis, eosinophilic esophagitis, aerodigestive disorders, celiac disease, pancreatic disease, obesity, nutrition, and GI psychology. Additionally, the Division has active research programs in viral hepatitis, acute liver failure, inflammatory bowel disease, and pathogenesis of esophageal inflammation. Our goal is to continue our commitment to improve the health of infants, children, and young adults by providing high-quality clinical services, furthering the understanding of gastrointestinal and liver diseases through original research, and participating in the education of physicians at all levels of training.
In 2024, the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology was ranked
10th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report
Teaching Institutions
UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern Medical Center is the most prominent medical education and biomedical research institution in Texas. It is the largest medical school in the University of Texas System. Six UT Southwestern alumni and/or faculty members have been awarded Nobel Prizes. In addition, the faculty currently includes 24 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 21 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, and 15 members of the American Academy of Arts and Science.
UT Southwestern trains nearly 2,000 clinical residents and fellows annually. Currently, there are more than 5,700 active research projects and nearly $425 million in annual research funding. UTSW's faculty has a long and established record in the fields of gastroenterology and hepatology.
Children’s Health and Children’s Medical Center Dallas
The core of our training is performed at Dallas-based Children’s Medical Center, the flagship hospital of the Children’s Health System. Recognized as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, this health care center has 490 licensed beds, including 77 Level 1 PICU and CVICU beds, more than 25 subspecialties, and a Level 1 trauma center. It has a 24-bed inpatient Gastroenterology Unit, an Endoscopy Suite, an outpatient Surgical Center, a Solid Organ Transplant Clinic, and a dedicated Gastroenterology outpatient clinic. The clinical activity of our Division is centered on providing high-quality care to our large-volume service:
- 20,000 outpatient visits annually
- 2,000 inpatient admissions annually
- More than 3,000 procedures per year
Other Training Sites
In addition, we provide consultation in the NICU and Newborn Nursery at Parkland Memorial Hospital, UT Southwestern’s William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, and Texas Health Resources Presbyterian Hospital. Additional elective rotations and research opportunities are available at Children’s Health Plano, Baylor University Medical Center, and the Veteran Administration North Texas Health Care System located in downtown Dallas.
