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Teaching and Didactic Activities

Our fellows actively participate in ongoing didactic activities within our Division. The teaching activities are designed to provide a comprehensive educational program for fellows with an emphasis on the integration of clinical practice, scientific knowledge, and scholarly activities.

Learn more about activities and teaching:

National

We make sure that all of our fellows have the opportunity to attend and participate in the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Fellow's Conferences. As a program, we are very committed to supporting NASPGHAN and its educational activities, which represent opportunities to network and develop relationships that will be important throughout a fellow’s career. Additionally, we are proud that many of our faculty members have participated, organized, and led these conferences, including Dr. Amal Aqul, Dr. Bradley Barth, Dr. Norberto Rodríguez-Báez, Dr. Isabel Rojas Santamaria, Dr. Rinarani Sanghavi, Dr. Meghana Sathe and Dr. David Troendle.

We also encourage our fellows to participate in NASPGHAN’s other national conferences, as well as those of other organizations, such as the annual meeting of the AASLD (American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases), the NACFC (North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference), DDW (Digestive Diseases Week), the Society of Pediatric Research (SPR) annual meeting, and the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting.

Intradepartmental

Joint GI and Surgery Conference
Held in collaboration with the Department of Surgery, this conference focuses on both medical and surgical diagnosis and treatment options for common pediatric disorders.

Joint GI and Critical Care Conference
This conference occurs in collaboration with the pediatric critical care team and focuses on the management of complex medical and surgical gastrointestinal disorders.

Nutrition Conference
This conference is conducted in collaboration with our Nutrition Department and focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of disease processes that result in inherent nutritional challenges. First- and second-year fellows organize this conference in conjunction with the clinical dietitians.

Pathology Conference
This conference provides a review of recent common and unusual gastrointestinal and hepatic pathology cases. Second-year fellows select the cases, and a dedicated pediatric pathologist leads the conference.

Pediatric/Adult Combined Conference
At this yearly conference, an invited pediatrics or adult-disease-focused speaker outside of the Medical Center provides teaching for this joint audience. The presentation is followed by a case discussion led by either a pediatric fellow in conjunction with an adult GI attending or an adult-disease-focused fellow in conjunction with a pediatric GI attending.

Radiology Conference
This conference is a discussion of radiological studies related to gastroenterology and hepatology. Second-year fellows select the cases in conjunction with a radiologist.

Research Conference
This is a series of conferences in which fellows and faculty members share their ongoing research projects throughout the year. Second- and third-year fellows participate in this conference to introduce their research projects, obtain ongoing guidance, and practice for presentations at national meetings.

Special Endowed Lectures
The Division hosts several ongoing endowed lectures throughout the year. The events are opportunities to bring outstanding national leaders in the fields of gastroenterology and hepatology to UTSW for state-of-the-art clinical and research presentations, discussions with the faculty and fellows, and sharing of educational and training perspectives.

  • The annual Willis C. Maddrey Liver Lecture
  • The annual Gary Morchower Lectureship in Pediatric Gastroenterology

Departmental

Department of Pediatrics Research Day
It is an amazing forum in which faculty and fellows from all divisions in the Department of Pediatrics gather to share and celebrate the research endeavors being pursued in pediatrics. The conference spotlights a renowned guest lecturer and features speakers from our own faculty. Many of our faculty members have presented at this conference, including Dr. Edaire Cheng, Dr. Luis Sifuentes Dominguez, Dr. Norberto Rodríguez-Báez, and Dr. Charina Ramirez.

Departmental Fellows Conference
This ongoing course provides an opportunity to interact with fellows and faculty from other disciplines in the Department of Pediatrics. In addition, the program hosts core lectures and forums in ethics, statistics, designing and implementing clinical research, and career development. This conference culminates in a Research Day in May, when all of the third-year fellows present their research projects. Notably, since this course was established, several of our pediatric GI fellows have won the “top 5 presentations award.”

Grand Rounds
One of the mainstays of the Department of Pediatrics is its Grand Rounds held every Wednesday morning. It is an opportunity for attendings and faculty from outside UTSW to share up-to-date, evidence-based medicine practices and groundbreaking research.

Multidisciplinary Conference
This unique conference is held every Tuesday at noon and features a group of faculty from different disciplines sharing their experience with unknown and challenging cases, morbidity and mortality reports, and quality improvement and practice guideline developments.

Divisional

Board Review
This once-a-week, fellow-run conference provides a systematic review of pertinent gastrointestinal, hepatic, and nutritional topics from the leading textbooks in the field in preparation for the Pediatric Gastroenterology Board exam. Fellowship directors provide support and supervision. Notably, UT Southwestern has had a 100 percent passage rate for first-time takers of this exam.

Book Club
An informal forum to discuss ethics and the humanitarian side of medicine. This is an evening conference to gather and enjoy discussing our successes and struggles of becoming physicians in a complicated world.

Career Development Conference
This conference is intended to help fellows and faculty enhance their teaching skills and develop activities to innovate medical education and career development.

Core Curriculum
This attending-led review of core gastrointestinal, hepatology, and nutrition topics focuses on anatomy and pathophysiology as well as diagnosis and management of common disease processes.

Culinary Medicine
The goal of this activity is to provide a hands-on experience to fellows to learn about nutrition through cooking. Held twice annually and in collaboration with Jaclyn Albin, M.D., this interactive session takes place at UTSW School of Nutrition test kitchens.

Fireside Chats
A forum for fellows and residents to interact with faculty and graduates of our fellowship program to discuss career paths and goals.

Journal Club Conference
This conference is a critical review of pertinent medical literature and journal articles by topics, conducted in the form of a debate to engage and encourage active participation of fellows and faculty.

Liver Transplant Meeting
This multidisciplinary conference is held weekly to discuss pre- and post-liver transplant patients.

Morbidity and Mortality Conference
In this conference, participants review specific cases and critically analyze those with the most challenging particulars in order to improve the standard of care.

Quality Improvement Conference
Fellows in this conference present in clinic teams, addressing a particular quality-improvement question. The conference involves a retrospective review of the particular practice, a survey of current practice behaviors, and an in-depth literature review. Each fellow’s clinic team presents one conference per year.

Weekly Morning Case Conference
This is a presentation by fellows, faculty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, residents, and rotating students on a specific outpatient or inpatient clinical question that is investigated through a systematic review of evidence-based medicine.

Sample Weekly Conference Schedule

TimeMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
AM

IBD Conference**

  

Grand Rounds

 Morning Conference  
NOON

GI Core Conference*

Departmental Multidisciplinary Conference

GI Core Conference*

GI Board Review

Departmental Fellows’ Conference
PM  

Fellows’ Clinic

Fellows’ Clinic

Fellows’ Clinic

Liver Transplant Meeting

  

*GI Conferences include the Career Development Conference, Core Curriculum Conference, Combined Pediatric GI and Surgical Conference, Combined GI and Critical Care Conference, Journal Club, Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Nutrition Conference, Pathology Conference, Quality Improvement Conference, Radiology Conference, and Research Conference.
**IBD research progress/challenging IBD patients/Journal review/Pediatric-adult IBD conference

Learning to Be a Teacher

Teaching is an important component of our training program, which aims to give our fellows the skills they need to become lifelong teachers to others. In addition to leading inpatient rounds under the guidance of a GI attending, our fellows take part in many ongoing teaching activities, and the pediatric house staff has repeatedly recognized our fellows for their outstanding devotion to patient care and medical education. Several of our faculty have won UT Southwestern teaching awards, including Dr. John Andersen and Dr. Norberto Rodríguez-Báez. Our fellows have also consistently won teaching awards from the medical students and residents, including Dr. Michael Russo, Dr. Eduardo Beltroy, Dr. Lillienne Chan, Dr. Sherief Mansi,and Dr. Nicholas Norris.

Fellows also have the opportunity to actively participate in education of patients and families through different programs, such as a Family Education Night for patients with inflammatory bowel disease, eosinophilic esophagitis, and Cystic Fibrosis Information Time (CFIT).

At national level, Dr. Norberto Rodríguez-Báez received the 2022 NASPGHAN Master Educator Award and he joined a group of distinguished individuals who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the field of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition through education scholarship on a national and international basis.

As second- and third-year fellows, they have the opportunity to attend Camp Oasis, a camp for pediatric patients with Crohn’s disease and colitis. At the camp, fellows serve as medical staff under the camp medical director. In addition to participating in the care of these patients, fellows also teach them to navigate the medical world as they grow into young adults. For fellows, it’s both a unique opportunity to interact with patients with a chronic illness and a learning opportunity that they’ll continue to cherish throughout their careers.

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