Fellowship | School of Medicine (2024)

During the three-year program,fellows take part in specialty clinics for liver disease and participate in pre- and post-transplant management and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and hepatitis C.

Supervised byboard-certifiedfaculty, this clinical work providesa concentrated experience and exposure todiversepatient populations.

During the course ofthe program, fellowsgainin-depth experience with basic endoscopic procedures, including treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding and routine outpatient screening procedures.

Additionally, those particularly interested in research may, upon approval, participate in a research track of fellowship, which provides18months of protected research time.

All fellows are provided a monetary publication benefit for published research. These dollars areplaced in an educational fund and can be used to pay for travel to conferences, training fees, academic journal subscriptionsandother educational-related purchases.

The program only accepts applications through ERAS. Applicantsmustcomplete their applications and start applying in July 2022. Interviews will be conducted in September and October.

Special Requirements

• Applicants must have three years of accredited postgraduate education in Internal Medicine.
• Although there is no set cut-off score, applicants should score at least in the mid-80 percentile on USMLE Step I and II to be competitive with our usual applicant pool.
• International medical graduates must be US citizens, be permanent residents, or be eligible for J-1 visas. Our institution does not sponsor H-1 visas.
• All applicants mustapply through ERAS.

Materials Required

• ERASapplication
• Curriculumvitae
• Personalstatement
• USMLE scores (and ECFMG when applicable)
• Internal Medicine Programdirector’sletter
• Three additional letters of reference
• Medical school transcript
• Dean’s letter (MSPE)
• Photograph

Questions?Pleasecontact Kathryn Josefson at kjosefson@salud.unm.edu.

National Conferences

Digestive Disease Week: All second- and third-year fellows are freed of clinical duties if they elect to attend DDW. Additionally, any fellow who submits an abstract is rewarded $250 for each abstract submitted and an additional $500 for each oral presentation accepted. Those who submit case report or scientific posters are rewarded $250 for each accepted poster.

Any moniesawarded are placed into an educational account that can be used for educational-related purchases, including travel to conferences.

UNM and VA Conferences

Our program offersseveralconferencesthat providedynamic educationalopportunities:

• Wednesday Gastroenterology Division Conference:This weekly event includes acore curriculum program presented by fellowsandguestlecturers. It includesclinical case conferences, a journal club, pathology conference, evidence-based board review, research presentations and QI discussions.
• Advanced Interventional Endoscopy Conference (Pancreaticobiliary Disease Conference):Each month, UNMH and VA-based interventional endoscopists, GI fellows and faculty, surgeons and interventional radiologists meet to discuss interesting and challenging cases.
• Hepatocellular Carcinoma Conference:This monthly conference focuses on patients with hepatoma. Faculty facilitators specialize in hepatology, interventional radiology, pathology, surgical oncology and oncology to discuss management of patients with hepatoma.
• GI/Radiology/Surgery Conference:At both the VA and UNMH, physicians from the Radiology and Surgery departments join GI faculty and fellows in discussing cases provided by the first-year fellow on the Inpatient rotation.

A fourth-year fellowship dedicated to Endoscopic Ultrasound and GI Oncology will begin July 1, 2022.Applicants are required to complete a formal three-year,ACGME-accredited gastroenterology fellowship.

The qualified fellow will have the opportunity to perform more than 500 EUS procedures with FNA & FNI, along with participation in advanced ERCP techniques, including intraductal ultrasound,cholangioscopy, laser lithotripsy, confocal endomicroscopy along with endoscopic mucosal resection and luminal stenting.

Besides clinical training, the chosen fellow is also expected to pursue scholastic activities, including participation in multidisciplinary conferences and research projects related to endoscopic techniques and outcomes. The fellowship includes a highly competitive salary.

To apply for the Advance Endoscopy fellowship, send yourCV along with three letters of reference toGParasher@salud.unm.edu.

Clinical Track (30 months clinical,sixmonths research)

First Year

• UNMH general GI inpatient consult service (threemonths)
• VA general GI inpatient consult service with morning outpatient endoscopy (two to threemonths)
• UNMH outpatient clinics (Liver, IBD, Hepatitis C, General GI) with morning outpatient endoscopy (two to threemonths)
• VA outpatient clinics (Liver, General GI, Hepatitis C) with morning outpatient endoscopy (two to threemonths)
• Research (onemonth)

Second Year

• UNMHinpatientconsult service with morning outpatient endoscopy (threemonths)
• VA inpatient consult service with morning outpatient endoscopy (threemonths)
• Research (twomonths)
• UNMH outpatient clinics (Liver, IBD, Hepatitis C, General GI) with morning outpatient endoscopy(threemonths)
• SRMC morning outpatient endoscopy with afternoon outpatient clinic (onemonth)

Third Year

• UNMHinpatientbiliary consult service with morning outpatient endoscopy (threemonths)
• VA inpatient biliary consult service with morning outpatient endoscopy (threemonths)
• Research (threemonths)
• SRMC morning outpatient endoscopy with afternoon outpatient clinic (threemonths)

Note:A continuity clinic experience is maintained during all rotations throughout fellowship

Fellows take call from home on average once every12days over the three years. Fellows’ call is supervised by a board-certified gastroenterologist, and attending physicians are present for all procedures.

Weekend Call:You will serve13 weekends duringthreeyears of fellowship.

Weeknight Home Call:Fellows are Q12 and split weeknights equally.

Weekend and weeknight call:Shared equally between the clinical track and research fellows during all three years of fellowship.

• First Year:Sevenweekends
• Second Year:Five weekends
• Third Year:Oneweekend

• Annual Leave (Vacation):house officers receive 21 days of annual leave, based on a five-day work week, consisting of 15 weekdays and six weekend days during the academic year.
• Educational Leave (Conferences): Educational activities including but not limited to presenting papers, taking state and national examinations, or attending educational seminars may be allowed with pay. All fellows receive five education days per academic year.
• Professional Leave: Professional leave is available to house officers for the purpose of interviewing for employment, residency or a fellowship. Five days of such leave are allowed during the course of a fellowship program.
• Sick Leave: All fellows receive 21 days of paid sick leave annually (which will be based on a five-day work week, consisting of 15 weekdays and weekend days).

PGY-7

Aamer Abbass, MD

PGY-6

Eric Gochanour, MD

Fray Arroyo Mercado, MD

Joao Serigado Soares De Costa, MD

Sakshi Sahni, MD

Zorisdadday Gonzalez, MD

PGY-5

Camellia Dalai, MD

Gabriella Rangel Paniz, MD

Prithvi Reddy Akepati, MD

Tomas Valerio, MD

Yiting Li, MD

PGY-4

Syed Mobashshir Alam, MD

Vaishnavi Boppana, MD

Sunny Desai, MD

David Jarava, MD

Roula Sasso, MD