The Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Pennsylvania is a premier program that is committed to excellence in patient care, education, and research. The training program, originally founded in 1929 by T. Grier Miller, MD, has played a major role in training academic gastroenterologists and hepatologists throughout the world.

The University of Pennsylvania offers an ACGME certified training program in Transplant Hepatology. The program consists of a broad exposure to ambulatory and inpatient care of the pre- and post- liver patients. The Liver Transplant program at Penn performs ~140 liver transplants per year, including living donor transplants, and complex dual organ transplants. Trainees develop the expertise in caring for patients with advanced liver disease from referral to transplant evaluation to waitlist management, to early and long-term post-transplant care.

In addition to a strong clinical program in transplant hepatology, there are outstanding clinical research programs in epidemiology, liver oncology, viral hepatitis, chronic and advanced liver disease, and liver transplantation. The division has modern research facilities for state-of-the-art studies in molecular and cell biology, genetics, immunology, physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry for those who may have an interest in translational or basic science research opportunities.>

The fundamental goal of the transplant hepatology fellowship program is to train fellows for careers as academic transplant hepatologists, with expertise in general hepatology, advanced liver disease and transplantation, who will advance the fields of hepatology and transplant medicine.

Program Leadership

Christine Chan, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Director, Transplant Hepatology Fellowship Program

K. Rajender Reddy, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Hepatology
Medical Director, Liver Transplantation

Jorge A. Marrero, MD
Professor of Medicine
Chief, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Any questions in regards to the fellowship program or application can be addressed to:
Christine.Chan@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Training Program

Fellowship applicants must have completed a three-year gastroenterology fellowship at the time of matriculation into the transplant hepatology program. The one year of clinical training encompasses management of general hepatology, end stage liver disease management, liver oncology in addition to extensive training in pre and post-transplant disease management. Dedicated subspecialty clinics within hepatology in addition to continuity clinics provide exposure that exceeds ACGME and UNOS requirements for training to qualify for the Hepatology CAQ boards. In addition, inpatient hepatology rotations are designed to allow for significant autonomy in decision making and leading inpatient rounds with appropriate faculty guidance to prepare trainees to be competent, confident, and independent clinicians. Exposure to a sizable transplant volume per year allows for the opportunity to follow a large number of patients throughout the course of transplant evaluation, transplant and post-transplant care.

The University of Pennsylvania participates is several NIH and non-NIH funded clinical trials and thus provides an ample opportunity for the fellow to participate in clinical trial design and implementation. The program is involved in several NIH consortia that include the Acute Liver failure Study Group (ALFSG), Drug Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN), and Adult to Adult Live donor Liver Transplantation Network (A2ALL).

Faculty

The training program has several very well trained and accomplished general and transplant hepatologists. The Director of Hepatology is Dr. David Kaplan and the Medical Director of Liver transplant is Dr. Maarouf Hoteit.
Our faculty include many nationally and internationally recognized hepatologists and basic science investigators including Drs. Jorge Marrero, K. Rajender (Raj) Reddy, Kyong-Mi Chang, Steven Solga, Marina Serper, Stacey Prenner, Christine Chan, Nadim Mahmud, Kenneth Rothstein, Ethan Weinberg, John Nahas, Kelly Weinfurtner, Marina Serper, and Rebecca Wells.

The Transplant surgery team includes: Drs. Abraham Shaked, Kim Olthoff, Peter Abt, Matt Levine, and Samir Abu-Gazala.

There is a unique and vital synergy in the day to day clinical care between the Surgery and Medicine teams. The transplant hepatology fellow will be integrated into this team and help provide care for patients pre and post liver transplant.

In addition, the program has well qualified and trained Nurse Practitioners/Physician Assistants.

Core Curriculum

Fellowship training will occur at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.

Inpatient training will include 12 weeks on the hepatology service, six weeks on the transplant surgery service and up to two weeks of electives (one week of Infectious Diseases and one week of Pediatrics).

Responsibilities on the hepatology service include evaluation and management of a spectrum of acute and chronic liver diseases. The fellow will be responsible for leading daily rounds with the attending and educating medical students, residents and gastroenterology fellows.

The transplant surgery service will provide opportunities to participate in management of post-op patients and observe transplants and harvests.

In addition to outpatient hepatology continuity clinic which will occur throughout the year, the fellow will be expected to participate in the following outpatient clinics when not on inpatient service: Transplant Evaluation Clinic on Mondays, Post-transplant Clinic on Tuesdays, Viral Hepatitis Center Clinic on Thursdays and Liver Tumor clinic on Fridays. In addition the fellow will participate in outpatient endoscopy time with hepatology faculty as well as management of immunosuppression for outpatients. The clinical training in the first year is supplemented by interrelated didactic conferences:

Hepatobiliary tumor conference
Liver Transplant Selection Meeting
GI/Hepatology Pathology Conference
GI/Hepatology Clinical Journal Club
GI/Hepatology Clinical Case Conference
GI/Hepatology Grand Rounds
Viral Hepatitis Grand Rounds
Hepatology Transplant Conference

To Apply:

INTERVIEWS FOR THE 2022-2023 POSITION WILL BE CONDUCTED ON A ROLLING BASIS DURING DECEMBER 2021 AND JANUARY, 2022.

Please have the following items sent to abbi.goldman@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

CV
Personal Statement
Three Letters of recommendation
USMLE Scores