Gastroenterology Los Angeles Medical Center

Letter from the Program Director

We are delighted you have taken the opportunity to visit our website, and I hope that you find the information here helpful as you become more acquainted with our training program here at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center.

We would also like to use this opportunity to share the philosophy and vision of our program. We believe it is essential to provide our fellows with the skills necessary to thrive and lead in their future careers, regardless of the practice setting.

Therefore, excellence in clinical training is only the first step. We believe that in addition, emphasis on a patient-centered approach to medicine and continuous quality improvement are essential components to a fulfilling, successful career.

We also place a high value on innovation. This is evident in our history as Kaiser Permanente demonstrated the value of an alternative approach to healthcare delivery in the United States. This emphasis on innovation applies to our approach to fellowship training as well. We have adopted a “personalized” approach to training such that the elective and research experiences are tailored to fit the individual interests of each fellow. As a small program operating in the context of a large, regional network, we have the flexibility to support our fellows’ interests.

Once again, we are grateful that you have taken the time to visit us online and I encourage you to contact us for any further information.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Dong MD
Program Director

About the Program

The Fellowship Training Program in Gastroenterology at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center (LAMC) has been training gastroenterologists for more than 40 years. Many of our fellows have gone on to distinguished careers in the field and include respected contributors to gastroenterological research and education in the United States.

The program is comprised of twelve gastroenterologists and six hepatologists, who are actively involved in teaching, patient care, research, and staff the Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology Division of the Department of Internal Medicine.

The Gastroenterology Training Program is a three-year program. We accept two first-year fellows annually. The program is a well-rounded, clinically oriented program covering all aspects of gastroenterology, including gastrointestinal pathophysiology, imaging, diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy, wireless capsule endoscopy, pancreaticobiliary disorders, diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), gastrointestinal motility, hepatology, and liver transplant evaluation and post-transplant care and follow-up.

Program Highlights:

• Strong clinical and didactic focus
• Personalized curriculum tailored to the fellow’s interests and career goals
• Extensive resources for fellow-led clinical research and quality improvement
• Large general and sub-specialty referral base from the entire Southern California region
• Affiliations with University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, City of Hope
• Weekly basic science conference and didactic lectures at University of California, Los Angeles
• Multi-disciplinary case conferences
• Weekly Tumor Board conference

A Personalized Approach to Gastroenterology Training:

A total of 15 months of electives and/or research time is available to fellows during the course of their 3-year fellowship. A strong emphasis is placed on developing a tailored curriculum for each fellow to maximize both the breadth and depth of their training experience. Specifically, unique elective experiences and protected research time are incorporated into each fellow’s schedule to enable them to gain additional training in an area of interest that may include either sub-specialty focus such as motility, inflammatory bowel disease, transplant hepatology, therapeutic endoscopy or generally applicable skills e.g. quality/performance improvement. The culmination of this 15-month experience is completion of either a clinical research study suitable for publication or quality improvement project suitable for implementation.