Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Throughout the three years of fellowship, fellows rotate through our three inpatient services (general gastroenterology, advanced endoscopy/pancreaticobiliary, and transplant hepatology) as well as a variety of electives. Trainees also maintain longitudinal outpatient gastroenterology and hepatology clinics that are always supervised by full-time faculty. Trainees have ample opportunity to acquire all the necessary diagnostic and therapeutic skills

• First year: clinical training is divided between inpatient gastroenterology consultation services, ambulatory experiences in both endoscopy and the clinic, and two months of dedicated research
• Second year: rotations through the inpatient gastroenterology consultative services,  ambulatory endoscopic and clinical experiences (including a clinic for liver transplantation patients), and three months devoted to research. 
• Third-year: research and scholarly activities will comprise the majority of the third year.  Fellows can gain additional training in advanced interventional endoscopy, hepatology, motility, inflammatory bowel disease, and basic science research. 
• Vacation and time off: each trainee is allotted four weeks paid vacation per year. Jefferson supports all trainees with 6 weeks of paid parental leave

• General gastroenterology
• Hepatology and transplant hepatology
• Advanced endoscopy and pancreaticobiliary

Additional rotations during fellowship include the following:

• Motility: a full month dedicated to working with the Director of Gastrointestinal Motility, Dr. Christopher Adkins in the clinic and in the endoscopy suite where additional skills are gained in EndoFLIP and Bravo placement and interpretation. We have an on-site motility lab with manometry, anorectal manometry, breath testing, and pH impedance.
• IBD: a full month dedicated to learning evaluation and management of IBD patients in the offfice and in the endoscopy suite. Fellows work directly with our dedicated IBD faculty including the Program Director of the IBD fellowship Dr. Raina Shivashankar. We also have dedicated IBD lectures and research lectures.
• Hepatology: outside of the in-depth inpatient experience on our primary and consult transplant hepatology teams, our fellows rotate through a month of outpatient hepatology. At these visits they see patients here for our Fatty Liver Center and the full range out patient hepatology complaints. Fellows also spend time in our outpatient transplant hepatology clinic.
• Advanced endoscopy/pancreaticobiliary: a full month of time spent split between pancreaticobiliary office visits and outpatient procedures being exposed to the clinical management of both routine and complex pancreaticobiliary complaints. Fellows can also work with our Third Space Endoscopy team who sees patients pre- and post- POEM and G-POEM. 

Fellows are formally evaluated by faculty throughout their training and will receive feedback on:

• Clinical judgment
• Medical knowledge
• History taking
• Physical examination
• Procedure skills
• Humanistic qualities
• Professional attitudes and behavior
• Medical care
• Self-motivated learning
• Overall clinical competency

These written evaluations are discussed with the trainees on a regular basis. Fellows also evaluate faculty members on their availability, organization, teaching skills, fund of knowledge, and interpersonal relationships. They also have the opportunity to evaluate the training program's overall quality, diversity of patient population, quality of teaching programs, structure and/or organization of the program, opportunity for and the quality of research experience and preparation for their future career.

Fellows organize and participate actively in our robust didactic curriculum which includes noon lectures most days of the week, as well as Wednesday afternoon divsion-wide conferences. Lectures are always protected educational time each day and include the following:

• Journal Club
• Literature Review
• Pathophysiology Conference
• Clinical Case Conference
• GI Grand Rounds
• GI Research Conference
• Quality Improvement Conference
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease Conference
• GI pathology conference
• Gastrointestinal endoscopy conference
• Multidisciplinary conference

Trainees at Jefferson are intimately involved in educating Jefferson medical students, residents, and visitors from other institutions. While on elective or research months, fellows are expected to take part in developing training level-appropriate educational lectures for rotating learners and will receive feedback on their teaching skills. 

If they choose, fellows are also able to pursue additional opportunities in medical education including giving resident lectures and small group sessions, or medical-education focused research projects.  

Research and a commitment to quality improvement and patient safety are cornerstones of the educational experience of our fellowship program. All fellows are expected to take an active role in these experiences and our faculty assist them through every step of the process. 

During the first year of fellowship, trainees are encouraged to meet with faculty members in order to discuss participation in research. First-year fellows are expected to have their research projects approved by the faculty by October 1 of their first year. It is expected that fellows will engage in scholarly writing and plan and execute basic or clinical research. This is the primary focus of research rotations but, by necessity, these efforts continue during other rotations. Fellows are expected to submit the results of their research efforts for presentation at local and national meetings and, if suitable, for publication.

We have a dedicated research faculty led by Dr. Halegoua-DeMarzio who meet with fellows at set intervals throughout the year to ensure progress and to help with issues that arise. This is in conjunction with our research skills lecture series that includes in person presentations by statisticians, SKMC clinical research faculty, and others. Fellows research experience each year culminates in a divisional Fellows Research Symposium attended by all faculty where fellows present a short overview of their research and celebrate with an annual awards ceremony and reception.

The division also sponsors fellows to attend at least one national meeting per year.

All trainees will be involved in a quality improvement project each year of their fellowship. This is coordinated by our dedicated quality improvement faculty led by Dr. Rich Denicola and Dr. Peter Johnson, who help to lead didactic sessions on the quality improvement process and coordinate meetings to help fellows progress and troubleshoot their chosen projects. 

Prior divisional QI projects have been presented by our fellows at local and national conferences - including two oral presentations at DDW 2025 in San Diego, CA. 

Our QI curriculum includes regular Morbidity and Mortality conferences presented in both small groups and in larger division settings to review cases and discuss goals for improvement. 

Eric Barash, MD
Undergraduate: Wake Forest University
Medical College: Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Internship/Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital

Pankhuri Jha, MD
Undergraduate: Johns Hopkins University
Medical College: Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Internship/Residency: Case Western Reserve University

Akash Patel, DO
Undergraduate: Rutgers University
Medical College: Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Benjamin Young, MD
Undergraduate: College of William & Mary
Medical College: Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Anna Chen, MD
Undergraduate: Rutgers University
Medical College: Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Vincent Dioguardi, MD
Undergraduate: Haverford College
Medical College: Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Leanna Rucker, MD
Undergraduate: Xavier University, New Orleans
Medical College: Georgetown University School of Medicine
Internship/Residency: MedStar Georgetown University Hospital

Maria Winte, MD
Undergraduate: University of Miami
Medical College: Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital