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Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Application Process
Fellowship Benefits & Other Information

Leadership

Robert Coben, MD
Director, Gastroenterology & Hepatology Fellowship Program
Stephanie Moleski, MD
Associate Program Director
Aaron Martin, MD
Assistant Program Director

Program Information

Colin Shebby
Fellowship/Education Coordinator

Gastroenterology & Hepatology Fellowship

Jefferson offers a highly competitive three-year comprehensive training in gastroenterology and hepatology. We receive hundreds of applications yearly to fill four trainee positions. The Jefferson Gastroenterology & Hepatology Fellowship affords ample inpatient and ambulatory experiences necessary to develop exceptional clinical and endoscopic skills. A research project supervised by a full-time faculty member is an integral component of the fellowship training.

Objectives

Your medical training and the years that you have dedicated to becoming a doctor have provided you with a substantial amount of scientific knowledge and skill. To gain expertise in your chosen field of gastroenterology, further dedication to training in clinical medicine and research is necessary. We offer fellowships in gastroenterology and hepatology emphasizing a distinctive blend of clinical, procedural, and research training. The major objectives of the program are:

  • To provide an optimal clinical setting in all areas within the field of gastroenterology 
  • To pursue research that links clinical findings with published scientific data and laboratory investigations
  • To maintain an active academic curriculum that includes bedside teaching, endoscopic instruction, and a comprehensive gastrointestinal conference schedule

We believe this hands-on combination, together with our respect for the individual's capacity and desire for knowledge, provides an exceptional postgraduate training program in gastroenterology and hepatology. We are proud of our low teacher-to-student ratio, which allows for personalized attention for those who want to learn in a progressive and intensive environment. Our staff of gastroenterologists, hepatologists, and advanced endoscopists holds the impressive credentials and experience required by a major medical center. They share the genuine desire to impart their knowledge and skills to others.

Facilities

Clinical training for the fellowship is primarily located at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in Center City Philadelphia. Jefferson is a 717-bed acute care facility that serves as a primary and tertiary care hospital for residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding Delaware Valley. The educational experience at Jefferson is enhanced by an active cadaveric and live-donor liver transplantation program.

The state-of-the-art, patient-focused Honickman Center opened in 2024 and is the home of our outpatient gastroenterology and hepatology clinic and endoscopy suite. Fellows will rotate here for all Center City ambulatory experiences and outpatient endoscopy experiences. 

Upper-year fellows also spend a few months at Jefferson Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia. Jefferson Methodist Hospital is a community hospital where Jefferson medical students, residents, and fellows also train - and at which fellows gain additional experience in primary consultative GI and further experience in endoscopy of both inpatients and outpatients.

Training 

The Fellowship Training Program in Gastroenterology is managed by Program Director, Robert Coben, MD and Associate Program Directors, Stephanie Moleski, MD, and Aaron Martin, MD. 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

Fellows cover the inpatient services on our gastroenterology and hepatology teams, which have a unique setup. Our gastroenterologists and transplant hepatologists lead primary GI and hepatology teams managed with our internal medicine residents. Fellows serve in a supervisory role on these primary services with the opportunity to serve as medical educators for the rotating residents and medical students. They are expected to coordinate and perform any needed endoscopic procedures on these patients on our services. 
 
In addition, fellows rotation through the three different consulting services on the inpatient side at Jefferson Health (listed below) as well as a general gastroenterology consult team at Methodist Hospital:
  • 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.

Lectures & Education

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 recieve 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 & Quality Improvement

Research and a committment 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. 

Fellows

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

Madison Force, MD
Undergraduate: Ursinus College
Medical College: Pennsylvania State University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Tina Boortalary, MD
Undergraduate: St. Bonaventure University
Medical College: George Washington University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Justin Robbins, MD
Undergraduate: Brandeis University
Medical College: Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Nicholas Noverati, MD
Undergraduate: DeSales University
Medical College: Pennsylvania State University
Internship/Residency: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

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