Advanced Hepatology Fellowship

Overview

The goal of the program is for the trainee to be qualified to sit for the Certificate of Added Qualification for Transplant Hepatology sanctioned by the ABIM. In so doing, the trainee will satisfy requirements for United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) certification for Transplant Hepatology.

• Training and experience in management of end stage liver disease
• Training in the selection of appropriate transplant recipients and donors (cadaveric and living), including ethical issues
• Understanding of transplant surgical procedures
• Understanding of immediate and long-term care of the transplant recipient
• Management of immunosuppressive agents, including pharmacokinetics and drug-drug interactions
• Evaluation of allograft dysfunction
• Experience in the management of at least 20 allograft recipients
• Evaluation and pre- and postoperative management of living donors

Requirements

This is an advanced fellowship open only to those doctors who have already completed their three year specialized Gastroenterology fellowship at an accredited institution.

Clinical Experience

During the training period, comprehensive teaching of the following subjects is essential:

• Experience in the management of patients at high listing status in the intensive care setting, including acute liver failure, refractory ascites and hepatic hydrothorax, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatopulmonary syndrome, portopulmonary hypertension, and refractory portal hypertensive bleeding.
• Detailed familiarity with transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts.
• Diagnosis and management of hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma, including the role of radiofrequency ablation, chemoembolization, chemotherapy, resection, and liver transplantation
• Management of chronic viral hepatitis in the pretransplant and posttransplant settings
• Management of acute liver failure, including principles of intracranial pressure monitoring
• Psychosocial evaluation of all transplant candidates, in particular those with a history of substance abuse.
• Working knowledge of transplant immunology, including histocompatibility and tissue typing, and infectious and malignant complications of immunosuppression
• Nutritional support of patients with chronic liver disease
• Use of interventional radiology in the diagnosis and management of portal hypertension, as well as biliary and vascular complications
• Ethical considerations relating to liver transplant donors, non-heart beating donors, criteria for brain death.
• Liver pathology, including histological interpretation and specific pathological techniques, and including interpretation of allograft histology in patients undergoing liver transplantation
• An understanding of the principles of experimental design, clinical biostatistics, and epidemiology sufficient to critically interpret the medical literature
• Pediatric and congenital hepatobiliary disorders

Components of Training in Transplant Hepatology:

9 months on inpatient liver service in 1st year. Rotation includes several components:

• Inpatient consultations
• Inpatient care of patients awaiting liver transplantation who are hospitalized with complications of liver disease
• Participation in postoperative care of patients undergoing liver transplantation at Mass General (expect to be involved in care of 20+ patients who have undergone liver transplantation)
• Performance of endoscopy and liver biopsy on inpatients with liver disease

Longitudinal:

• Hepatology Clinic weekly = day outpatient experience for advanced fellow paired with Hepatologists specializing in chronic viral disease, cholestatic and autoimmune liver disease (Drs. Ray Chung, Dan Pratt, Michael Thiim, Karin Andersson)
• Post-liver transplant clinic weekly = day outpatient experience for advanced fellow paired with Dr. James Markann (Surgical Director, Liver Transplant) and Dr. Nahel Elias
• Outpatient endoscopy
• Outpatient liver biopsy
• LBP Rounds (weekly)
• Ellison Rounds (weekly)
• Core curriculum conference (biweekly)
• Didactic lectures (biweekly)
• Liver Pathology Rounds (weekly)
• Biweekly Liver Case Conference- multidisciplinary conference (Radiology, GI, Path)
• Clinical Journal Club (weekly)
• Research Journal Club (weekly)
• Informal contact with hepatology faculty (Drs. Ray Chung, Dan Pratt, Michael Thiim, Karin Andersson)
• Independent research project (6 months dedicated but continuous for 12 months)
• Teaching fellow will participate in regular mini-talks during the inpatient service months for the team (attending, 1st year fellow, residents, students); will also regularly host case conference in rotation with the 4 Hepatology attendings (every 10th week).

How to Apply

On this page you can download application forms for fellowships beginning in The deadline for the fellowship application is August 1st, 2016. Please contact either Dr. Raymond Chung, Director of Hepatology, for further information at rtchung@partners.org or Amy Nash at (617) 724-7450 or alnash@partners.org.

Past Fellows

Valerie Ming Lin, MD
Medical School: Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, Durban, South Africa
Residency: Pennsylvania Hospital, Internal Medicine
Fellowship: University of Cincinnati, Gastroenterology
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Board Certified: Yes

Andrew deLemos, MD
Medical School: University of Pennsylvania
Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital, Internal Medicine
GI Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital, Gastroenterology
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Current Position: Transplant Hepatologist, Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC

Savio John, MBBS
Medical School: St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India
Residency: SUNY – Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, Internal Medicine
Fellowship: SUNY – Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, Gastroenterology
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital,
Current Position: GI Staff at SUNY Upstate Medical Center

Kathleen Corey, MD, MPH
Medical School: Duke University School of Medicine
Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital, Internal Medicine
Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital, Gastroenterology
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital

Sameer Mazaar, MD
Medical School: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago IL
Residency: Northwestern University McGaw Medical School, Internal Medicine
Fellowship: University of California, San Diego Medical Center, La Jolla, California, Gastroenterology
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Current Position: Dreyer Medical Center, Michigan

Karin Andersson, MD
Medical School: Yale University School of Medicine,
Residency: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Internal Medicine,
Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital, Gastroenterology
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Current Position: Hepatologist/GI Massachusetts General Hospital

Anna Rutherford, MD, MPH
Medical School: Harvard Medical School, 2000
Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital, Internal Medicine
Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital, Gastroenterology
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Current Position: Hepatologist/GI Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Jacqueline O’Leary, MD, MPH
Medical School: University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Residency: University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Fellowship: Gastroenterology: Massachusetts General Hospital
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital

Julie Servoss, MD
Medical School: Harvard Medical School
Internship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital
Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Transplant Hepatology Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital