Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program

Leadership

Dr. Kimberly Viskocil is the Program Director for the Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program at the University of Minnesota. Prior to taking on this role, Dr. Viskocil previously served as the Gastroenterology Fellowship Associate Program Director as well as Director of the GI pathophysiology course for the medical school. Her areas of clinical interest include the management of disorders of the gut-brain interaction.

Overview

Clinical
GI fellows receive a minimum of 18 months of clinical training and six months of research training during the three year program. For most GI fellows, the program consists of two clinical years (first and third) and one research year (second year).

Clinical training consists of two-month rotations at each of the five teaching hospitals. Fellows coordinate the GI consult service (in conjunction with an attending staff gastroenterologist, advanced practice providers, rotating internal medicine residents, and medical students) and perform endoscopic procedures. New consultations, follow-up hospital encounters, and participation in endoscopic procedure clinics are supervised by staff gastroenterologists. Call is taken at home. Fellows are fully supervised by staff gastroenterologists during on-call time.

Continuity Clinic
Each fellow is assigned a Continuity Clinic at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center and at one of the other teaching hospitals. These clinics are maintained throughout the entire three years in the program. Fellows continue to participate in these supervised clinics during their research training.

Research
Research training begins during the first year with selection of a faculty mentor and development of a focused research project. Research opportunities range from basic science projects to clinical research and to outcomes/epidemiologic studies. Mentors are usually GI faculty members, but University faculty outside of the GI section are also available for specific projects. During the research period, fellows continue to take night call, including emergency endoscopies.

Teaching Conferences
Teaching conferences include a weekly three-hour citywide GI conference, consisting of journal club discussions, fellow case presentations, didactic lectures, radiology, basic science and research presentations, and guest lecturers. Additional conferences on GI histopathology are held once each month at Regions Hospital. Each teaching hospital also has its own conference schedules, including internal medicine grand rounds, core curriculum lectures, and M&M conferences (which include GI topics), as well as GI section pathology and surgical conferences, journal review, etc.

Training Facilities
The training rotations are completed at University of Minnesota- Fairview, Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Hennepin County Medical Center, Regions Hospital, and Abbott Northwestern Hospital. There are over 50 teaching faculty among the five hospitals.

Applications and Interviews

Applications
Applications for the Gastroenterology Fellowship are accepted through ERAS.

Interviews
Interviews are generally conducted between September and October each year. No interview will be granted without a completed application.

 

Training Sites

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Minneapolis VA Health Care System

Minneapolis VA Health Care System

The Minneapolis VA Medical Center is one of the few high-complexity VAs in the country and the flagship hospital for specialty care in the Midwest region serving veterans from Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Fellows rotate on the VA inpatient consult service, participate in both inpatient and outpatient endoscopy (including opportunities for advanced procedures and capsule endoscopy), and maintain their own continuity clinic every other week. Our faculty and staff enjoy working with fellows and consider fellow education a key part of the VA's mission

Hennepin Healthcare

Hennepin Healthcare 

Hennepin Healthcare is a nationally-recognized Adult and Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center located in downtown Minneapolis. This site is a safety net hospital serving all of Minneapolis including our underserved populations. While at HCMC fellows help oversee the inpatient consult team (which consists of a PA, medicine residents, and medical students) and are involved in inpatient and outpatient procedures.

Regions Hospital

Regions Hospital

Regions Hospital is located in St Paul, Minnesota and part of the Health Partners medical system. It is an ACS-verified Level 1 adult and pediatric trauma where patients benefit from an expert team of medical professionals and top-level specialty care. Medical education is an important focus for Regions Hospital which has several residency and fellowship programs and is a training site for the University of Minnesota Medical School. Regions has been recognized as one of Healthgrades® America's 50 Best Hospitals™ in 2018. Fellows rotate through the inpatient GI consult service each year seeing a variety of both rare and common GI illnesses.

Abbott - Northwestern Hospital/Minnesota Gastroenterology

Abbott - Northwestern Hospital/Minnesota Gastroenterology

Minnesota Gastroenterology is Twin Cities-based practice of over 70 physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of adults and children with GI and liver disorders. Minnesota Gastroenterology has several outpatient subspecialty centers with expertise in inflammatory bowel disease, esophageal disorders, and chronic liver disease. Our staffs cover Abbott Northwestern Hospital, a 627-bed teaching hospital based in Minneapolis. Fellows rotate with Minnesota Gastroenterology at least once during their fellowship spending several weeks on a tailored outpatient subspecialty clinic experience as well as some time on GI consults at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital.

Program Director

Kimberly Viskocil, MD
Assistant Professor

Associate Program Directors

Dr. Mohammad Bilal

Dr. Jennifer Haglund

Fellowship Coordinator

Contact Us
Anna Hennessey
gimeded@umn.edu
612-625-8999