Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program

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.

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
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.