Introduction:

The 12-month advanced endoscopy fellowship program has been designed to educate future academic leaders in the field of interventional endoscopy. The focus is on both procedural excellence and scholarship. Our program takes one fellow through the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) Match.

The flexible nature of the program allows for the trainee to achieve procedural competence and proficiency in EUS and ERCP and to gain insight into other advanced endoscopic procedure such as third space endoscopy, bariatric endoscopy and interventional IBD. Our graduates complete the training program with well over 1000 procedures per year, of which > 800 are EUS or ERCP. Fellows are expected to spend, on average, one day of the week performing general GI procedures such as screening colonoscopies in an ambulatory setting or supervising general GI fellows performing procedures for hospitalized patients on the consult service.

Advanced fellows will be included on the general GI on-call roster. Fellows are not expected to see patients in clinic or attend on general GI consult service (unless during holidays or for weekend coverage)

Applicants with US citizenship or permanent residency are encouraged to apply. Unfortunately, we do not accept applicants on J1 Visas.

Clinical Site:

Procedures are performed at the Center for Advanced Medicine at Barnes Jewish Hospital. The advanced endoscopy program houses three large fully equipped rooms with state of the art technology. Two of the rooms are fluoroscopy capable, while the third room is reserved for diagnostic EUS and third space endoscopy procedures. We are fortunate to work with highly experienced interventional endoscopy nurses and technicians. We are also fortunate to be involved in numerous clinical trials and to work with our partners in industry trialing novel devices and new technology.

Advanced Endoscopy fellows will also have an office alongside advanced endoscopy faculty at the South campus of the hospital. Fellows may use this office for educational and research activities and clinical work.

Education Activities and Research:

Attendance at the divisional educational conferences is mandatory as are periodic presentations along with the fellows in the general Gastroenterology fellowship. Fellows are expected to join in on pancreas and hepatobiliary weekly multidisciplinary conferences to learn about complex cases.

Advanced fellows are expected to engage in research. This can be in the format of video case reports, clinical review articles and multicenter studies and are expected to present the results of their research at national meetings and pursue publication in peer reviewed journals. Fellows will have time off to attend one annual conference/meeting of their choice.  

The advanced endoscopy fellow has the appointment of Instructor in Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. Fellows have to be eligible for a license to practice Medicine in the State of Missouri.

Advanced Endoscopy Volume (approximate numbers/year) at Center for Advanced Medicine Endoscopy Unit:

ProcedureAnnual Number of Cases
EUS1500
ERCP1500
Bariatric Endoscopy100
ESD60-80
POEM50-70
Interventional IBD100-150
Other> 1000

Current Faculty:

Vladimir Kushnir, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director of Advanced Endoscopy – Center for Advanced Medicine
Director of Bariatric Endoscopy

Dayna Early, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director of Endoscopy – Center for Advanced Medicine

Mohammad Kashif Ismail, MD
Professor of Medicine

Gabriel Lang, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Medical Director of Endoscopy – Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Program Director – Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship

Koushik Das, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director of Endoscopic Research
Associate Program Director – Gastroenterology Fellowship

Juan-Pablo Reyes Genere, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Interventional IBD Program

Ahmad Najdat Bazarbashi, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Third Space Endoscopy Program
Associate Program Director, Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship

Judy Trieu, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Arvind Rengarajan, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Current Fellows:

Neal Dharmadhikari, MD
Residency: Brown University-Rhode Island Hospital
Fellowship: Boston University Medical Center

Kaveh Zivari, MD
Residency: Maimonides Medical Center
Fellowship: Maimonides Medical Center

Apply

Applications are accepted through the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) fellowship matching program.

If you have any questions, please email Kaylha Mcgee at kmcgee@wustl.edu.

Prior Advanced Fellows and current positions:

We take pride in having trained many physicians who have become national and international leaders at academic medical centers. Below is a list of our alumni.

  • Eileen Janec, MD: New York University, New York, NY
  • Kevin J. Peifer, MD: University of Illinois, College of Medicine at Rockford, IL
  • John T Maple, II, DO: University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Raj Keswani, MD: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
  • Esmat Sadeddin, MD: University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO
  • Gregory Cote, MD: Division Chief, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
  • Tarek Ammar, MD: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
  • Sachin Wani, MD: University of Colorado, Denver, CO
  • Neil Gupta, MD: Loyola University, Chicago, IL
  • Vladimir Kushnir, MD: Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
  • Jeffrey Easler, MD: Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
  • Srinivas Gaddam, MD: Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
  • Larissa Fujii-Lau, MD: The Queen’s Medical Center, Honolulu, HI
  • Gabriel Lang, MD: Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
  • Zachary Smith, DO: Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
  • Natalie Cosgrove, MD: Advent Health, Orlando FL
  • Jason Bill, MD: University of Illinois-Peoria, Peoria, IL
  • Stephen Hasak, MD:  Albany Medical College, Albany, NY
  • Juan Reyes Genere MD: Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
  • Matthew Peller MD: Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI