Why Choose Mount Sinai?
Our gastroenterology fellowship training program is designed to promote the health and quality of life of people with gastrointestinal disorders by providing the most innovative and highest quality care, while leading advances in the science of gastroenterology, and training the next generation of academic gastroenterologists. Whether you decide to focus on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Advanced Endoscopy, Hepatology, General Gastroenterology, in a career based on cutting-edge clinical care and/or academic pursuits, the Mount Sinai Health System provides the very best training ground for you.
From left: Drs. Gordon Oppenheimer, Burrill Crohn, Leon Ginzburg
The Enduring Legacy of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai has long stood at the forefront of understanding, treating, and training experts in gastrointestinal and liver diseases. Our commitment to research and exceptional patient care has shaped the landscape of these fields for over a century.
Early in the 20th century, Mount Sinai physicians were pioneering studies of gastric secretion and establishing dedicated outpatient clinics for GI disorders. This era saw the contributions of influential figures like Drs. A.A. Berg, Burrill Crohn, Eli Moschcowitz, and others who laid the groundwork for future advancements. Notably, Mount Sinai was the birthplace of the seminal 1932 paper by Drs. Crohn, Ginzburg, and Oppenheimer describing "regional ileitis," now known as Crohn's disease. Surgical innovations, such as Dr. Berg's refined subtotal gastrectomy and Dr. Winkelstein's drip treatment for peptic ulcer, also emerged from this period.
The mid-20th century witnessed rapid progress. Drs. Hans Popper and Fenton Schaffner significantly advanced our understanding of cirrhosis and hepatitis, while Drs. Bernard Wolf and Richard Marshak elucidated the radiological changes associated with various GI conditions. Surgical expertise in esophageal malignancy and inflammatory bowel disease was further refined by Dr. John Garlock. Dr. Henry Janowitz elucidated the natural history of inflammatory bowel diseases and also worked alongside Dr. David Dreiling in making crucial contributions to the understanding of peptic ulcer disease and pancreatic secretion. Dr. Popper went on to become the co-founder of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in 1950. In 1958, the National Institutes of Health recognized Mount Sinai's research prominence with a grant for gastroenterology fellowship training.
More recent decades have seen continued groundbreaking work. The critical role of immunosuppressive therapy in inflammatory bowel disease was defined by Drs. Daniel Present and Burton Korelitz, and Drs. David Sachar and Adrian Greenstein elucidated the risk of small and large intestinal cancer and catalogued the extraintestinal manifestations of IBD. Dr. Dick Warner's work illuminated the management of neuroendocrine tumors, while Dr. Jerry Waye revolutionized the field by pioneering GI endoscopy without fluoroscopy, making colonoscopy a widely accessible tool. Dr. Lloyd Mayer's contributions significantly advanced mucosal immunology. Today, Drs. Bruce Sands and Jean-Frederic Colombel are international leaders in clinical trials for IBD therapies, and Dr. Steven Itzkowitz has been instrumental in improving colonoscopy screening rates in underserved populations. Reflecting this rich history, six Mount Sinai professionals were recognized among the top 50 most influential gastroenterology figures of the 20th century.
Parallel to these advancements in general gastroenterology, Mount Sinai has established itself as a world leader in liver transplantation. The Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute (RMTI) performed the first liver transplant in New York State in 1988 and has since achieved numerous milestones, including the first multi-visceral transplant in the state (1998), as well as the first domino liver transplant in New York State (2001). RMTI is a leading center for living donation, marked by the establishment of the Zweig Family Center for Living Donation in 2010 after their 250th living donor transplant. Demonstrating continued innovation, RMTI initiated early transplantation for alcoholic hepatitis patients in 2015 and performed the first combined heart-liver transplant at Mount Sinai in 2022. Having performed over 5,500 liver, kidney, pancreas, and intestinal transplants, RMTI is one of the largest and most comprehensive transplantation centers globally. Beyond transplantation, Mount Sinai offers state-of-the-art surgical treatments for liver and bile duct cancer, boasts a robust HCC program, and has expertise in bloodless transplantation and the multidisciplinary management of portomesenteric thromboses.
Today, the Division of Gastroenterology, the Division of Liver Medicine, and the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai continue this legacy of excellence. The GI Division is consistently ranked among the top programs nationwide for teaching and patient care by U.S. News & World Report, solidifying Mount Sinai as a premier destination for both training and treatment in gastroenterology and hepatology.
Dr. Jerome Waye
Location
Mount Sinai is unique because it is located at the crossroads of one of the richest areas in the United States and one of the poorest. This nexus allows for an amazingly diverse patient population that is both highly complex and highly in need of care. And this offers you a unique opportunity for your training—one that most physicians don't get in their entire careers.
And of course, as a fellow at Mount Sinai, you will live in New York City—one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Physically, our main campus is right next to Central Park, which provides a quick escape into natural beauty for runs, walks, bike rides or just relaxation. You can participate in all the cultural and recreational activities that New York City offers: theater, museums, music, restaurants, and sporting events.
Our fellows are provided the opportunity to get housing near the main campus on the Upper East Side through the Mount Sinai Real Estate Services Department. Our fellows are considered Category 1 trainees, meaning they are eligible to apply for and are guaranteed housing near Mount Sinai Hospital if they choose to do so. Not everyone wants to live around their workplace; our training schedule allows for our fellows to commute and reside anywhere in the New York City area.
Highlights of Our Training Program
Clinical
- Opportunity to care for patients with a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from routine gastrointestinal diseases to complex quaternary referrals from around the region and the world.
- Novel ambulatory training curriculum, including dedicated general GI, IBD and hepatology continuity clinics. Third year ambulatory experience prepares trainees for independent practice.
- Ability to work faculty leaders across all major disciplines in clinical GI, including IBD, Pancreaticobiliary Diseases & Advanced Endoscopy, Hepatology, Nutrition, GI Cancers, Artificial Intelligence, as well as experts in GI Motility at our affiliate campuses across the Health System.
- Exceptional training in endoscopy from skilled preceptors
Research
- With more than 30 full-time faculty and more than $7 million in annual research funding from the NIH, CCFA, other foundation grants and sponsored clinical trials. Our division is one of the best places to conduct gastroenterology research.
- 18 months of dedicated scholarly time, with an individualized development plan crafted for each fellow by mentors and program leadership. Mentorship teams include faculty within the Division, as well as faculty throughout the entire Mount Sinai Health System, and across the region/country!
- Tremendous breadth of academic expertise, including inflammatory bowel diseases, MASLD, gastrointestinal cancers, artificial intelligence, viral hepatitis, liver transplantation, and medical education
- A majority of graduates over the past 10 years now hold full-time academic faculty appointments.
- Several graduates have active NIH and other Career Development Awards (through national societies, pharmaceuticals and philanthropy)and several others converted from K to independent R01 funding in the past five years.
- Many of our faculty are on editorial boards of leading medical journals
- Opportunities for participation in Mount Sinai’s Clinical and Translational Science Award program
- Opportunities for participation in clinical trials.
- Funding support for additional training, including specialized biostatistics courses as well as Masters degrees.
- Opportunity for additional research training through a T32 program in Investigative Gastroenterology
Conferences & Environment
- Careful faculty mentoring, with ability to customize the scholarly 18 month block to your individual interests, strengths and goals.
- Weekly fellows’ Case Conference, Core Curriculum, Guidelines conference, Journal Club, and Research conferences.
- GI Grand Rounds: State of Art presentations from local, regional and international experts. Includes Quality Improvement/Patient Safety conference.
- Endoscopy conference run by fellows, with faculty contributions.
- Curated pre-clinic curriculum and conferences
- Academic Half-Days- Quarterly 4 hour sessions that support in-depth exploration of a specific topic in GI/Hepatology. They include didactics from topic experts, pathology review from Pathology faculty, Journal Club, Clinical Guidelines and/or Case Conferences. Senior faculty members serve as facilitators to ensure broad based learning on these fundamental topics.
- Wellness Program with mandatory quarterly Wellness Day for each fellow.
- Opportunities to learn from, and participate in, innovative medical education projects and clinical trials.
Our Faculty
As a fellow in the Gastroenterology Division, you will work with an amazing group of physicians. We have one of the largest divisions nationwide and we have experts in a wide range of specialties. Regardless of what specific aspect of gastroenterology you are interested in pursuing, we have a faculty member who can mentor and work with you.
Advanced Fellowships
Our fellowship program provides the very best training for your career in gastroenterology. Should you be interested in pursuing further specialization, we also offer you four advanced fellowships.
Fellows completing the standard three-year GI Fellowship graduate with considerable expertise in inflammatory bowel disease. For fellows trained at programs with less exposure to IBD, we offer a year of intensive training in IBD under the tutelage of world class IBD faculty experts. The Advanced IBD Fellow will spend most of their time conducting original research in preparation for a career as an independent investigator in the field.
Given the complexities and the rapid advances in endoscopic technology, a dedicated year of training in therapeutic endoscopy is available to the interested fellow. Fellows are closely supervised in all of the latest advanced endoscopy techniques, while they conduct clinical research in an area of their interest.
Fellows in the standard three-year GI Fellowship program can avail themselves of training in transplant hepatology during their third year of training. Alternatively, and for fellows from outside programs, a dedicated fourth year of training as a Liver Transplant Fellow is available. Fellows are exposed to an enormous array of very complex liver diseases.
T32 Research Fellowship: Training in Investigative Gastroenterology
This NIH funded program, under the guidance of Dr. Saurabh Mehandru and Dr. Scott Friedman, supports fellows with a strong interest in an academic research career. The program provides 2 years of funding along with dedicated mentorship and a core research curriculum and supports a broad range of research endeavors including clinical, translational and basic science research. Fellows can apply into the program during their 2nd year of fellowship.
The Strength of Our System
As a GI fellow of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, you have the opportunity to leverage the expertise and resources of the largest health care provider in the New York City area. As part of the Mount Sinai Health System, our fellows have access to world-class educational, research and clinical resources at our seven hospitals across the system.
These hospitals vary from our main campus institution, The Mount Sinai Hospital, where the majority of your educational and research work is done. Fellows have the opportunity to do electives at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, which serve a diverse group of patients on the west side of Manhattan. Additionally, we have a large clinical and research presence at the James J. Peters Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Applicants may also want to apply to the GI Fellowship program based at Mount Sinai Morningside/West.
Contact Us
Nicolia Grierson Fellowship Coordinator Division of Gastroenterology nicolia.grierson@mountsinai.org
1 Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1069 New York, NY 10029 (212) 241-8788