The University of Vermont Gastroenterology fellowship program is designed to train outstanding future subspecialists in digestive diseases.  The goal is to equip these individuals with the cognitive and technical skills necessary to provide them with a variety of career options.  Graduates of our program are thriving in academic and practice-based settings throughout the United States. 

The program is three years in duration, and it has been specifically designed to have one fellow per year.  This has two major advantages: (a) in-depth exposure to clinical cases and procedures and (b) a high ratio of faculty to fellows.  Together, these generate an exceptional educational environment and results in a unique training experience.

The fellowship program is based at Fletcher Allen Health Care, the teaching hospital of the University of Vermont.  This comprises a 560 bed inpatient complex and a physically attached Ambulatory Care Center that houses the Endoscopy Center and the Digestive Disease Center.  These facilities are closely linked by a connector to the state-of-the-art Medical Library and the teaching and laboratory facilities of the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

The program is structured as follows: (a) six months of focused clinical work, (b) one year of protected time for research and scholarship, (c) six months of focused clinical work, (d) one year of advanced endoscopic procedures with time to complete research and scholarly projects.  During all years of the program, fellows participate weekly in a faculty supervised continuity clinic in general gastroenterology and a faculty supervised endoscopy session.  During the research and scholarship year and the third year, fellows also participate weekly in a faculty supervised continuity clinic in hepatology.  By the end of training, fellows will have easily achieved proficiency in all standard endoscopic procedures, esophageal motility testing, and percutanous liver biopsy.  Furthermore, they will have had significant exposure to advanced endoscopic procedures including therapeutic (in particular, pancreaticobiliary) endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound.

Clinical training is complemented by a series of dynamic conferences held each week.  These include faculty and fellow led journal clubs, quality assurance meetings, research conferences, gastrointestinal pathology conferences, noon seminars, and multidisciplinary conferences in esophageal disorders and gastrointestinal cancer.

The University of Vermont participates in the match through the ERAS application system.

For further information about the fellowship program, please contact:

Fellowship Training Director
Nicholas Ferrentino, M.D.
Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unit
Smith 251, University of Vermont
111 Colchester Avenue
Burlington VT 05401
802-847-2554
802-847-4928 (FAX)

Fellowship Coordinator
Brenda Mullen
Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unit
Smith 251, University of Vermont
111 Colchester Avenue
Burlington VT 05401
802-847-2554
802-847-4928 (FAX)