One GI Fellow's Perspective
Third Year Fellow Scott Pentiuk, MD
Now that I have entered my third year of training, I can look back and see just how lucky I am to be a gastroenterology fellow at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
First of all, I get to work with an outstanding group of faculty. There are so many people to learn from with areas of expertise ranging from inflammatory bowel disease, hepatology, nutrition, motility, feeding disorders, short bowel syndrome to transplantation (both liver and small bowel) and eosinophilic disease. Everyone is willing to share his or her knowledge to help the patient.
In addition, and I can't emphasize this enough, the faculty and staff really care about the fellows and each other. From the moment I started my fellowship, I have always felt that everyone was interested in my well-being and how to train me to become the best gastroenterologist I could be. I feel that my opinion matters not only in patient care but also in how we can make the fellowship program even better. To become a fellow at Cincinnati Children's means to become part of an extended family.
I have developed strong clinical tools as a result of my training. We have a diverse patient base with patients coming to our hospital from all over the country. First year fellows rotate through both our general gastroenterology and hepatology / transplant inpatient services as well as a separate consult service. All fellows have weekly half-day general gastroenterology clinics. In order to provide more patient continuity, second- and third year fellows attend outpatient satellite clinics on a bi-monthly basis where we follow our own panel of patients. There are also additional opportunities to attend specialty clinics in feeding disorders, short bowel syndrome and eosinophilic disorders, to name a few. Furthermore, there are plenty of procedures such as upper and lower endoscopies, liver biopsies, impedance probe testing and manometry.
We also have a broad array of research topics in both basic and clinical research. We have terrific research mentors whether you want to study the pathophysiology on inflammatory bowel disease, the immunology behind biliary atresia, or develop a clinical trial involving treatments for eosinophilic esophagitis. There is also the ability to complete a master's degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, or even medical education.
As fellows' education is a priority, we have weekly conferences throughout the year. In response to suggestions made by the fellows (I told you they listen), a series of weekly, interactive lectures were developed to review and discuss core clinical topics, which have been a great success. In order to be prepared for our future role as educators, upper-level fellows participate in monthly teaching conferences for the pediatric residents on GI topics.
Once again, I cannot emphasize enough what a wonderful experience fellowship training at Cincinnati Children's has been for me! Please feel free to contact me or any of the rest of the fellows with questions.
Scott Pentiuk, MD
Third Year Fellow
scott.pentiuk@cchmc.org
