Gastroenterology Fellowship Program History

From the Beginning
Georgetown University opened its Medical Department in 1851, shortly after the end of the Mexican War and near the end of James Polk’s U.S. Presidency. During the Civil War of the 1860s, units of the Army of the Potomac resided on the campus, and medical students fought on both sides. After the war, Georgetown adopted blue and grey as its colors to symbolize the reunion of students from North and South.¹ By 1912 Gastroenterology was being taught separately at Georgetown as a specialty. Dr. Irving Brick was recruited as a permanent faculty member and chief of Gastroenterology in 1948 and performed the first percutaneous liver biopsies in the Washington area. By 1954, GI faculty member James Foster was supervising a medical subspecialty fellow. During the mid 20th century, the VA and DC General Hospitals were helpful in creating GI fellowships. In particular, the VA gave research grants to support fellows and its central budget also financed clinical fellowships. An initial Georgetown collaboration with NIH on a clinical study unit in 1961 was later followed by a long-time contractual relationship in which NIH Research fellows received clinical training as GI fellows at Georgetown and Georgetown provided clinical coverage for the Gastroenterology service at NIH. This relationship with NIH ended in 2004.

The Modern Era
In 1984, Stanley B. Benjamin, M.D. was appointed Chief of Gastroenterology and Director of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program. Under his leadership Gastroenterology evolved state-of-the-art evaluation and therapy options for patients with biliary and pancreatic disease. Procedures now include Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography, Electrohydraulic Lithotripsy and Sphincter of Oddi manometry. Today, the GI faculty also excel at the use of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) to evaluate submucosal lesions, stage neoplasms and guide endoscopic therapy. Recent advancements have been employed to evaluate esophageal diseases using comprehensive manometric, pH and anorectal motility studies. Georgetown faculty were among the first to use a catheter-free pH monitoring system involving a capsule attached to the esophageal wall to transmit data to a pager-sized receiver, thus eliminating uncomfortable 24-hour trans-nasal catheters. A hallmark of today’s Gastroenterology program is its multi-specialty collaboration with other disciplines. For example, fellows take part in collaborative conferences with the medical and surgical oncology service of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Evaluation and treatment modalities make use of endoscopic ultrasound, Argon laser plasma coagulation and endoscopic stents. GI faculty and fellows also work with the Transplant Institute and International Center for Liver Diseases at Georgetown University Hospital to manage chronic liver conditions and perform liver transplant procedures, as well as small bowel transplants.

GI Fellowship Program
Over the last 25 years, Georgetown has enjoyed a partnership with the Washington VA Hospital to build a GI fellowship program that included clinical and investigative work involving GI and hepatology. Of course, the primary goal has always been to train consultative gastroenterologists, and most graduates do go into private practice. Nevertheless, at least ten of the 118 graduates between 1998 to 2008 chose careers in academic medicine.

GI Fellowship Under Dr. Haddad
In 2004, Dr. Benjamin was succeeded as Director of the GI Fellowship Program by Nadim G. Haddad, M.D., a 1994 GI fellowship graduate of Georgetown. From 2004 to 2008, 94% of all graduates passed the Gastroenterology Certifying Examination of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Haddad has revamped the curriculum to include elective rotations in Radiology & Oncology, Transplant Hepatology, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Inflammatory Bowel Disease & Motility Studies. More recently, he and his VA counterpart, Timothy O. Lipman, M.D. have developed blocks of protected research time so that fellows can pursue investigative studies.

¹Stapleton, John. Upward Journey. The Story of Internal Medicine at Georgetown. 1851-1981. page 16. Washington, DC: Georgetown University, 1996.