Mission Statement

At the Zucker School of Medicine, Hofstra/Northwell at Mather Hospital Gastroenterology Fellowship, we are dedicated to training skilled gastroenterologists who, upon graduation, can enter academic positions or unsupervised evidence based clinical practice at the highest level. Our graduates will be educated in all the ACGME core competencies in a scholarly environment that emphasizes quality, safety and patient centered care. Our program is dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of the people and community we serve.

 

Program Aims that are Guided by the Program’s Mission Statement

The program will provide fellows with the knowledge, ability and procedural skills necessary to function as effective gastroenterology consultants in the community. Fellows will care for outpatients and hospitalized patients with a wide range of clinical problems in all stages of disease. They will learn to formulate comprehensive differential diagnoses and recommend appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic measures. They will be trained to perform standard endoscopic procedures safely and efficiently. They will perform their duties following the highest ethical principles, with respect for people of diverse backgrounds. The program will aim to provide continuous and non-judgmental feedback in order to cultivate the highest standards of clinical practice. Finally, the role of fellows as teachers and leaders will be incorporated into their plan for personal development.

 

Primary Clinical Site #1 – Mather Hospital Northwell Health

Mather Hospital/Northwell Health is a 248-bed facility accredited by The Joint Commission that provides healthcare to almost 12,000 inpatients annually and has over 600 affiliated and employed physicians. Mather treats more than 38,000 emergency room cases each year, and it is one of a few community hospitals with both a Chest Pain ER and a certified Stroke Center. An established hospital with a 90-year history on Long Island, Mather offers a range of services to address a broad spectrum of patient illnesses. Mather serves a large, densely populated community in Suffolk County. Mather’s primary service area has a population of nearly 600,000, with approximately 25% of residents over the age of 55. More than half of the Hospital’s inpatient population is 65 and older, exposing our fellows to a broad spectrum of adult ages and disease states, including the full panoply of gastroenterology patients. Mather Hospital provides inpatient Gastroenterology care to approximately 5000 patients per year and approximately 2000 endoscopic procedures are performed per year in its endoscopy suite. Mather Hospital has a fully equipped endoscopy suite with a complete range of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic instruments and accessories including instrumentation for esophageal motility and pH testing. It services a varied population of patients with a mix of common and rare conditions. It has multi-disciplinary teams for diagnostic, therapeutic and research purposes. There is an infusion center which services a large number Gastroenterology patients requiring infusions as well. Gastroenterology faculty with diverse experience and expertise service a large number of outpatient and inpatient Gastroenterology patients at Mather

and have a deep commitment to excellence in care. The faculty will provide comprehensive care in general gastroenterology as well as hepatology, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreaticobiliary disorders and standard endoscopic procedures, in both the outpatient and inpatient settings. Mather Gastroenterology provides a busy outpatient and inpatient clinical experience. The outpatient experience includes clinics, endoscopy as well as capsule endoscopy, while the inpatient experience includes a gastroenterology consultant service and emergency endoscopic procedures. The program will offer a high level of personalized interaction between fellows and faculty thus enabling them to master clinical knowledge and the procedural skills of an excellent gastroenterologist. In addition, Mather has an excellent surgical service comprising colorectal and general surgery. This is important not only because it ensures

comprehensive and seamless care for patients with digestive problems that require surgery but is a valuable component of any good Gastroenterology fellowship training program. Mather provides an outstanding educational environment with lively conferences on site and via video conferencing. There is an active scholarly tumor board that meets weekly and Internal Medicine grand rounds take place once a month. Gastroenterology conferences will include a clinical conference, radiology/pathology, combined M&M, journal club and quality meetings. There is specialized imaging on site at Mather including MR enterography and CT enterography with studies read by academic radiologists allowing for integrated conferences. Laboratory facilities that support the program include access to specialty services such as drug monitoring, parasitology and molecular testing. The hospital has facilities for the intensive care of critically ill patients with gastrointestinal disorders and faculty have a working relationship with general surgery, oncology, pathology and pediatrics. With regard to research there are multiple research programs in Gastroenterology currently underway with the Internal Medicine residency program, and databases are being constructed to allow for easy data exchange and analysis within and between institutions. These programs will be enhanced and expanded by the addition of a fellowship. Mather has dedicated research faculty and assistants to further the academic mandate.

 

Primary Clinical Site #2 – North Shore University Hospital – Northwell Health

The Sandra Atlas Bass Center for Liver Diseases at Northwell Health is the largest comprehensive liver program on Long Island. It not only offers a wide variety of liver related medical services and a full clinical research program, but it also has the only liver transplant program east of Manhattan, staffed by two renowned transplant surgeons. The Center is an indispensable resource for educating our fellows about the diagnosis, evaluation and management of patients with liver diseases as well as pre and post-transplant management of patients. The service, with a patient volume exceeding 10,000/year, will expose the fellows to patients with a wide range of liver diseases from mild to end stage. There are 6 full time Hepatologists, specifically trained in the management of liver diseases, who dedicate the majority of their time to this service, thus allowing maximum interaction and teaching experience between the attendings and fellows. Fellows will be expected to take an active role in managing liver patients, from examining the

patient and presenting their findings, to formulating a differential diagnosis and plan of management with the attending. They will be expected to review the literature and then defend their proposed plan of action. The fellow will also be expected to participate in case conferences and multi-disciplinary

conferences as requested by the faculty. Fellows will learn to take care of liver patients following the highest ethics and consideration for diverse backgrounds. They will be evaluated on their progress in a continuous fashion with the aim of cultivating the highest standards of professionalism and care.