About the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program

Welcome to the VCU Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program website.  We are incredibly proud of our fellows, our program, and our institution. The VCU medical campus boasts state-of-the-art clinical, research, educational, and simulation facilities, including the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health.  But, what makes the VCU experience so productive and the learning climate optimal is the supportive, experienced faculty and the collegiality of the fellows.  US News and World report has ranked Virginia Commonwealth University Gastroenterology training program 6th nationally and 17th globally.  We invite you to explore our website and learn more about what VCU has to offer you educationally. 

The fellowship program includes clinical training at VCU Health and Central Virginia VA Health Care System.

We offer two distinct fellowship tracks:

• Clinical Educator: a traditional three-year program that emphasizes clinical gastroenterology and hepatology and is intended to train fellows for clinical and academic practice. Dedicated research time is provided to promote scholarly activity.  
• ABIM program for Transplant Hepatology track: Based on trainee’s interest, we do offer ABIM program Transplant Hepatology to selective fellows where fellows can satisfy the ABIM requirements for both the Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology board examinations in three-year training.

We have five positions for the clinical educator track.  In addition, for candidates who have completed a GI fellowship we offer training in:

• Advanced Endoscopy: a one-year fellowship focused on diagnostic and therapeutic ERCP, EUS, and other advanced endoscopic procedures. 
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Nutrition: a one-year fellowship focused on inflammatory bowel disease and nutrition. Completion of training in Gastroenterology is preferred, but not required. 
• Transplant Hepatology: a one-year fellowship dedicated to liver transplantation, diagnosis, and management of advanced liver conditions. 

Research and Scholarship Expectations

All fellows are expected to actively engage in scholarly activities. These activities can be in basic research, clinical research, health outcomes research, and/or educational research. Essential to success is providing the tools necessary to foster the fellows’ intellectual development as investigators. These tools are provided through participation in VCUHS graduate medical education research series, which is conducted at the start of the academic year and is optional for fellows. Fellows receive three research months over the period of their training. Fellows with a strong interest in research can get additional time of 4 to 6 months.

As a sign of our commitment to the scholarly efforts of the fellows, the Department of Internal Medicine has designated funding which is set aside specifically to offset the travel cost for fellows who are presenting their work at regional, national, and international scientific and academic meetings. The division is similarly committed to assisting with costs associated with presenting and publishing scholarly efforts. The commitment to our fellows is evident by the fact that our department chair, Dr. Patricia Sime, an NIH-funded investigator, personally meets with all fellows in advance of presenting at national and international meetings to offer additional mentorship and guidance. At VCU, we honor your education and professional growth as our greatest achievement and are proud to send our residents and fellows as our ambassadors.

Vacation Time
Each fellow is allowed three weeks of vacation per training year. The time is generally taken as either one of the following:

1. Three 7-day vacations
2. One 7-day vacation and one 14-day vacation.

Night calls

• The Gastroenterology fellows provide at-home night coverage for the outpatient clinic patients, in-hospital consults, and requests for admission/transfer to the Gastroenterology team. The fellows are expected to return to the hospital as needed while on call to see urgent consults or to perform urgent endoscopy which is done under supervision of the attending physician on call. Additionally, the attending physicians provide back-up, supervision, and escalation along with feedback on the triage decisions made by the fellow. Nighttime at-home call is distributed amongst all fellows throughout the three years of training.

• Internal medicine residents provide in-house coverage for admissions and cross-coverage related to the inpatient Digestive Health service at night.

Weekend Coverage

• Two fellows are on call at any given weekend. One fellow covers consult service while another fellow covers all endoscopy procedures. On average, fellows take around 6-8 weekend calls per year.

GME Resident & Fellow Well-Being
Graduate Medical Education training is not easy. With the GME Physician Well-being program, we first and foremost assert our commitment to your well-being, resilience and all aspects of a healthy lifestyle. VCU and VCU Health are dedicated to ensuring that you have the tools you need to be your best. (Learn more)

All About VCU, VCU Health, and RVA
First things first. We fondly refer to Richmond as RVA.  People love this city because it’s awesome. And Virginia Commonwealth University is in the middle of it all.  Learn more about VCU, VCU Health, and RVA!

VCU Faculty

• Sayed Obaidullah Aseem, MD, PhD
• Amon Asgharpour, MD
• Jasmohan Bajaj, MD
• Stephen Bickston, MD - Director of Digestive Health Center
• Doumit BouHaidar, MD - Director of Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy
• Michael Fuchs, MD, PhD   
• Hannah Lee, MD
• Velimir Luketic, MD
• Ray Keate, MD
• Sasha Mangray, MD, MBBS
• Scott Matherly, MD - Transplant Hepatology Fellowship Program Director
• W. Michael Pandak, MD
• Milan Patel, MD
• Vaishali Patel, MD
• Puneet Puri, MD
• Arun Sanyal, MD, MBBS - Division Interim-Chief
• M. Shadab Siddiqui, MD
• Richard K. Sterling, MD, MSc - Chief of Hepatology
• Ravi Vachhani, MD - Fellowship Program Director
• Joel Wedd, MD, MPH - Director Liver Transplant

VAMC Faculty

• Brian Davis, MD
• Jennifer Miller, MD
• Joseph Spataro, MD
• Catherine Vozzo, DO

Class of 2027

Class of 2025

Class of 2024

Eligibilty Requirements

VCUHS can only support J-1 visas.

How to Apply:

The Gastroenterology fellowship training program at VCU is a participant in the NRMP match. All applications will be accepted through ERAS and follow ERAS deadlines.

Required Documentation

• Application
• Curriculum Vitae
• USMLE score reports
• Medical School Transcripts
• MSPE
• A personal statement
• 4 letters of recommendation, including one from your program director
• A photograph

If applicable, please provide the following: 

• ECFMG certificate
• Medical School Diploma (with translation if necessary)

Application Timeline:

We will review applications from July 15 through September 31. Invitations to interview will likely be issued during this time frame.

Interviews:

2024 Interviews dates

• September 13, 2024 
• September 20, 2024
• September 27, 2024
• October 11, 2024
• October 18, 2024

The interview day consists of the following:

• Introduction to the program and division
• Tour of the VCUHS facilities - Virtual Tour
• Interviews with VCUHS and VA-based faculty

Attention:   All interviews are virtual.

Program Director

Ravi Vachhani, MD
1200 E Broad Street 
Box 980341
Richmond, VA 23298 
Phone: (804) 828-4060 
Fax: (804) 828-5348 
Email: ravi.vachhani@vcuhealth.org

Fellowship Coordinator

Cesley Watkins
VCU School of Medicine
Department of Internal Medicine
Box 980509
Richmond, Virginia 23298-0509
Phone: (804) 628-4497
Fax: (804) 828-4926
Email: imfellowships@vcuhealth.org