Transplant Hepatology Fellowship
Welcome to the Vanderbilt Transplant Hepatology Fellowship!
The Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center offers a one-year fellowship in transplant hepatology for highly qualified candidates who have completed an ACGME-accredited fellowship in Gastroenterology.
Vanderbilt Transplant Center is one of the 10 largest transplant institutes in the United States. Since its inception, the Vanderbilt Liver Transplant program has performed over 2,600 transplants, and in 2022 alone, our program performed more than 140 liver transplants including live donor liver transplantation, liver transplantation for cholangiocarcinoma, and combined heart-liver transplantation.
The Transplant Hepatology fellowship at Vanderbilt offers comprehensive state-of-the-art training in management of advanced liver disease, pre-transplant and post-transplant care, and immunosuppression management. The Transplant Fellow works closely with our multidisciplinary team of transplant surgeons, nurse practitioners, transplant coordinators, psychiatrists, and social workers, among others.
The Transplant Hepatology fellow has a balanced schedule that ensures diverse clinical exposure, rigorous clinical learning, and effective participation in scholarly activities. The goal of the fellowship is to build a solid foundation for the fellow to excel in academic Transplant Hepatology and to move the field forward. It is noteworthy that the vast majority of our prior fellows have joined academic institutions upon graduation.
- Schedule
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While inpatient and outpatient hepatology rotations represent the bulk of this fellowship, fellows still have several 1–2-week blocks dedicated to scholarly activities throughout the academic year. Below is the summary of the rotations schedule:
Rotation Name Duration Settings Inpatient* 24 weeks - Transplant Hepatology ward & Hepatology consults (16 weeks)
- Liver Transplant Surgery Ward (1st 3 months of post-LT care; 8 weeks)
Outpatient** 18 weeks (plus continuity clinic) - Transplant Hepatology clinic (4 half day clinics/week)
- General Hepatology clinic (4 half day clinics/week)
- Endoscopy (including training on glue injection for gastric varices; half day a week)
Scholarly Activities 10 weeks - Clinical research
- Quality improvement and/or quality assessment
* Rotations with our Hepatology service at Nashville VA (Veterans Affairs) hospital are available upon request.
** During the second half of the academic year, the fellow rotates for five half days with each of the following collaborating outpatient specialties: obesity medicine, addiction medicine, palliative care, and pathology. This has been incorporated into our fellowship given the essential role of each of these specialties in modern hepatology practice.
- Didactics
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The Transplant Hepatology fellowship offers a variety of high-yield didactic conferences which include:
- Weekly Gastroenterology and Hepatology Grand Rounds followed by clinical case conference
- Monthly hepatology journal club
- Weekly liver transplant candidate selection conference
- Weekly liver pathology conference
- Weekly hepatobiliary-radiology conference (tumor board)
- Weekly hepatology core curriculum conference
- Scholarly Activities
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Vanderbilt University Medical Center is one of the premier research institutions in the country. Among Departments of Medicine (DOM) across the nation, Vanderbilt DOM has been repeatedly among the top 5 in NIH (National Institutes of Health) funding, which reflects Vanderbilt’s vision, infrastructure, and support for research.
Our fellows have access to short-term clinical research funding (e.g., small grants by the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research), which usually helps expediting projects completion during this 12-month long, clinically busy fellowship. Our current and prior fellows have presented their work at national and international conferences, received national and international awards, and published in the field’s premier journals.
With the breadth of the available expertise at our institution, fellows are provided with guidance and connections with mentors and experts in their area of research interest. For fellows whose focus is quality improvement and quality assessment rather than clinical research, we gladly connect them with mentors to nurture the fellow’s passion in this area.
- Faculty
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Manhal Izzy, MD, Program Director
Roman Perri, MD, Associate Program Director
- Diversity and Inclusion
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The Transplant Hepatology program proudly embraces Vanderbilt’s mission of maximizing diversity and inclusion on all fronts. Since the Vanderbilt Transplant Hepatology program was established, more than 80% of our fellows have been females and approximately 55% have been from underrepresented minorities.
In our clinics, we provide high quality Hepatology care to patients from all backgrounds. We have the privilege of serving uninsured and underinsured patients referred by charity clinics affiliated with Vanderbilt who need Hepatology care. Additionally, a sizable proportion of our patients are from rural, underserved areas.
- Requirements and Application
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- The applicant must have completed an ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education)-accredited gastroenterology training program.
- Vanderbilt Transplant Hepatology program participates in the match system sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
- Our program can consider applicants who need visa sponsorship.
- Inquiries
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Inquiries about our program are welcome and should be directed to:
Lisa Dunlop
Fellowship Coordinator
Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
2215 Garland Avenue, 1030-C MRB IV
Nashville, TN 37232-0252Phone: 615-322-4225
Fax: 615-343-6229
Email: lisa.dunlop@vumc.org
- Additional Information
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The Vanderbilt Graduate Medical Education (GME) website offers detailed information about the tremendous resources available to support the house staff, their families, and their wellness.