Transplant Hepatology Fellowship

Robert Fontana, MD
Director

We are now accepting applications for 2023–2024.

APPLY HERE

If you have any questions, please contact:
[email protected]

Objectives

The Transplant Hepatology Fellowship is a 1-year training program for candidates who have already completed a 3-year ABIM-certified Gastroenterology fellowship. The objective of the Transplant Hepatology Fellowship is to provide outstanding clinical and research training so that candidates become independent hepatology consultants, qualify for UNOS certification as a transplant hepatologist, and meet all criteria for the ABIM Certificate of Added Qualification (CAQ) in transplant hepatology. Upon completion of the program, the fellow will be competent in evaluating and managing liver transplant candidates with acute and chronic liver failure and in evaluating and managing transplant recipients during the perioperative and posttransplant period. The fellow will also become competent in the care of patients with a variety of acute and chronic liver diseases including the management of acute liver failure, complications of portal hypertension, and liver cancer.

The University of Michigan offers highly competitive salaries and tremendous benefits to our residents and fellows. An overview of salary, benefits, and employment eligibility is available on the GME Office website, under Prospective Residents/Fellows.

Clinical Training

Per ACGME requirements, Transplant Hepatology Fellowship candidates are required to have completed a 3-year categorical ABIM-certified Gastroenterology Fellowship prior to this additional year of advanced training. About 80% of the Transplant Hepatology Fellowship will be devoted to clinical activities. Rotations offered during the 1-year fellowship include inpatient hepatology ward and consultation services, outpatient transplant hepatology and general hepatology clinics, liver pathology, liver radiology, and pediatric hepatology. In the multidisciplinary liver transplant clinics, the Transplant Hepatology fellow will become familiar with the evaluation of patients with advanced liver disease, including the management of ascites, encephalopathy, variceal bleeding, and treatment options for liver cancer. The Transplant Hepatology fellow will see patients in the clinic and follow them preoperatively, perioperatively, and postoperatively under the supervision of Hepatology faculty. The toxicity of immunosuppressive medications as well as the management of rejection and vascular, biliary, and infectious complications after transplantation will be emphasized. In addition, fellows will be exposed to transplant immunology, pediatric liver transplantation, living donor liver transplantation, and research opportunities in transplant hepatology.

Conferences

The University of Michigan Transplant Hepatology program supports its educational mission with a variety of educational activities. Liver conferences that are held on a weekly basis during the academic year include: Liver Pathology, Clinical Case Presentations, and Journal Club. In addition, multidisciplinary liver transplant patient evaluation conferences are held weekly. Multidisciplinary transplant conferences are held twice monthly, including the Morbidity and Mortality Conference, as well as Transplant Grand Rounds. In addition, many of the GI and Hepatology Division Grand Rounds presentations are dedicated to liver disease topics. Both internal and external speakers present at these conferences with about 12 visiting professors per year. The Transplant Hepatology fellow will be expected to attend and participate in the monthly Hepatology Research Conference and attend the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases annual meeting. 

Graduated Fellows

The University of Michigan Liver Transplant Program was established in 1986. Over the past 35 years, many individuals have completed formal training in Gastroenterology with a focus in Transplant Hepatology. Listed below are our most recent graduates:

2021 Graduates

Brian Nadeau, MD
Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI

Dempsey Hughes, MD
University of Pittsburgh

 

Past Graduates

Our graduating fellows have gone on to a wide variety of practices and universities while others have stayed here at Michigan Medicine. Here is a sampling of our graduates since 2007:

• John Bassett, MD – Transplant Hepatologist, Walter Reed Medical Center, Bethesda, MD

• Mohammed Jafri, MD – Medical Director, Multivisceral Organ Transplant, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI

• Hellan Kwon, MD - Associate Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
• Dekey Lhewa, MD – Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR
• Jessica Mellinger, MD, MSc – Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI
• Mina Rakoski, MD, MSc – Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
• Shreya Sengupta, MD - Cleveland Clinic
• Pratima Sharma, MD, MS - Associate Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
• Amit Singal, MD, MS – Medical Director of the Liver Tumor Program and Clinical Chief of Hepatology, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX
• Erin Spengler, MD – Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
• Monica Tincopa, MD, MSc – Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI

Transplant Hepatology Faculty

• Robert J. Fontana, MD, Director, Transplant Hepatology Fellowship
• Anna S.F. Lok, MD, FRCP, Director, Clinical Hepatology Program
• Fred K. Askari, MD, PhD
• Patricia Bloom, MD
• Graham F. Brady, MD, PhD
• Vincent Chen, MD
• Hari S. Conjeevaram, MD, MS
• Hellan K. Kwon, MD
• Nikhilesh R Mazumder, MD, MPH
• Jessica L. Mellinger, MD, MSc
• Nataliya Razumilava, MD
• Neehar Parikh, MD
• Ponni Perumalswami, MD
• Pratima Sharma, MD, MS
• Elizabeth K. Speliotes, MD, PhD, MPH
• Grace L. Su, MD
• Andrew W. Tai, MD, PhD
• Elliot B. Tapper, MD

Contact Us

Phone: (734) 936-8596
Fax: (734) 936-7392
Email: [email protected]

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