Alumni Messages

Kandavel

Over my 3 years of fellowship, I grew confident in managing and providing care for general GI, IBD, benign hepatology, liver transplant, pancreatology and nutritional rehabilitation patients. You will undoubtly see “bread and butter” GI in addition to very complex patients. Having a true continuity clinic allowed me to take ownership of my patients and follow them closely. My attendings were excellent teachers and role models. They challenged me to think critically, be confident in my decision making, and embrace my role as a leader and educator while always reminding me that they are there to support me. I am so grateful to my Pediatric GI family, our patients and staff and could not have picked a better place to train.

-- Prashanthi Kandavel (2020), Clinical Instructor/Advanced Fellow in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

 

University of Michigan was a great place for my fellowship training. The attendings are dedicated to providing the best care for their patients.

Ljuldjuraj

They model evidence based and interdisciplinary medicine, which is particularly well displayed by the children's intestinal rehabilitation program (ChIRP), IBD, and Liver transplant teams. The endoscopy experience will give you plenty of time to achieve mastery by the end of your 3rd year training.

The program is great but that's not to say it's easy! In fact, fellowship training is an intense period of focused study and practice, more akin to an "apprenticeship" than what many experience in residency training. At the end of 3 years, I saw so much pathology, was entrusted with primarily managing many complicated and sick patients and grew tremendously as a physician, allowing for a seamless transition to attending practice.

-- Tony Ljuldjuraj (2019), Assistant Professor and Associate IBD Program Director at Children’s Hospital of Michigan

 

I am so grateful for my training at University of Michigan. The institution as a whole is committed to system improvement to ensure we provide excellent care for our patients.  Within the division, our relationships with other disciplines is strong and collegial.  Our true continuity clinic allowed me to take ownership of my patients while seeing a wide breadth of pathology. As I’ve moved on in my career, I now know this is not an opportunity all trainees have, and it is invaluable.  Additionally, the mentorship I had at Michigan was superb. Our faculty really cared about us and our learning experience.  I built lifelong relationships with my mentors and to this day, still call them to ask questions.  I love University of Michigan and Ann Arbor! GO BLUE! -- Vanessa Cardenas (2018), Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director at University of Alabama at Birmingham

 

Morhardt

As I have moved on in my career, I have developed a true appreciation for my training at University of Michigan.  As a tertiary referral center, I treated many patients with a wide variety of pathology which prepared me greatly for managing my own practice.  When the time came to decide on a scholarly activity project, I was well supported and ultimately combined my interest in IBD and basic science into an amazing collaboration between our group and adult gastroenterology.  Another aspect I think is unique to Michigan, is the drive that everyone in our division has to improve the processes we have in place. At every level, we are committed to making our division better. This drive comes from the leadership of our division director, who encourages all of us to play a part in improving the care we deliver.

-- Tina Morhardt (2018), Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock; former IBD fellow at Mass General Hospital