Additional Fellowship Opportunities

Scholarly Activity 

Fellows participate in local, regional, and national professional scholarly activity throughout their fellowships.  There are research opportunities available in basic science, translational, and clinical research in various areas of GI. Fellows are expected to present at least one abstract at a national or regional meeting or to publish at least one scientific study or case study during their fellowship. 

Each fellow is also expected to collaborate with other learners to present an interesting case at the Fellows’ Session of the Mississippi GI Society Meeting held in February of each year, with the best case awarded a monetary prize by the Society.  Preparing and presenting at this meeting allows fellows to gain valuable teaching and oratory skills as they describe their cases and clinical pearls in front of a large group of GI physicians from academic and community practices throughout the region. 

Fellows also participate in quality improvement projects throughout their fellowship training.  These projects may either be different for each year of fellowship or can be a longer project performed over 2-3 years.  Fellows submit a project proposal for review in October of the academic year and then submit a final project summary or update in June. 

Conferences 

Senior fellows are expected to create the conference schedule and all fellows participate in didactic conferences presented by faculty and fellows throughout the year.  The program director also reviews the schedule and incorporates ideas and suggestions from prior year into the schedule.  For example, during the 2019-2020 academic year, based on a recommendation from fellows, the schedule was changed so that each month’s conferences are centered around an area of GI – i.e. October is Esophagus month and all lectures, conferences, and Board review sessions focus on esophageal conditions. 

• GI Core Curriculum Conference – weekly; we use the ACG/ASGE/AASLD GI curriculum and strive to cover all the major topics within this national curriculum. Lectures are given by faculty and fellows, both within the GI division and outside of our division and our institution. 
• Fellows’ Meeting – weekly; this session allows us to discuss issues specific to fellows – such as rotational, clinical, and procedural concerns; rotational requirements; schedules; and suggestions for improvement within the fellowship.  During this meeting, the program director typically provides food, and the meeting is a relaxed session in which concerns can be freely voiced and addressed.  
• Morbidity and Mortality Conference – biannually; during this conference, each fellow presents one case with morbidity or mortality that occurred during the prior few months.  As part of this presentation, the fellow is expected to provide clinical pearls and recommendations from which we can all learn and discuss. 
• Board Review Conference – twice per month; fellows review DDSEP, ACG or similar board style questions relevant to the GI focus are for the month. 
• Journal Club – at least once per quarter; fellows choose a study relevant to the topic for the month and present both the study article and any clinical pearls about the study and the topic.  We have held several of these sessions over dinner at a faculty member’s home and plan to continue to do so in the future.