The Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Cleveland Clinic consists of 22 board certified physicians whose practices and research activities are designated in 7 Centers of Excellence.
These Centers include Colon Cancer Prevention, Endoscopy and Pancreatic Biliary Disease, Hepatology, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Nutrition, and Esophageal Diseases and GI Motility, as well as our general GI practices in our four satellites.
The mission of the department is to give world class care through educating the best trainees for the future in Gastroenterology and doing cutting edge clinical and translational research.
Clinical and Transitional Research Program
The Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology has a very active clinical and translational research program. Last year, we published 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals and books. We have three NIH funded investigators and four others with career development research grants from GI societies or Cleveland Clinic. The following represents only a “snapshot” of the research interests in the Department.
Endoscopy and Pancreatic Biliary Group
Our Endoscopy and Pancreatic Biliary group is particularly interested in esophageal cancer and acute and chronic pancreatitis. We are leaders in developing new technology to evaluate these diseases including endoscopic ultrasound and optical coherence tomography. Other research interests include developing safer methods to give conscious sedation during endoscopic procedures and the development of better tests to measure pancreatic function.
Colon Cancer Prevention Group
The Colon Cancer Prevention Group combines gastroenterologists, surgeons, and genetic counselors to help identify high risk patients with colon and small bowel cancer. We have one of the largest registries in the world in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP, an inherited form of colon cancer) as well as colon polyps.
Hepatology Group
Our Hepatology group is skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of all forms of acute and chronic liver disease. Their particular research interests include hepatitis C disease, primary biliary cirrhosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver, and treatments of variceal bleeding. We have active drug research protocols in the treatment of hepatitis B and C disease as well as cholestatic liver disease and an NIH grant to study the best treatments for variceal bleeding.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center of Excellence
The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center of Excellence is one of the top groups in the country. This combination of excellent gastroenterologists and surgeons are doing cutting edge investigation into new medical and surgical treatments for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, novel treatments for pouchitis, and seminal investigation into the genetics of inflammatory bowel disease.
Nutrition Center
Our Nutrition Center has an active research program in enteral and parenteral nutrition with one of the largest home TPN programs in the country. We are one of the few centers in the United States to have an intestinal rehabilitation program whereby patients are weaned off of TPN allowing them to eat orally by using novel medical and surgical techniques.
Esophageal and GI Motility Group
The Esophageal and GI Motility group is the largest and most active in the country. Our particular areas of interest include complicated reflux disease, achalasia, Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer.
We have the largest non-veteran population Barrett's Registry in the United States and are doing ongoing research to better understand which patients with Barrett's esophagus are at highest risk of developing cancer.
We also have an NIH-funded program to identify why some patients with acid reflux disease develop ear, nose, throat and pulmonary symptoms. Additionally, we have the largest registry of patients with achalasia in the United States with a great deal of skill in treating these patients medically with pneumatic dilatation and surgically with Heller myotomy.
Satellite Practices
Our satellites practices in Beachwood, Independence, Strongsville and Westlake, Ohio allow our talented general gastroenterologists to give world class care and refer more complicated patients cases to the Main Campus of Cleveland Clinic.
Gastroenterology Training Program
We are very proud of our three year gastroenterology training program. We have three trainees at each year from throughout the United States. This is one of the top competitive fellowship programs in the United States.
The first year our trainees spend in our in-patient gastroenterology, liver and consultative services as well as learning endoscopy.
The second year is primarily spent in mentored research, both clinical and translational research.
The third year is divided between more endoscopic experience as well as focused rotations in our outpatient Hepatology, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Esophageal clinics.
Throughout the 3 years, the trainees have a continuity clinic one-half day a week. In the three year program, there is no specialized training in ERCP or endoscopic ultrasound. Rather, this is a special advanced fourth year fellowship. We also have specialized advanced fellowship programs in Hepatology and Nutrition.
