Research Training

Research is a major component of the UCLA Training Program in Digestive Diseases. Every fellow is required to pursue investigative research under the guided mentorship of a faculty member. Fellows are expected to orally present their work to their colleagues and Faculty at the end of their fellowship. Additionally, fellows are expected to submit and present abstracts at national meetings, as well as publish their work in peer-reviewed journals. Since we are committed to training future leaders in academic gastroenterology we offer opportunities to obtain advanced degrees (PhD, MPH, MSHS, MS in Clinical Research) in the process. Those who enter the program already with advanced degrees are still required to perform research under guided mentorship in the form of a ‘post-doc.’ In the application process we give preference to those candidates who demonstrate a continued commitment to developing themselves as academic gastroenterologists. Research training at UCLA is well-funded and supported by both the STAR program (Subspecialty Training and Advanced Research) and an NIH T32 Training Grant. Fellows seeking advanced degrees matriculate through the program in one of two categories:

• PhD or Postdoctoral Research
• Masters of Science in Clinical Research

  In addition to the GI fellowship application on ERAS, applicants interested in the reseach track should also submit a separate application to the STAR program. Both applications are available at 2010 Application. Competitive applicants who are accepted for interview will meet with members of both the STAR Committee and the UCLA GI Fellowship Committee. Detailed descriptions of some of the programs available for the Ph.D/Post-Doctoral Pathway and for the Clinical Research pathway can be found at Program FAQs. For more specific information on PhD and post-doctoral opportunities, applicants can contact Dr. Enrique Rozengurt, Director of GI Research Training and STAR Committee, at erozengurt@mednet.ucla.edu.
  For more information regarding the Masters of Science in Clinical Research, contact Brennan Spiegel, Director, UCLA Training Program in Digestive Diseases at bspiegel@mednet.ucla.edu.

  Fellows committing to advanced training are bound to fulfill the requirements of the degree granting department and should expect that their total time in fellowship will be longer than the ABIM requirement of three years. In practice, this amounts to four to six years of post-residency training. Candidates for STAR or NIH Training Grant support must be permanent residents or citizens of the US to apply. Currently, 7 GI fellows are supported each year for career development, mentoring, and research training. The process of finding a suitable research mentor begins as soon as an applicant is accepted to the program, but no later than by the end of the first year in the program. At this point fellows submit a written proposal of their research project for review by the Executive Research Training Committee. The proposed mentors (not the fellow) present the completed proposals to this committee where they are competitively evaluated. Successful candidates may be funded for 2 or 3 years of mentored research training, pending annual progress reports, and reviews by the committee. All research proposals are evaluatated by the Executive Research Training Committee to ensure that each fellow has matched their research interests with an appropriate mentor. Overall, our fellows are receiving didactic training through different departments at UCLA and directed mentorship by members of the faculty in Gastroenterology.