Transplant Hepatology Fellowship

The Advanced / Transplant Hepatology Fellowship Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is an ACGME-accredited training program and qualifies to obtain the Certificate of Added Qualification (CAQ) from the American Board of Pediatrics. As a pioneering program started in 2008, our fellowship has trained hepatologists who have joined the Liver Transplant faculty at Cincinnati Children’s as well as Transplant programs in Utah, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Cincinnati Children’s is home to the only pediatric liver transplant center in Southern Ohio and performs approximately 20-25 liver transplants annually, including technical variant and living donor liver transplants. Over 690 liver transplants have been performed since 1986, including multi-organ transplants and living donor transplants. The program features 30 years of programmatic experience with pediatric liver transplantation and individualized patient-based training provided by 9 hepatologists who interact closely with pediatric hepatobiliary surgeons and other sub specialists. Additionally, the Pediatric Liver Care Center averages over 1000 outpatient liver clinic visits per year. The program also includes an interrelationship with NIH-funded basic and clinical liver research programs, which offers a unique academic environment for successful training in this subspecialty.

Academic environment

Our staff of 9 CAQ certified hepatologists and four pediatric hepatobiliary surgeons, in conjunction with faculty from radiology and pathology with academic focus on pediatric liver diseases, is committed to providing outstanding clinical care, conducting cutting-edge, laboratory-based and clinical research and promoting a strong educational environment for our trainees. An outstanding track record of successful competition for extramural grant support, i.e. the AASLD transplant hepatology fellowship award, has been established. Previous research projects of fellows included basic research on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, biliary and genetic diseases, novel imaging modalities to assess hepatic function, and biomarker development. The Pediatric Liver Care Center and Liver Transplant Program closely collaborate with investigators at the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation who are dedicated to improving child care through genomic studies and validation of mutations in model organisms, deciphering the immunologic underpinning of auto-immune liver disease and transplant tolerance, applying stem cell technology to innovative tissue engineering and disease modeling, and developing novel medical and surgical therapies for cholestatic and metabolic disorders.

Learning objectives

The one-year Transplant Hepatology fellowship program provides fellows who have already completed a pediatric gastroenterology fellowship with advanced training in:

• Interdisciplinary management of patients pre- and post-transplant
• Care for children and young adults with neonatal cholestasis, abnormal liver tests, end-stage liver disease, acute liver failure and hepatic neoplasms
• Diagnosis of cholestasis syndromes, metabolic and immune mediated liver diseases
• Assessment of the candidacy of patients for liver transplantation and evaluation of living related donors
• Performance of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (e.g., liver biopsy, EGD with band ligation of varices, sclerotherapy, diagnostic and therapeutic paracentesis)
• Observation of procedures, including liver transplantation, organ procurement, percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography, and non-transplant hepatobiliary surgeries, including Kasai portoenterostomy
• Interpretation of liver histopathology
• Organizational structure and administration of a solid organ transplant program
• Completion of a mentored concise clinical or translational research project

Inpatient Service and Continuity of Care Experience

Fellows will have an opportunity to care for patients with a breadth of hepatic disorders in both the inpatient and outpatient settings to sharpen the trainees’ skills as consultants in pediatric liver and biliary tract disease. In addition to the experience of an inpatient service solely dedicated to pediatric patients pre- and post-liver or -multivisceral transplant, the fellows join multidisciplinary rounds in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and provide consult services to various hospital services, including the busy neonatal intensive care unit or the BMT service. Several ambulatory opportunities are also available. Two half-day clinics staffed by full-time hepatologists are reserved for the diagnosis and management of pediatric liver diseases, including viral hepatitis, as well as early detection and mitigation of complications from liver transplantation. This clinical experience is augmented by exposure to several NIH and industry-sponsored clinical trials for chronic cholestasis syndromes, viral hepatitis, and steatohepatitis-attracting subjects from the region and nationwide. Scheduled pathology and radiology conferences and clinical case or pathophysiology-based lectures with the pediatric and adult gastroenterology fellows at Cincinnati Children’s and the University of Cincinnati Hospital, respectively, complement patient-based learning opportunities.

Application Process

To apply to our Advanced/Transplant Hepatology Fellowship Program, please complete the application through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

To submit your application, please do so through the ERAS website.

Application Evaluation

We are participating in the pediatric gastroenterology fellowship match program. Candidates are evaluated based on their record and potential as academic pediatric subspecialists, researchers, and educators, and on their interpersonal qualities. We are offering 1 position through the match.

It is the continuing policy of Cincinnati Children's to afford full equal employment opportunity to qualified employees and applicants, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental handicaps, military or veteran status, sexual preference, or any other protected condition or characteristic in conformity with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.

Contact

For more information regarding application to our program, please contact:

Amy Taylor, MD 
Fellowship Program Director
amy.taylor@cchmc.org

or

Angela Vickers
Fellowship Coordinator
513-636-8948
angela.vickers@cchmc.org