Geisinger Medical Center

Geisinger Medical Center
Dept of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 21-11
100 N. Academy Ave
Danville, Pennsylvania 17822-2111
(570) 271-6856 (V)
Website


2 Positions Available

Program Type: Both ERCP & EUS

Authorized Administrative Official: Chelsea Mensch (email)

Program Director: Harshit S. Khara, MD, FASGE, FACG (email)
Program Director Phone: 570-271-6651
Program Director Fax: 570-271-6852

Duration: 1 Year

Inclusive Dates of the Program: 7/1/2026 to 6/30/2027

Program Website: www.geisinger.edu/gchs/education/residencies-fellowships/fellowships/gastroenterology-fellowship/advanced-endoscopy-fellowship

Accepts applicants from outside of North America? No

Accepts applicants with J1 visas? No

Accepts applicants with H1B visas? No

Accepts applicants with E3 visas? No

Supervised Procedures

Procedure		 Faculty Involved in AEF Training Total Annual Volume Annual Volume with hands-on AEF Involvement
ERCP 15 700 575
Diagnostic EUS 15 1200 800
Interventional EUS 15 500 400
Deep enteroscopy 15 60 50
Luminal stenting 15 250 200
ESD 5 100 20
Bariatric endoscopy 1 X X
POEM 5 40 20
Endoscopic management of GERD and Barrett’s 15 100 90

Unsupervised Trainee Activities

Procedure		 Value
General GI procedures (per year) 457
Inpatient general GI service (weeks/year) 4
Inpatient advanced endoscopy service (weeks/year) 0
Ambulatory clinics (per year) 6
Committed time for research (days/month) 2

Requirements for Application

  1. Standard ASGE Application Packet
    • ASGE Application
    • Post-Undergraduate Education
    • USMLE Scores
    • Certification of Completion of Residency
      1. Prior to appointment in the advanced endoscopy fellowship, fellows should have completed a three-year ACGME-accredited gastroenterology fellowship
      2. Fellows from non-ACGME-accredited programs must have completed at least three years of gastroenterology education prior to starting the fellowship
    • Personal Statement
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • 3 Letters of Reference

Additional Information about Program

Geisinger Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship:

Our one-year Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship program at Geisinger Medical Center’s Advanced Center for Endoscopy (ACE) division provides a broad hands-on experience in all aspects of therapeutic interventional endoscopy. Our advanced fellows have an amazing opportunity to train with 15 Advanced Endoscopy attendings with wide range of experiences that they bring to our program from various parts of the country, including 5 dedicated third space endoscopy faculty, and 1 endobariatrics faculty.

Our AEF program has been in existence since 2007, and the focus has always been on one-on-one teaching, with ample hands-on scope time from day 1. The Geisinger Health System consists of a number of affiliated hospitals, with a catchment area of 31 counties and 2.8 million people. The Advanced Endoscopy Group within Gastroenterology offers the full array of diagnostic and therapeutic advanced endoscopy procedures and annually performs more than 1600 ERCPs and 2000 EUS procedures, in addition to a large number of other complex procedures as described below. We are a regional liver transplant center and manage complex pre and post-transplant Hepatology patients in collaboration with our transplant team. We utilize a state-of-the-art 25,000 square foot endoscopy center which has 10 procedure rooms, with 3 rooms having fluoroscopic capability for advanced procedures. All cases are done with full anesthesia assistance with a dedicated experienced endoscopy lab staff.

Our Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship offers hands-on certification advanced training in:

• Diagnostic & Therapeutic Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) including placement of AXIOS stent for WON, gallbladder drainage (EUS-GB), and gastro-enterostomy (EUS-GE), EUS-guided fiducial placement (EUS-FNF), and EUS-guided hemostasis.

• Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), ampullectomy, SpyGlass cholangioscopy, intraductal ablation, complex hilar biliary stenting, and significant volume of pancreatic endotherapy; EUS-guided ERCP in altered anatomy, EUS-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD/EUS-HG), and EUS-Directed transgastric ERCP (EDGE) procedures

• EndoHepatology with EUS-guided liver biopsy (EUS-LB), Shearwave, FibroScan, and EUS-guided portal pressure measurement (EUS-PPG)

• Barrett’s esophagus diagnosis and therapy, including endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), Endoscopic Submucosal Resection (ESD), Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), conventional and Hybrid-APC, and Cryoablation (both spray and balloon cryotherapy)

• Complex colon and duodenal polypectomy, with use of various assistive devices, Endoscopic Full Thickness Resection (EFTR), EMR, and ESD

• Luminal stenting of esophagus, duodenum, and colon

• Interventional IBD and management of difficult strictures of the GI tract

• Device-assisted enteroscopy including single balloon enteroscopy (SBE) & Pathfinder-assisted enteroscopy

• Endoscopic management of GERD with Bravo, EndoFlip, Stretta and TIF procedures

• Third Space Endoscopy including endoscopic treatment of Zenker’s diverticulum (Z-POEM), Achalasia management with E-POEM and pneumatic dilation, and Gastroparesis management with G-POEM, including extensive Overstitch endosuturing and OTSC training

• Endobariatrics with endoscopic weight and metabolic management

• Advanced Hemostasis insluding Hemorrhoidal therapy with banding and HET treatments.

The advanced fellow will not only be involved in advanced endoscopic training with attending staff at the main hospital in Danville but will also have the opportunity to train with our other interventional faculty at various Geisinger hospitals in Wilkes Barre (Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center), Scranton (Geisinger Community Medical Center), and Lewistown (Geisinger Lewistown Hospital).

A large percentage of the ERCPs are in patients with “native papillae” rather than just being re-do procedures. The EUS service has grown impressively in the past 10 years, with approximately 1300 cases done annually in Danville alone. On-site cytopathology services (ROSE) are readily available for all our FNAs, with Telecytopathology review on all cases. We have the forward-viewing Olympus echoendoscope for interventional EUS. Trainees will get experience with both radial and linear echoendoscopes, as well as EUS miniprobes.

There is ample opportunity and resources for clinical research and internal grants are available to support this. Geisinger has used an electronic medical record system for more than three decades and invests a lot into support of this infrastructure. This in combination with a stable patient demographic creates a great potential for longitudinal clinical research. We frequently collaborate with our department of epidemiology to assist with studies. An in-house animal research facility is available for training and we organize various hands-on labs (Axios, Endosuture, OTSC, Stenting etc) for fellow teaching of advanced procedures.

We have a close relationship with excellent minimally invasive surgeons, surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists and cytopathologists, including weekly tumor board conferences and other didactics. Advanced Endoscopy fellows participate in departmental conferences including the weekly Core Curriculum conference, weekly multidisciplinary Tumor Board meetings, and the monthly Foregut, GI pathology, GI radiology, Journal Club, and Research conferences. Teaching opportunities are available for fellows in the endoscopy suite and residents and fellows during conferences and in the inpatient consult service. Fellows are supported to attend the ASGE Advanced Endoscopy course, Boston Scientific Passport Program, ACG Annual meeting, Digestive Disease Week, Pennsylvania Society of Gastroenterology conferences, and various other meetings throughout the year.

Program Director:
Harshit S. Khara, MD, FACG, FASGE
Phone: (570) 271-6856
[email protected]

Please Note: All data in this program description is entered on a voluntary basis