The Liver Unit at Florida Hospital Transplant Center has a faculty of three Hepatologists who train clinical fellows exclusively in the management of patients with liver diseases. The Hepatology fellowship is clinically oriented and the main objective is to train physicians to be well versed in the pathophysiologic mechanisms, the clinical manifestations and the management of liver diseases.
Fellows rotate through inpatient and outpatient settings. They also participate in the post liver transplant clinic twice a week. Participation in procedures such as liver biopsy, and abdominal paracentesis are also encouraged. Fellows attend all morning rounds, biopsy conferences, journal clubs, case discussions, chapter review sessions, as well as procedures and clinics on their assigned rotation.
The Liver Unit at Florida Hospital is also active in clinical research. Fellows may either select or be assigned research projects with faculty mentors. Each fellow is expected to present his/her work at scientific meetings.
Fellows in our training program will acquire but not limited to the following:
(a) A significant fund of knowledge about genetic markers of live disease, immunology, virology and other pathophysiological mechanisms of liver injury
(b) skill in the performance of limited number of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
(c) diagnosis and management of patients with a wide variety of diseases of liver and biliary tract system including acute hepatitis, fulminant hepatic failure, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and management of its complication, diagnosis and treatment of metabolic, autoimmune and genetic liver diseases, management of gallbladder diseases, liver disorders associated with pregnancy
(d) Use of antiviral agents in the treatment of liver disease
(e) Selection and care of patients awaiting and following liver transplantation including understanding of use of immunosuppressive agents, diagnosis and management of rejection, recognition and management of other complications of transplantation such as certain infections, biliary tract and vascular problems
(f) Management of nutrition in patients with liver disease
(g) An understanding of the principles of experimental design, clinical biostatistics and epidemiology sufficient to critically interpret the medical literature
(h) Liver imaging modalities including interpretation of computed tomography, magnetic resonance based techniques, hepatic angiography and ultrasound including Doppler evaluation of hepatic vasculature
(i) Diagnosis, screening and management of liver tumors including Hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma