The Therapeutic Endoscopy Training Fellowship at UBC was established by Dr. Michael Byrne and Dr. Rob Enns in 2006, and has significantly expanded in scope since that time. Initially just an ERCP training program, it now includes EUS and also the type of NOTES procedures that are driven by a hybrid of EUS and ERCP techniques, including pancreatic necrosectomies and EUS-guided bile duct and gallbladder drainage procedures. In addition, there is a wide range of enteral stenting techniques, intraductal cholangioscopy, and other advanced therapeutic procedures.
The fellowship program takes two fellows each year, with each spending 6 months at Vancouver General Hospital and 6 months at St Paul’s Hospital. Fellows can expect to perform close to 1000 ERCPs and over 700 EUS procedures in their year with us. Due to the one-year nature of our program (where many programs run for two years to teach both ERCP and EUS), we generally take candidates who already have some ERCP and/or EUS training so that they can avail of the intense exposure during our one year program.
We also have a track record in this program of clinical research, and we encourage and expect that fellows will be involved in both retrospective and prospective research, and that this results in presentation at national and international meetings and also leads to publication.