The Division is housed at both the University and Veterans Administration Hospitals. The Division is the major referral center for the Intermountain area, and thus sees a wide variety of both common and uncommon gastrointestinal and hepatic diseases. There are clinical protocols for laser photosensitization of GI malignancies, laser treatment of Barrett's esophagus, methotrexate treatment of sclerosing cholangitis and primary biliary cirrhosis and laser treatment of familial polyposis. A GI genetics program attracts many patients with inherited disorders of the liver and GI tract. Junior residents in internal medicine and general surgery rotate on the GI service and participate in the inpatient and outpatient clinics.
Residents learn flexible proctosigmoidoscopy and become familiar with other endoscopic procedures.
There is a three year fellowship program with the third year in hepatology, therapeutic endoscopy or research. Two or three new fellowships are offered each year. Approximately 300 new patients are seen each month and approximately 400 endoscopic procedures are performed each month. The fellows and residents do all of the procedures. The fellows work in either the VA or University outpatient clinic for eighteen months at a time and follow their own patients for that time period.