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CHLA In the News

Gastroenterology Team Welcomes 5 Fellows in 2022

New endoscopy fellowship is one of several advanced GI training opportunities at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Travis Piester, MD
Travis Piester, MD

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is one of a handful of academic medical centers around the country to offer numerous advanced training opportunities in pediatric gastroenterology and hepatology.

In July, the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition will welcome five trainees in four different fellowships—including the team’s newest training program in pediatric and adult advanced endoscopy.

The new fellowship is a partnership with the Division of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases at Keck Medicine of USC and is co-led by Travis Piester, MD, Director of Advanced Endoscopy at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and James Buxbaum, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical Scholar) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

This year’s fellows will also participate in three other training programs: Pediatric Gastroenterology, Pediatric Liver Transplant Hepatology and Pediatric Advanced Gastroenterology Nutrition.

Both the gastroenterology and transplant hepatology fellowships are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The GI nutrition and advanced endoscopy fellowships are one-year, non-ACGME-accredited programs.

Below is a full list of the GI division’s 2022 fellows:

Gastroenterology (ACGME-accredited) 
Michael Hook, MD 
University of Texas Southwestern

Sindhura Kasturi, MBBS 
SUNY Downstate Health Science University

Liver Transplant Hepatology (ACGME-accredited)   
Christopher Chu, MD 
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Advanced Gastroenterology Nutrition 
Jessica Deas, MD 
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Advanced Endoscopy 
Chathruckan Rajendra, MD 
University of California, San Francisco

For more information on GI fellowships and advanced training opportunities at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, contact Melissa Almanzan at MAlmanzan@chla.usc.edu.

Watch this video about the Gastroenterology Fellowship.