Gastrointestinal & Hepatobiliary Pathology Fellowship
The Department of Pathology offers a one-year fellowship in Gastrointestinal & Hepatobiliary Pathology (Selective Pathology) that is ACGME accredited. The fellowship training primarily focuses on the diagnostic aspects of adult and pediatric gastrointestinal, liver, pancreas and biliary tract disease. The consultation service receives nearly 1500 outside consultations (60-70% medical and neoplastic liver, 30-40% tubular GI and pancreaticobiliary). The fellow also coordinates the consultations for challenging cases from in-house gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary as well as the liver transplant services. UCSF has an active Transplant Program that performs more than 150 liver transplants every year, and a large pediatric/adult IBD program, providing rich diagnostic material in these areas. The fellows participate in multidisciplinary clinical conferences, including liver transplant, hepatology/gastroenterology conferences, pediatric gastroenterology conference, as well as other ad hoc clinical case reviews with the pertinent clinical Hepatobiliary and GI teams. The workflow in GI and Hepatobiliary Pathology service is completely digitized offering a unique experience in digital pathology and offering the choice of digital vs. glass slides review for nearly all the clinical cases.
There are numerous research opportunities and the service extensively uses cutting edge immunohistochemistry, molecular techniques and sequencing assays. The fellows work at Moffitt, Mission Bay and VA Hospitals; elective experience in endoscopy, molecular pathology and other subspecialties of surgical pathology is available.
Additional years of post-doctoral level training may be available for qualified candidates with an interest in basic research in hepatobiliary & gastrointestinal disease. Candidates who are interested in general surgical pathology fellowship, in addition to GI and hepatobiliary pathology subspecialty training, may be offered a two-year combined training experience (see surgical pathology fellowship webpage for details).
UCSF Gastrointestinal & Hepatobiliary Pathology Group
Back row (left to right): Dana Balitzer, Kester Haye, Aras Mattis, Nancy Joseph, Sanjay Kakar, Ryan Gill.
Front row (left to right): Raga Ramachandran, Soo-Jin Cho, Sarah Umetsu, Kwen Wun, Linda Ferrell, Grace Kim.
Faculty Involved with Fellowship
Sanjay Kakar, MD
Grace E. Kim, MD
Ryan M. Gill, MD, PhD
Rageshree Ramachandran, MD, PhD
Sarah E. Umetsu, MD, PhD
Won-Tak Choi, MD, PhD
Nancy M. Joseph, MD, PhD
Kwun Wah Wen, MD, PhD
Dana Balitzer, MD, PhD
Soo-Jin Cho, MD, PhD
Requirements
- Two completed years anatomic pathology minimum (3 years preferred), or Board eligibility/certification in AP/CP.
- Non-U.S. citizens must possess a Permanent Resident Card or an appropriate educational visa prior to starting a postgraduate medical education program. The Department of Pathology may sponsor J1 visas.
- If selected, candidates must obtain an unrestricted medical license or a Postgraduate Training License (PTL) from the Medical Board of California before their start date.
Salary
Fellows will be appointed as a PGY-5.
UCSF GME Trainee Financial Resources
Application
The UCSF Gastrointestinal & Hepatobiliary Pathology Fellowship program will be accepting applications for the 2027-2028 academic cycle starting April 24, 2025.
To apply, please submit the CAP Residents Forum Standardized fellowship application along with your curriculum vitae, a personal statement of interest, the Applicant Diversity Data form and a photo of yourself in JPEG or PDF format. Three letters of recommendation should be sent directly from your recommenders and or program coordinator, also in PDF file format. All application materials are to be submitted in a PDF file format via email to the Fellowship Program Administrator, Suria Sadat.
For the best experience, we recommend downloading the application using the link below and opening it with Adobe Acrobat software to complete the fillable PDF form.
The program does not discriminate with regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, gender transition status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics), genetic information (including family medical history), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or service in the uniformed services, including protected veterans.
Current & Future Fellows
2024-25
Nazire Albayrak, MD
Xiaoqin (Lucy) Liu, MD, PhD
2025-26
Goknur Akarca, MD
Maryam Kooshesh, MD
2026-27
Lois Dodson, MD, PhD
Zhengfan Xu, MD
Past Fellows
| Individual | Fellowship Years | Fellowship Activity | Post Graduate or Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annoel P. Yabes, MD | 2005-2006 | HCC Variants | Independent Contractor |
| Lawrence Walden Browne, MD, PhD | 2006-2007 | Resident Education; FS diagnosis of fatty change for donors; Interobserver study pre and post training on how to grade fat that showed improvement | Staff Pathologist, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA |
| Hubert H. Fenton, MD | 2007-2008 | Hemochromatosis and liver transplant risks | Staff Pathologist, Pathology Associates, Greenville, SC |
| Kimberley Evason, MD, PhD | 2008-2009 | PFIC2 morphology correlation with genetic and immunohistochemical findings | Staff Pathologist, Department of Pathology, University of Utah/Huntsman Cancer Institute |
| Maggie M. Lam, MD | 2008-2009 | HFE mutations in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency | Staff Pathologist, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Oakland, California |
| Raga Ramachandran, MD, PhD |
2008-2009 | Resident education: immunohistochemistry for diagnosis of HCC | Professor & Director of Medical Education, University of California San Francisco |
| Ryan M. Gill, MD, PhD | 2009-2010 | Centrizonal arterialization in NASH correlates with higher stage fibrosis | Professor and Director of Anatomic Pathology Laboratories, University of California, San Francisco |
| Aras Mattis, MD, PhD | 2009-2010 | Vascular liver tumor variants | Assistant Professor in Pathology, University of California, San Francisco |
| Andrea Pingitore, MD | 2009-2010 | Recurrent hepatitis C and steatosis in transplant patients; Neonatal, perinatal obstructive live disease | Genomic Health |
| Amanda Doherty, MD | 2010-2011 | Resident Education; HIV, solid organ transplant, and recurrent HCV | Staff Pathologist, Kaiser Medical Center, Santa Clara, CA |
| Gregor Krings, MD, PhD | 2010-2011 | Immunohistologic distinction between cholangiocarcinoma and benign ductular lesions | Anatomic Pathologist, Cleveland Clinic Main Campus |
| Soo-Jin Cho, MD, PhD | 2011-2012 | Vascular malformations; FNH-like lesions in the liver | Associate Professor in Pathology, University of California San Francisco |
| Daniel Phillips, MD | 2011-2012 | Immunohistochemical stains in the diagnosis of poorly differentiated HCC | Staff Pathologist, Sierra Pathology Associates, Clovis, CA |
| Thuy B. Nguyen, MD | 2012-2013 | Immunohistochemistry of primary liver tumors | Staff Pathologist, Mills Peninsula Health Services, South San Francisco, CA |
| Samip Patel, MD | 2012-2013 | Well differentiated hepatocellular tumors and combined HCC/cholangiocarcinoma | Staff Pathologist, Atlanta VA Medical Center, Atlanta, Georgia |
| Mojgan Hosseini, MD | 2013-2014 | Segmental cholangiectasia and recurrent pyogenic cholangitis; ductular reaction mimicking cholangiocarcinoma; pediatric cholestatic liver disorders | Clinical Professor in Pathology, University of California San Diego |
| Menaku Raju, MD | 2013-2014 | Carcinosarcoma of the esophagus | Staff Pathologist, Kaiser Medical Center, San Jose, CA |
| Gillian Hale (Genrich), MD | 2014-2015 | Beta-catenin mutations in hepatocellular adenoma; glutamine synthetase immunohistochemistry in liver tumors | Faculty Pathologist, University of Utah, Salt lake City, UT |
| Sarah Umestu, MD, PhD | 2014-2015 | Grading and staging of appendiceal mucinous neoplasms; GNAQ mutations in anastomosing hemangioma | Associate Professor; Medical Director, Pathology Gross Room and Immunohistochemistry Laboratory; Director, Surgical Pathology Fellowship |
| Carolyn Sangokoya, MD, PhD | 2014-2015 | Hepatic iron homeostasis; MiR-485-3p and MiR-122 in liver development and disease | Assistant Professor, Sangokoya Lab, UCSF |
| Won-Tak Choi, MD PhD | 2015-2016 | Flow cytometric analysis of dysplasia in Barrett esophagus; Small vs large droplet macrovesicular steatosis in liver transplant biopsies; gastric pyloric gland adenoma | Professor in Pathology, University of California San Francisco |
| Rocky Adams, MD | 2015-2016 | Genetics of hepatocellular adenoma | Staff Pathologist, Saint George, UT |
| Christos Tsokos, MD, PhD | 2015-2016 | TERT promoter mutations in combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma | Postdoctoral research fellow Kingston laboratory & Attending on the GI Liver Pathology service at Mass General Hospital, Boston, MA |
| Zhen Yan, MD | 2015-2017 | Staging system for fibrolamellar carcinoma; immunohistochemical pitfalls in hepatic angiomyolipoma | Staff Pathologist, Diagnostic Pathology Medical group, Vallejo, CA |
| Su-Yang Liu, MD, PhD | 2016-2017 | Tumor deposits in colorectal cancer; whole slide imaging for primary diagnosis of GI biopsies | Pathologist, MERCK |
| Kwun Wah Wen, MD, PhD | 2017-2018 | Immature B-cells in adult and pediatric liver biopsies; genomics of appendiceal goblet carcinoid | Associate Professor in Pathology, University of California San Francisco |
| Daniel Roberts, MD | 2017-2018 | Pathologic features predicting recurrence of HCC after transplant | Staff pathologist, Cleveland Clinic, OH |
| Kester Haye, MD, PhD | 2018-2019 | Characterization of colonic adenocarcinomas with neuroendocrine features | Faculty, Dept. of Pathology, Univ of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA |
| Dana Balitzer, MD | 2018-2019 | - Genomic features of cholangiolocellular carcinoma - Novel markers for distinguishing benign vs. malignant biliary proliferations |
Assistant Professor, University of California San Francisco |
| Daffolyn Rachael Fels Elliott, MD, PhD, FRCPC | 2019-2020 | Parenchymal rejection in allograft livers | Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology The University of Kansas Health System |
| Christopher Bowman, MD, PhD | 2019-2020 | Nanostring RNA analysis in subtypes of hepatocellular adenoma | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UCSF |
| Hsiang-Chih Liu, MD, PhD | 2020-2021 | Neuroendocrine markers in colorectal adenocarcinoma | Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX |
| Nigar Anjuman Khurram, MD | 2020-2021 | Histological Eosinophilic Gastritis | Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Ruth Zhang, MD | 2021-2022 | Aneuploidy in gastric intestinal metapalsia | Pathologist, Peninsula Pathologists |
| Raymond Yip, MD, MSc | 2021-2022 | Genomic Profiling of LFABP-Negative Moderately to Poorly Differentiated Hepatocellular Carcinoma | Staff Pathologist, Royal Jubilee Hospital/Victoria General Hospital, Victoria, Canada |
| Naoki Akanuma, MD, PhD | 2022-2023 | DNA content abnormality in fundic gland polyps | Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis |
| Alexander Kikuchi, MD | 2022-2023 | Genomic Analysis in the Categorization of Poorly-Differentiated Primary Liver Carcinomas | Assistant Professor GI/Liver Pathology, University of Utah Health, Huntsman Cancer Institute |
| Dorukhan Bahceci, MD | 2023-2024 | Serrated epithelial change in inflammatory bowel disease. | Clinical fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
| Eric Nguyen, MD, PhD | 2023-2024 | Clinicopathologic features and outcomes of hepatic inflammatory pseudotumour (IPT) and hepatic IPT-like lesions. | Pathologist, Cellnetix Pathology and Laboratories |