I am originally from Los Angeles, and I came up through the UCLA system for undergraduate, medical school and residency. I was an internal medicine chief resident at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. That was followed by a fellowship in clinical gastroenterology at UC San Francisco and a basic research fellowship at UCLA in the lab of the late John Walsh, MD. I had the opportunity to train in ERCP with the late Stu Sherman, MD at UCLA when advanced endoscopy fellowships were pretty rare! Dick Kozarek, MD became an important ERCP mentor for me as a result of making innumerable trips back and forth to Seattle to watch and learn from the master.
I have pursued an academic track for my whole career (with the exception of a single year of private practice in Irvine, California). Having become part of the NYU Department of Gastroenterology after I moved to New York City in 2001, I introduced advanced endoscopy, including EUS, to Bellevue Hospital (the oldest public hospital in the US) and the Manhattan VA Medical Center.
In 2007, I moved to the Geisinger system, where I created an advanced endoscopy fellowship which has been going on for 18 years. While I was at Geisinger, I became the director of therapeutic endoscopy and the director of the Therapeutic Endoscopy Fellowship program – roles that I held until last year.
I have worked closely with the ASGE for my entire career, and I was privileged to serve on its Technology and Reimbursement committees. Finally, it is worth noting that I am a senior associate editor for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the immediate past president of the Pennsylvania Society of Gastroenterology.