When Ali Rezaie, MD, arrived at Cedars-Sinai as the first GI motility fellow in 2012, few such fellowships were available in North America. Today, as medical director of GI Motility Medicine, Dr. Rezaie strives to increase training opportunities in his field.

“Up to 35 million people in the United States suffer from at least one GI motility disorder, but we have far fewer specialists than needed to serve these patients,” he says. “Cedars-Sinai houses one of the largest GI motility centers in the country, serving more than 7,000 patients per year.”

The volume and diversity of patients—some of whom seek out Cedars-Sinai from other countries—along with the breadth of the faculty’s expertise, makes the training program a unique opportunity for one funded fellow each year.

“We treat diseases that involve the movement of the gut from ‘gum to bum,’” Dr. Rezaie says. “Cedars-Sinai is exceptional because we provide services for the foregut, midgut and hindgut, while most programs focus narrowly on one area.”

Dr. Rezaie notes that fellows benefit from exposure to research methodology and clinical care. Such training isn’t widely available in part because GI motility is a relatively new field requiring advanced technology for disease detection.

“There is no shortage of large medical centers,” Dr. Rezaie says, “but the forward-thinking culture at Cedars-Sinai and the willingness to invest in technology are why our gastroenterology programs are so strong.”

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