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Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship

About The Department of Medicine

In 1823 the Department of Medicine started the first in-hospital residency training program in the country with two residents who were required to pay $300 to cover expenses of their training. Over the years, professors of medicine have made significant contributions to the field of infectious diseases, including discovering the cause of an outbreak of yellow fever in Baltimore in the late 19th century.

Under the 32-year chairmanship of Dr. Maurice C. Pincoffs in the early to mid-1900's, the Department blossomed with a large clinical service and substantial commitment to teaching residents and students. Dr. Theodore E. Woodward joined the Department in 1948 as the first full-time faculty member and aided Dr. Pincoffs in a major reorganization of the Department into subspecialty divisions. Dr. Woodward was appointed the first full-time professor and Chairman of the Department in 1954 and guided its development until 1981 with expansion of the clinical and research programs. In 1984, Dr. John A. Kastor assumed the chairmanship. Under his leadership, prominent research and clinical faculty were recruited nearly doubling the size of the faculty to its current level of 185 members.

Since assuming the chairmanship of the Department in 1999, Dr. William Henrich has recruited several prominent members to the faculty of approximately 200 full-time individuals. With over $85 million in annual direct grant and contract support and over $100 million in total support (direct and indirect), the Department has about 60 NIH RO1 awards, over 350 active research awards, including a newly funded GCRC, Claude D. Pepper Center for Geriatric Research and Education, a HCFA demonstration project in cardiology, new collaborative projects to study COPD and diabetes, 12 NIH funded Career Development awards, and multiple NIH-funded training grants.

As part of the University of Maryland School of the Medicine, the Department is an active participant in a variety of educational and research activities. The continued emphasis on excellence in education and in clinical and basic science research has fostered a strong academic and patient care environment for training in general medicine and the subspecialties.


This page was last updated on: December 12, 2007.

For patient inquiries, call 1-800-492-5538 or If you prefer, you may call the division directly at 410-328-5780.