Goldgraber Fellowship

Overview

The University of Chicago’s commitment to excellence has made us a leader and innovator in medicine for more than 75 years. Our scientists and physicians have earned worldwide recognition for the outstanding quality of their research, teaching and patient care. Of the 87 Nobel Prize winners associated with the University, 12 were honored for accomplishments in physiology or medicine; 40 current faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The University of Chicago Medicine is consistently ranked among the finest medical institutions in the nation.

The Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition exemplifies the University’s strengths in biomedical research and patient care. It is among a handful of programs at the forefront of GI genetics research and a leader in the development of new therapies and clinical protocols for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. The Section includes renowned investigators and clinicians who participate in vigorous research and patient care programs in immunology, liver diseases, gastrointestinal cancers, and nutritional disorders.

The Dr. Moshe B. Goldgraber Advanced Fellowship Training Program in Digestive Diseases and Related Disorders provides unique opportunities for talented young Israeli physicians and scientists to pursue clinical or basic research in the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Chicago. The Fellowship, which offers candidates active involvement in the specialized research methods and clinical expertise needed to become independent investigators and clinicians, will fund advanced study in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago for up to two years, depending on the candidate’s research interests and the commitment of the sponsoring institution. This fellowship will honor the most promising young researchers and physicians. These young people, who are the future of gastroenterology care, will return to Israel to share their training with others and make significant contributions to advance the research and treatment of gastroenterology disorders. The Section’s clinical programs have consistently ranked in the U.S.News and World Report annual Best Hospital rankings.

Download the Goldgraber and poster

FELLOWSHIP GUIDELINES

• Applicants must have completed an accredited GI Fellowship prior to beginning this program.
• The Fellowship is offered to Israeli citizens who have an MD, a PhD, or both degrees.
• All citizens of Israel, regardless of gender or religion, are eligible for the Fellowship.
• Candidates with an MD degree who have already completed their Internal Medicine training and gastroenterology training with clinical research experience are preferred. Candidates whose sole interest is clinical gastroenterology (i.e., those who do not have research interests) will also be considered.
• Candidates with a PhD degree need not have prior research experience in the field of digestive diseases, but must have an interest in pursuing digestive disease related research at the University of Chicago (i.e., diet and pharmacology).
• Applicants from each of the five medical schools in Israel, as well as the Weizmann Institute, may be nominated for the Fellowship. Independent and referral candidates from other institutions will also be considered.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English is required.
• Fellowship recipients are expected to return to Israel after completing their fellowship

CFMG/Temporary Licensing

Clinical candidates must be ECFMG-certified by passing the Steps 1 & 2 Clinical Skills components of the US Medical Licensing Exam for temporary licensing to practice in the United States, and to obtain a category J visitor visa. See http://www.ecfmg.org/ for more information.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Individuals interested in this Fellowship should submit the following:
• A letter of recommendation from the Dean or department head of the institution with which the candidate is currently affiliated;
• A second letter of recommendation from a direct supervisor personally familiar with the candidate’s research if this individual is someone other than the Dean or department head;
• A letter from the candidate outlining his or her current interests and work, career goals and the professional and personal benefits he or she seeks from the Fellowship;
• The candidate’s curriculum vitae and bibliography;
• A photocopy of the appropriate identifying page from a valid Israeli passport.

APPLICATION FORM:

The application form may be found here: Adv.-IBD-Fellowship-Application.You must have Adobe Acrobat to open this document

The application form may be returned electronically or by postal mail.

PLEASE SEND APPLICATIONS TO:

Anna Gomberg
The University of Chicago Medicine
MC 4076
5841 S. Maryland Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60637
or email to: ibdcenter@uchicago.edu

The application deadline is November 1, 2018 for the academic year beginning July 1, 2019. Clinical research applicants will be sponsored by the University of Chicago Medicine’s Graduate Medical Education Office via the ECFMG Program. Basic research applicants will be sponsored by the University of Chicago in order to obtain a J-1visa. Final candidates will be chosen by a Peer-Review Selection Committee.

Dr. Moshe B. Goldgraber was born in Zamosc, Poland and received his medical education at the University of Padua in Italy. He graduated from medical school just as the Nazi armies overran Poland. Unable to return home to his family, he made his way to Palestine in 1939.

His medical career began on Mount Scopus at HadassahHospital’s Institute of Pathology under Professor Herman Zondek. Later, in the 1940’s, he moved to the Tel-Aviv area and began his specialization in internal medicine at Beilinson and Assuta Hospitals. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, he joined the team of physicians who laid the foundations of the fledgling government hospital system. His own clinical base became the wellknown Tel-Hashomer Hospital near Tel-Aviv.

In 1952 Dr. Goldgraber was a member of Israel’s first team of physicians sent to the U.S. for specialized training in their chosen fields. On arriving in Chicago in 1952, he contacted the section on gastroenterology of Billings Hospital at the University of Chicago, initiating what would become an illustrious collaboration over more than a decade with Drs. Walter L. Palmer, Joseph B. Kirsner, and other staff members.

During his years at the GI Section, Dr. Goldgraber, in collaboration with Dr. Kirsner, demonstrated the capacity of the colon to react immunologically and helped define some of its immunological potential. These observations sparked an expansion of experimental and clinical research in the area that continues to this day. Dr. Goldgraber also helped to define the classic histological features of the tissue reaction in ulcerative colitis, particularly, the nature of granulomatous inflammation of the colon, which is characteristic of inflammatory bowel disease.

In 1965 Dr. Goldgraber returned to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and to the Hebrew University Medical School, continuing his work in internal medicine as well as heading the Department of Allergy, until his retirement in 1982. In addition, he took on the remarkable task of being the attending physician at the renowned Hansen (Leprosy) Hospital in Jerusalem, to which he had been devoted for more than 30 years. Dr. Goldgraber was active in medicine well into his 80s. In November 2007, he passed away in Jerusalem