Current Fellows
Chief Gastroenterology Fellow
Jacob Lipkin, MD
Year III
MS: Penn State University
R: UPMC
Fun Facts
Jake Lipkin, MD
Hometown: Doylestown, PA
Undergraduate College: Franklin & Marshall College (2012)
Career Interests: Advanced Endoscopy
Lives In: Shadyside
Life Outside of Medicine: Enjoy playing sports, going on hikes and to the park with my wife and doc, traveling (during non-COVID times)
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Going to the parks, exploring new breweries and restaurants
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Comradery among fellows.
Advanced Endoscopy Fellow
Stephanie Romutis, MD
Year IV
MS: Wake Forest University
R: Boston Medical Center
Fun Facts
Stephanie Romutis, MD
Hometown: Ottawa, Canada
Undergraduate College: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2011)
Career Interests: Advanced Endoscopy
Lives In: North Hills
Life Outside of Medicine: Continuing to refine my skills at wrangling my rambunctious 2.5 year old daughter and our new large breed ballistic missile puppy. Avid ice hockey fan (typical Canadian) and want-to-be master chef. Otherwise enjoy riding motocross, skiing, and spending as much time outside as possible.
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Very family friendly city with plenty of restaurants, breweries, and city parks that are easily accessible. Great sports city; even though I have loyalties to other teams, it’s easy to catch the black-and-gold fever. Plenty of festivals (such as Picklesburgh) that are always fun to explore.
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Getting the opportunity to work with and learn from my cofellows who are always supportive and a blast to work with. Our training facilities offer fantastic exposure to a wide breadth of clinical cases and pathology. Our faculty is very approachable and readily share their wealth of knowledge as well as their endoscopic expertise.
Advanced Transplant Hepatology Fellow
Nathalie A. Pena Polanco, MD
Year
MS: Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra-Dominican Republic
R: Jackson Memorial Hospital, University of Miami
Fun Facts
Nathalie Pena Polanco, MD, PhD
Hometown: Santiago, Dominican Republic
Undergraduate College: Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra
Career Interests: Liver disease
Lives In: Downtown Pittsburgh
Life Outside of Medicine: Mom to an amazing 4-year-old, love movies and outdoor activities
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Everything! It all still so new, I’m enjoying getting to know the city
Gastroenterology Fellows
Adeyinka Adejumo, MD
Year II
MS: University of Ibadan College of Medicine
R: North Shore Medical Center
Fun Facts
Adeyinka Adejumo, MD
Hometown: Nigeria
Undergraduate College: University of Ibadan (2009)
Career Interests: General GI, Hepatology, Pancreas
Lives In: Monroeville, PA
Life Outside of Medicine: Watch European soccer leagues
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Restaurants
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: The atmosphere in the program is quite friendly. All the fellows, chief fellow, faculty, and staff members are very nice and eager to help others. By rotating through several hospitals (VA, Presby, Montefiore, Shadyside, Magee) all within a very short distance, we get exposed to a diverse population of cases. I am so glad to be here!
Ricardo Cabello, MD
Year II
MS: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
R: Mt. Sinai Beth Israel
Fun Facts
Ricardo Cabello, MD
Hometown: Lima, Peru
Undergraduate College: University of Virginia (2009)
Career Interests: Hepatology
Lives In: Downtown Pittsburgh
Life Outside of Medicine: Enjoy playing soccer on the weekends. I have been surfing for many years and when on vacation (and able to travel), I usually go on surf trips about twice a year.
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: I like running down by the Point and eating in the Downtown and Lawrenceville restaurant scenes. Definitely enjoy going to watch the Steelers and Penguins play as well.
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Very supportive environment. I have had excellent mentors in Hepatology. My cofellows are very supportive and easy to work with.
Stela Celaj, MD, PhD
Year I
MS: Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
R: McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University
Fun Facts
Stela Celaj, MD, PhD
Undergraduate College: Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Career Interests: Hepatology
Lives In: Shadyside
Life Outside of Medicine: travel (precovid), pub trivia, volleyball, binge-watching HBO/Netflix, mochi (green tea, but I’ll be happy with other kinds too).
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: coffeeshops, walking around the many different neighborhoods and the parks! (so many)
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: my awesome co-fellows, supportive faculty, great exposure of diverse liver and GI pathology.
Kathan Chintamaneni, MD
Year II
MS: Medical College of Wisconsin
R: LAC + USC Medical Center
Fun Facts
Kathan Chintamaneni, MD
Hometown: Milwaukee, WI
Undergraduate College: Washington University in St. Louis, MO (2012)
Career Interests: General GI, Advanced Endoscopy
Lives In: Point Breeze
Life Outside of Medicine: Plant daddy, Zillow addict and obsessive Dyson user with an exercise addiction
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Exploring my new city on foot, trying out new coffee shops and breweries (not necessarily together) and finding spots with a nice view for picnics.
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Supportive attendings who care about their patients, hands-on training from day 1, and having a night float system is a big perk too! Definitely a better work-life balance with built in mechanisms to reduce burnout.
Wai Kan (Karen) Chiu, MD
Year III
MS: University of Pittsburgh
R: Weill Cornell Medicine
Fun Facts
Wai Kan (Karen ) Chiu, MD
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Undergraduate College: University of California at Berkeley (2003)
Career Interests: General GI, Hepatology
Lives In: Squirrel Hill
Life Outside of Medicine: Travel (when we were allowed to travel and when, hopefully, we are allowed to travel again), sushi sushi sushi, and dogs!
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Supporting local restaurants (I do takeouts during these COVID days, haha, oh well), strolling through neighborhoods
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: The fellows.
Furkan Ertem, MD
Year III
MS: Istanbul Universitesi
R: UPMC
Fun Facts
Furkan Ertem, MD
Hometown: Ankara, Turkey
Career Interests: Advanced IBD
Lives In: Shadyside
Life Outside of Medicine: Soccer, project coordinator at a NGO (Whitetulip Health Foundation)
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Playing soccer, Kayaking
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Clinical training from experts, supportive program leadership.
Jacqueline Estevez, MD
Year II
MS: Boston University School of Medicine
R: Cleveland Clinic
Fun Facts
Jacqueline Estevez, MD
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Career Interests: Hepatology
Lives In: Downtown Pittsburgh
Life Outside of Medicine: Hiking, traveling, exploring the city (restaurants, bars, art)
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Exploring various parks
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Friendly approachable colleagues, subspecialty consult services, night float system
Amir-Ali Ghaffari, MD
Year III
MS: University of Caifornia, Los Angeles
R: UPMC
Fun Facts
Hometown: Tehran, Iran
Undergrad: University of California, Irvine
Career Interests: IBD physician researcher
Lives In: Squirrel Hill
Life Outside of Medicine: Photography, drawing, spending time with friends and family, traveling
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Checking out different restaurants/neighborhoods, hiking, Pittsburgh symphony orchestra.
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: My colleagues, exposure to wide range of GI disorders, working at different hospital settings
Amir Gougol, MD
Year III
MS: Tehran University
R: UPMC
Fun Facts
Hometown: Tehran, Iran
Undergrad: Tehran University
Career Interests: Transplant Hepatology
Lives In: Squirrel Hill
Life Outside of Medicine: I enjoy reading fiction, writing short stories, and making short films.
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Biking historic trails
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: First, you work in quite different settings which provides you with a thrilling experience of every tricky case in the GI world. Second, having been part of a large group of amazing physicians, you can always text and have your answer right away from world-class experts in every single area of GI field.
Michal Kloska, MD, PhD
Year I
MS: Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine I, Poland
R: Lehigh Valley Health Network
Fun Facts
Hometown: Miedzyrzecz, Poland
Undergrad: Poznan University of Medical Sciences
Career Interests: General GI, Advanced Endoscopy
Lives In: Gibsonia
Life Outside of Medicine: I enjoy cooking new cuisines, reading about ancient history, and spending time with my wife
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Spending time with family in the Burgh and still exploring this awesome city.
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Diverse patient population and the amazing co-fellows and faculty
Zain Moosvi, MD
Year I
MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine
R: University of California – Irvine
Fun Facts
Hometown: Frederick, MD
Undergrad: University of Maryland
Career Interests: Advanced Endoscopy
Lives In: Shadyside
Life Outside of Medicine: Playing sports, working out, hanging out with friends
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Exploring the city and checking out the many parks
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: The fellows are all awesome and the attendings are very supportive and excellent instructors. The program is very strong clinically and procedurally heavy with ample exposure to all fields within GI.
Alan Noll, MD
Year I
MS: Tulane University School of Medicine
R: Emory University
Fun Facts
Alan Noll, MD
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Undergrad: Baldwin Wallace University
Career Interests: Transplant Hepatology, Bioethics, Implementation Science
Lives In: Oakland neighborhood
Life Outside of Medicine: Cooking (eating), golf, podcasts and kayaking
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Biking through Schenley Park, dining at Pusadee’s Garden and kayaking in North Park
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: All the supportive and welcoming co-fellows.
Joseph Sleiman, MD
Year I
MS: University of Balamand, Lebanon
R: Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Fun Facts
Hometown: Lebanon
Undergrad: University of Balamand
Career Interests: IBD, immunotherapy colitis and colorectal neoplasia
Lives In: Pittsburgh’s East End
Life Outside of Medicine: Hiking and camping trips, Comics fan, foodie, and raising a cat
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: kayaking and exploring parks
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Scoping!
Sunny Tao, MD
Year III
MS: University of Pittsburgh
R: UPMC
Fun Facts
Sunny Tao, MD
Hometown: Centerville, OH
Career Interests: Hepatology
Lives In: South Side
Life Outside of Medicine: Hiking with my dog, cooking/grilling, photography, binge-watching Netflix
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Exploring new restaurants, walks at Frick Park and the riverside
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Co-fellows, night float system, clinically strong and procedurally heavy training, broad exposure to complex GI pathology (IBD, PB, liver transplant)
Nelson Valentin, MD
Year II
MS: University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine
R: Mt. Sinai Beth Israel
Fun Facts
Nelson Valentin, MD
Hometown: Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Undergraduate College: University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus (2011)
Career Interests: Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders and Functional GI
Lives In: Squirrel Hill
Life Outside of Medicine: I enjoy reading, playing sports, and spending time with my dog Ollie
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Going to Frick Park, hiking, golfing, and trying new restaurants
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: UPMC offers world class, nationally ranked care in an environment that provides the support and resources for you to succeed as an academic gastroenterologist. There is a well rounded exposure to a diverse set of pathologies and there is plenty of collaboration across departments to facilitate learning while providing high quality care. I enjoy the comradery among the fellows and the approachability of the faculty. There are always exciting, cutting edge medical advancements occurring at UPMC and you get to play in integral part of it. It is an excellent place to train.
Jonathan Wilen, MD
Year II
MS: University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
R: Columbia University Irving Medicine Center
Fun Facts
Jonathan Wilen, MD
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Undergraduate College: University of Michigan (2012)
Career Interests: Advanced Endoscopy or General GI
Lives In: Shadyside/East Liberty
Life Outside of Medicine: Playing sports (ice hockey, soccer) and exploring new restaurants with my wife and friends
Favorite things to do in Pittsburgh: Exploring different neighborhoods, going to concerts, eating diverse foods, and walking through Schenley and Mellon Parks
Favorite things about the UPMC GI Fellowship: Broad spectrum of faculty expertise (get to round with generalists, hepatologists, IBD experts, advanced endoscopists, etc.), early scoping experience (EGD on day one!), awesome co-fellows who are both hardworking and relaxed
Contact Us
Division of Gastroenterology,
Hepatology and Nutrition
Mezzanine Level, C-Wing, PUH
200 Lothrop Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-864-7091 | Email