Nothing gives Dr. Sohail Shaikh more professional pleasure than to “translate from bench to bedside” the research and cutting-edge techniques he acquired during his years at Seton Hall’s School of Health and Medical Sciences.
“It’s just been exhilarating to work with some of the best in the world to help shape the direction of GI (gastrointestinal) care and to now apply those principles to patients,” says Dr. Shaikh, who grew up in Ewing Township, NJ.
University Medical Center in Tucson. “With the burgeoning epidemic of obesity, I sought to learn more advanced techniques in addressing this disease with endoscopic surgical procedures as an alternative to traditional surgery,” he says.
It all began after the 2002 graduate of the Universidad Tecnologica de Santiago Medical School in the Dominican Republic came to Seton Hall as a resident in Internal Medicine (IM) at St. Michael’s Medical Center, in Newark, a core affiliate of SHMS.
At the conclusion of his fellowships, Shaikh had mastered virtually all endoscopic procedures. Among them were endoscopic ultrasound studies and advanced endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreotography (commonly called ERCP), a procedure to examine the ductal architecture of the gallbladder and pancreas. He is also proficient in intraluminal stenting suturing, used to close intestinal defects and perform endoscopic surgery.
Under the watchful eye of Ernest Federici, MD, the program director for IM, and Dr. Ted DaCosta Jr., associate program director, Dr. Shaikh developed into a stellar resident and, in July 2005, became the chief resident in the IM training program at St. Michael’s. “I would not be where I am today if it were not for the education and guidance of many, but most notably Drs. DaCosta and Walid Baddoura,” Dr. Shaikh says. “Teaching is a challenging art and their thoughtprovoking and balanced approach to practicing and teaching medicine and gastroenterology is an inspiration.” Accepted as a clinical fellow with SHMS’ Division of Gastroenterology, he honed his skills in gastrointestinal endoscopy, which employs sophisticated, flexible, fiber-optic tubes to explore the GI tract. In July 2009, when he completed training in his subspecialty, Dr. Shaikh sought to learn even more advanced procedures. That led him to two fellowships: one at Harvard University’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and then at the University of Arizona’s
Fully board-certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology, Dr. Shaikh returned to New Jersey last year and is now on the medical staffs of St. Michael’s and St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center. At the same time, he continues his research in GI endoscopy, with a focus on obesity, and adds to his extensive publication list. Mindful of the many who guided him, Shaikh has since returned to teaching at SHMS to begin passing on the complex procedures he learned to the young clinical fellows in the program. “The Seton Hall University gastroenterology fellowship program affords a wide clinical experience,” he says. “Complicated cases, for which we did not possess the surgical/medical expertise, led me to pursue further training and I am now excited to use what I have learned to benefit my patients and to teach my students.” 15