When Mark Pochapin, MD, director of the division of gastroenterology at New York City-based NYU Langone Health, came to the system in 2012, the GI division was relatively small and fragmented across several hospitals.
Today, it has become one of the fastest-growing and highest-ranked GI programs in the country.
Over the past decade, the division has expanded from roughly 20 faculty members to more than 130 core academic physicians, increased patient visits from about 11,000 to more than 500,000 annually and grown clinical research from about 15 studies to more than 145 active trials.
Much of that expansion has come through aggressive recruitment. When Dr. Pochapin joined NYU Langone, his initial contract allowed him to recruit 10 physicians. Over time, he has recruited more than 100 clinicians and researchers to the division, helping build specialized programs and expand services across the health system’s growing hospital network.
Dr. Pochapin said the growth was made possible by a unique leadership structure, a deliberate focus on culture and a strategy centered on patient-centered multidisciplinary programs.
“It was like a green, fertile oasis,” Dr. Pochapin said of the division when he arrived. “We had the substrate. We just needed to bring the people and the expertise.”
Building one division across multiple hospitals
One of the first challenges Dr. Pochapin faced was integrating gastroenterology services across multiple hospitals within the health system. At the time, the division had faculty across three major sites in New York City: Tisch Hospital, Bellevue Hospital and the VA hospital in Manhattan.
The division faculty now operate across six hospitals, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island and ambulatory practices across the region.
The goal was to operate as a unified academic GI division despite the geographic expansion.
“We work collaboratively and have the highest-quality, advanced expertise and care available across every campus,” Dr. Pochapin said. “If someone is hospitalized in Brooklyn or Long Island and needs highly specialized care like a liver transplant, we work together in an integrated fashion to bring them safely to our Manhattan campus. Our physicians hold conferences together and run clinical trials together.”
The division has also grown its clinical footprint dramatically. In 2012, the program performed roughly 2,000 procedures annually. Today, it performs more than 95,000.
That growth has been paired with significant academic expansion as well, including $44 million in philanthropic support and a rise in national rankings from roughly No. 37 to No. 4 in the U.S.
A culture-first approach to growth
For Dr. Pochapin, building the division has been as much about culture as it has been about strategy.
As he recruited more than 100 physicians, he followed a consistent set of principles.
First, candidates had to be among the best in their field. Second, they needed to be clinicians he would trust with his own family members. And third, they had to fit the culture.
“I call it my Prime Directive: ‘No prima donnas,’” Dr. Pochapin said. “If all you care about is yourself and your own career, this isn’t the place for you.”
Instead, the division emphasizes a collaborative model in which success is shared across the group.
“I tell everyone to imagine us arm in arm,” he said. “If one person jumps, everyone elevates.”
That philosophy, he said, has helped create a sense of communal pride within the division.
“When someone succeeds, the whole group celebrates,” Dr. Pochapin said.
Patient-centered programs drive expansion
Another cornerstone of the division’s growth has been the creation of multidisciplinary programs built around specific diseases.
When Dr. Pochapin arrived, the division had a single major program focused on hepatology and liver transplantation. Today, it includes seven integrated programs, including inflammatory bowel disease, advanced endoscopy, esophageal disorders, pancreatic disease and colorectal cancer screening.
Each program brings together specialists from multiple disciplines.
“In our Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, medicine, surgery, infusion therapy, psychosocial care, nutrition and clinical trials are all in one place,” Dr. Pochapin said. “Patients feel like it’s one-stop care.”
The programs also extend across NYU Langone’s growing hospital network, allowing patients to access the same expertise regardless of location.
From the patient’s perspective, he said, departmental boundaries should not exist. “Patients don’t care what department or division their doctors are from” Dr. Pochapin said. “They just want the best care.”
The next wave of innovation in GI
Looking ahead, Dr. Pochapin believes several emerging technologies will reshape gastroenterology over the next decade.
AI is already beginning to assist physicians during colonoscopy by helping detect and measure polyps more accurately.
“I always say I have a policy: ‘Leave no polyp behind,’” he said.
AI tools are also improving documentation and clinical workflows. NYU Langone uses an ambient documentation system that generates clinical notes during patient visits.
“It’s the first technology I’ve used that actually brings me closer to the patient,” Dr. Pochapin said. “It takes me off the keyboard so I can really listen.”
Beyond AI, he expects molecular diagnostics to dramatically improve disease detection.
Advances in genomics and biomarker analysis could enable physicians to diagnose gastrointestinal diseases through minimally invasive testing such as blood or stool samples.
“We’re going to have markers that help us diagnose disease earlier and predict which patients will develop cancer,” he said.
Endoscopic technology is also evolving rapidly, with robotic tools that may allow physicians to perform increasingly complex procedures from inside the body without traditional surgery.
“Many procedures that used to require surgery are already being done endoscopically,” Dr. Pochapin said.
Expanding the reach of colon cancer screening
Prevention remains a central focus of Dr. Pochapin’s work, particularly in colorectal cancer screening.
Despite growing awareness, screening rates still lag in many populations. Dr. Pochapin believes the most important message is simple: some screening is always better than none. “The best test is the one that gets done,” he said.
While colonoscopy remains the gold standard, he said other options, including stool-based or blood-based tests, can help reach patients who might otherwise avoid screening. “If someone won’t get a colonoscopy, we need to offer alternatives,” he said.
Still, he emphasizes that positive results from those tests ultimately require colonoscopy for diagnosis and treatment.
Improving education and reducing barriers such as cost, access and misinformation will be critical to improving screening rates, he said.
Keeping the patient at the center
Despite the rapid pace of innovation, Dr. Pochapin believes the most important element of medicine will remain unchanged: the relationship between physicians and patients. He often quotes one of his mentors to illustrate the point. “Holding a hand is sometimes more important than examining it,” he said.
Technology, he believes, should ultimately serve a larger purpose, giving patients better outcomes and more hope.
“A healthy person has a thousand wishes,” Dr. Pochapin said. “A sick person has only one — to be well.”
