September 2025

GASTROENTEROLOGY

WELCOME OUR NEW MEDICAL DIRECTOR FOR INNOVATION AND TRAINING

Featuring: Amrita Sethi, MD
Amrita Sethi, MD, joins us as medical director of Innovation and Training for Northwestern Medicine Digestive Health Institute. Dr. Sethi will also serve as medical director for the Northwestern Medicine GI Center for Advanced Endoscopy at Central DuPage Hospital, slated to open in spring 2026.
 
Dr. Sethi brings a wealth of experience and passion for fostering innovation to help provide the highest level of patient care possible. Dr. Sethi specializes in digestive and liver disorders, gastroenterology and cancer, as well as endoscopic treatment of pancreaticobiliary diseases.
 
In this Q&A, Dr. Sethi shares her career journey and her vision for her new roles.
 
What made you pursue a career in health care?
I see it as a way to combine my love for science and innovation with core values of empathy, justice, service and empowerment. I also love the privilege of being able to be a part of patients’ stories.
 
What’s your biggest opportunity as the medical director of Innovation and Training?
To help build and lead a state-of-the art team and a center that will:
  • Achieve clinical excellence in GI care.
  • Participate in research and generate the data that will guide that care to always optimize patient outcomes and safety.
  • Develop education and training programs for both the current and future generation of GI providers.
  • Foster the creation and adoption of innovation into practice so that we are continually providing the best care to our patients.
There is immense opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across all the fields that we touch in order to achieve our mutual goals of clinical excellence.
 
What excites you the most about the opening of the Northwestern Medicine Digestive Health Institute’s GI Center for Advanced Endoscopy, and what innovative approaches do you plan to implement there?
I am very excited about bringing state-of-the-art advanced endoscopy procedures to the patients both within and outside of the Northwestern network. We will offer third-space endoscopy, in which we can perform organ-sparing, curative resection techniques of early GI cancers as well as life-changing procedures for patients with motility disorders.
 
Therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound is another rapidly accelerating field in which we can provide alternatives to surgical procedures to patients that may be at higher risk of undergoing traditional management options. We also hope to be early participants in the developing field of endorobotics and to help to establish its role in the care of our patients.
 
How do you envision your work influencing the next generation of medical professionals in gastroenterology?
Training and education are core pillars and objectives for this center, and since this center will celebrate the necessity for excellence of all members of the care team, the training programs we develop will be for everyone. There will be a comprehensive fellowship in advanced endoscopy for future interventionalists that will include technical and procedural skills, participation in clinical and research, and development of innovation in the field.
 
We also hope to serve as a core training hub for endoscopists throughout the world and will be participating in live endoscopy courses, virtual education programs, and hosting hands-on simulation training for new techniques and innovation in the field. With these methods we hope to increase access to training to medical gastroenterology professionals throughout the world and in turn foster dissemination of quality GI care to patients everywhere. Not only do we want to train the next generation, but we want to help current gastroenterologists continually evolve in their careers and be able to bring the innovation to their own patients.
 
How will innovation and training enhance patient outcomes in GI health?
Innovation is based on identifying challenges we are facing in providing care to our patients and then finding solutions to these unmet needs. By developing a center that focuses on quickly bringing in this innovation and working with our industry collaborators to ensure that we are all asking the right questions and developing solutions that are efficient and safe, we can hopefully accelerate the adoption of these innovations.
 
Developing parallel training programs is critical to the dissemination and adoption these new approaches to care, as well as in ensuring that all patients have equitable access to the care they need.
 
What are your hobbies outside of work?
I enjoy traveling, hiking, and exploring cultural and music events.
 
What is the best career advice you’ve received?  
Find mentors early in your career as well as later as you evolve in your journey. They can help you to identify your passions and then navigate a path that will allow you to put in the work to achieve your goals.  Focus on the path you take to reach those goals rather than just reaching the end point, and remain flexible and be prepared to pivot in order to stay true to those passions.  
Picture
Amrita Sethi, MD, medical director of the Gastrointestinal Center for Advanced Endoscopy, stands in one of the under-construction procedural suites.
Amrita Sethi, MD, joins us as medical director of Innovation and Training for Northwestern Medicine Digestive Health Institute

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