Scope Notes

About Scope Notes

A gastroenterology-focused medical education podcast, created for learners by learners, featuring experts across Canada!

Publisher

Scope Notes

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Jan 2025

Latest episode

4 May 2026

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   4 May 2026

   Episode 008: All about MASLD/MASH from diagnosis to treatment

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Scott Fung, Associate Professor of Medicine in Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at the University of Toronto and Staff Hepatologist at the Toronto General Hospital. Come join our discussion on the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of MASLD/MASH in a busy liver clinic!

2. 

   30 Nov 2025

   Episode 007: UofT Around the World Mini-Series (Part 1)

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Cindy Law, UofT GI alumni and current Staff IBDologist at MGH in Boston! Come join our career chat as we discuss the importance of mentorship, transition to faculty, and experience setting up a new intestinal ultrasound program!

3. 

   26 Oct 2025

   Episode 006: Career Chat with Dr. Samir Grover-Leadership in Medical Education

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Samir Grover, leading expert in medical education and technology in GI! Come join our career chat as we discuss pivotal work from The Grover Lab, his current educational role at SHN, and previous leadership at St. Michael's Hospital.

4. 

   14 Jul 2025

   Episode 005: Diagnosis and management guidelines of Celiac disease

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Talia Zenlea and Dr. Nadia Griller, leading experts in Celiac disease in Canada. Come hear about serologic screening, gluten challenges, and practical tips regarding maintaining a gluten free diet!

5. 

   10 May 2025

   Episode 004: Current management guidelines for Barrett’s esophagus

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Christopher Teshima and Dr. Thurarshen (TJ) Jeyalingam, leading experts in Barrett's in Canada. Come hear about the pathophysiology, diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment considerations for this important disease.

6. 

   4 Apr 2025

   Episode 002: UofT new faculty round table mini series (Part 4/4)

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Ali Kohansal, Director of the Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy Fellowship at UHN. Come hear more about the current and future directions of the program!

7. 

   31 Mar 2025

   Episode 003: An overview of colorectal cancer screening guidelines and discussion of the NordICC trial

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Linda Rabeneck and Dr. Jill Tinmouth, leading experts in colorectal cancer screening in Canada. Come hear about the history of ColonCancerCheck, Canada's first organized, province-wide CRC screening program and a discussion on screening guidelines and implications of the NordICC trial!

8. 

   8 Mar 2025

   Episode 002: UofT new faculty round table mini series (Part 3/4)

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Alexa Sasson, a staff IBDologist at the University Health Network. Come hear about the newly established Toronto Western IBD center and exciting fellowship opportunity!

9. 

   17 Feb 2025

   Episode 002: UofT new faculty round table mini series (Part 2/4)

   On this episode of Scope Notes, we're joined by Dr. Fernanda Onofrio, a staff hepatologist at the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease and Francis Family Liver Clinic. Come hear about the multidisciplinary alcohol related liver disease program!

10. 

    3 Feb 2025

    Episode 002: UofT new faculty round table mini series (Part 1/4)

    Guests: Dr. Parul Tandon, Dr. Fernanda Onofrio, Dr. Alexa Sasson, and Dr. Ali Kohansal SHOW NOTES Huaqi Li Thanks so much for tuning in again to Scope Notes, your gastroenterology focused medical education podcast created by learners for learners! For any new listeners, I’m your co-host Huaqi Li, current first year Internal Medicine resident at the University of Toronto in Canada working together with my co-host Mo Bucheeri, 5th year Gastroenterology fellow and Chief Resident also at the University of Toronto. Our amazing faculty advisor is Dr. Parul Tandon, a Staff Gastroenterologist and Clinician Scientist in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases at the University Health Network/Sinai Health in Toronto. With Scope Notes, you can look forward to monthly episodes covering all things GI including practice guidelines, research reviews, and special career topics! We’ll be specifically featuring prominent Gastroenterology staff from the University of Toronto and across Canada for their expert opinions. So come join us from your favorite podcast streaming app! We would like also to extend a huge thank you to the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Toronto for their generous support of this podcast. With all that being said, let’s move on to our episode! Today will be part 1 of 4 in a very exciting mini-series featuring new faculty in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Toronto! We’ll be releasing the next 3 parts over the course of this month! Today, we’re joined by our wonderful podcast supervisor Dr. Parul Tandon himself. Dr. Tandon, thanks so much for joining us on today's Scope Notes episode. To get us started, could you share with our listeners a bit more about yourself and your training background? Dr. Parul Tandon Yeah, no, thanks for having me for this great initiative. Congratulations on the podcast and establishing it, and I'm excited to see what content comes in the near future. So, I'm Parul Tandon. I'm a Gastroenterologist at The University Health Network and Sinai Health. I have a clinical and research interest in inflammatory bowel diseases. My journey has been very interesting, and it was a path that I never expected. I did my medical school at Michigan State University. I finished med school in 2015. And I was lucky enough to complete my Internal Medicine residency at the University of Ottawa from 2015-2018, where I met some of my most important mentors that I've had throughout my journey, particularly Dr. Jeff McCurdy, where I grew interested in GI research and inflammatory bowel diseases research. That sparked my interest, and I applied for Gastroenterology and was lucky enough to return home to Toronto, where I completed my adult Gastroenterology residency from 2018 to 2020 and then, during my gastroenterology residency, met more mentors, networked, and created a close relationship with the Sinai IBD group in Toronto, and was fortunate enough to be accepted to complete an Inflammatory Bowel Diseases fellowship from 2020 to 2022. And along the way, learned that I wanted to do research, I wanted to do important research that would impact patients’ lives, but I didn't have the clinical nor the expertise or knowledge to do high quality research. So I joined the Masters of Epidemiology at the Institute of Public Health Policy and Management at University of Toronto, and then transferred to the PhD, where I completed a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology, looking at health services utilization of women with IBD during pregnancy. And that led me to my journey now, where I've established my practice at the University Health Network. Huaqi Li Thanks so much for sharing, I think it’s really interesting to hear about the paths that different people take and the unexpected turns that you might experience. Sounds like mentorship was also a big part of your career so far. You've trained in both Ottawa and Toronto like you mentioned and recently completed the PhD. How have these experiences shaped your career and practice thus far? Dr. Parul Tandon If you asked me 15 years ago, you know whether I would have expected to go to Ottawa, return home to Toronto, I would have said, you know, it wasn't part of my plan. You know, my journey took me to the US for medical training. I figured I'd stay in the US. And so what I've learned, visiting different centers, different sites in various parts of my training, is that it's really helped me understand different ways to practice medicine. It's allowed me to experience different aspects of clinical medicine, research medicine, as well as pure epidemiological research from different viewpoints. You know, I've met fantastic mentors. My network has grown significantly, which, you know, I never really appreciated when I was a trainee, but now I appreciate wholeheartedly that, because I trained in a variety of centers, I've created this very strong network, sort of my family, that I can reach out to for clinical advice, life advice, research advice, and also to collaborate on various research projects. So, you know, I think really having the fortunate luck to train in different sites has really allowed me to build my program now at the University of Toronto. Huaqi Li Yes, having that family or network like you said is really important, and segues slightly into our next question, but what drew you to working at the University of Toronto, and what have you enjoyed the most so far? Dr. Parul Tandon So I know it's cliche, but it was always my dream when I was a little kid to work at the University of Toronto. And I'm lucky enough to be living my dream. But really, you know, the University of Toronto is, you know, obviously a world renowned clinical and research university. It offers so much opportunity. Everything is quote, unquote, in house, right? We have world experts in whatever you can imagine, in whatever field of medicine, whatever field of research, all within the walls of the University of Toronto. So as a junior researcher and junior clinician, the world is right at my doorstep. And, you know, having the ability to work with mentors and senior experts and world-renowned leaders in a variety of fields has allowed me to really understand where my program lacks, where I can count on people that are around me to help enrich that program, to ultimately improve patients’ lives. And I've, you know, I've enjoyed the collegial nature of the University of Toronto. Everybody wants to help each other out. It's a big family. And I think that, you know, you don't find many big centers that function like that. So really, you know, I think that the University of Toronto is a premier place to work. It doesn't feel like work. It feels like this is part of my life. And I think that's what the environment that's cultivated around me by everybody working alongside me. Huaqi Li Yeah, I think a lot of us at U of T share the same cliched sentiments. And you mentioned your program a couple of times. Can you tell us a bit more about this specific program you're working on in Toronto? Dr. Parul Tandon Yeah, no, for sure. So at the University Health Network, we've developed the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Clinical and Research Program established September 2023. It's staffed by our senior mentor, Dr. Maria Cino and one of my colleagues, Dr. Alexa Sasson. We provide multidisciplinary inflammatory bowel diseases care to patients at the University Health Network. Work very closely with our colleagues in Dermatology and Rheumatology to provide that care. And then, for my specific research program, I'm very interested in how to deliver culturally appropriate care to those that consider themselves as racial, ethnic minorities and those that are new to our country. So, immigrants, for example. IBD is a chronic disease. It impacts everybody very differently. Everybody lives a story of inflammatory bowel disease, and that story may be different, and there may be more hardships when you travel to a new healthcare setting, a new society where you bring your culture with, your religion with you, and everything is foreign. So, our program aims to improve the delivery of standardized and equitable care to all living with IBD, particularly those of racial, ethnic minorities, as well as those that are immigrating to our country. Huaqi Li Thank you. I heard you were working on a recent research project on that as well, I think with Dr. Vivian Huang. Dr. Parul Tandon Yeah, specifically Dr. Vivian Huang was one of my mentors, my friend, and my colleague. She's interested in preconception and pregnancy care in inflammatory bowel diseases. And we're looking at, you know, how to provide adequate care from a GI perspective during pregnancy to a variety of different cultures, because we know that, especially during a high risk period, a very vulnerable period like pregnancy, people want their healthcare providers to recognize cultural differences, provide culturally appropriate care, and we're trying to understand that from a patient perspective, so we can improve how we deliver care to our patients. Huaqi Li Yes, very interesting, for sure. And we talked a bit about the current status of your program, but where do you see your program in the next five years? Dr. Parul Tandon Yeah, no, thank you. So, in the next five years, I think I'm hoping we've made headway in determining where the deficiencies are in the current way we deliver care to our patients. And the hope is that we have a dedicated program that aims to provide that equitable, culturally appropriate care to different racial and ethnic minorities. The one that I'm interested in is, to begin with, is providing care to South Asian people living with inflammatory bowel diseases, where we see IBD exponentially rising in those populations. And so, for example, I hope that we can establish a program where we provide care to South Asians living with IBD, perhaps in their own language, perhaps with people they want to connect with. And so that's where I see our current research improving care, hopefully within the next five to 10 years. Huaqi Li I think that's really important, not to be biased as an immigrant myself, and to end off do you have any advice for our listeners who are hoping to pursue Gastroenterology and/or IBD? Dr. Parul Tandon Yeah, no. I think my advice is be flexible. A lot of doors will open. We just need to walk through those doors. And sometimes we tunnel vision into our dreams and that this is where we want to work, this is what we want to practice, and this is what field you know we wish to see ourselves in. But sometimes you know life has different plans, it was those doors that I never planned to walk through that really led to who I am today as a person, as a clinician, as a researcher. So my number one advice to people is be flexible. Be flexible to experience new environments, new mentors, new networks, because you never know what door will lead you to your final destination. Which friends you'll make along the way, which colleagues will stick with you, which mentors will, you know, shape your career. So be flexible. Be ready to go where your path takes you. And that path will never be what you expect it to be, but that path, you'll look back and you'll consider yourself lucky to have walked that journey. Huaqi Li Thank you so much Dr. Tandon for a very engaging conversation. That’s it for our episode today! Thanks so much to our listeners for tuning in, join us again next week for part 2 of our new faculty mini-series! Follow us on social media for the latest updates @scopenotesGI on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram! If you have any feedback or just want to say hi, you can reach the team at scopenotesGI@gmail.com (mailto:scopenotesGI@gmail.com). And check out our website at www.scopenotesGI.com (http://www.scopenotesGI.com)!

11. 

    18 Jan 2025

    Episode 001: Management and prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis

    On this episode of Scope Notes, we'll be reviewing the management and prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis with a discussion on the newest clinical practice guidelines with our guests Dr. Mosko and Dr. James!

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

56

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 21 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

4

Social presence

0

YouTube

63

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.