The gastroenterologist has a basis of training in general internal medicine. In addition, this specialist in diseases of the digestive system spends an additional two years gaining knowledge and skills in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the gut and its associated organs. With the virtual explosion of new diagnostic tools available to this specialty, many previously complicated problems are now quickly diagnosed and treated with much less pain and fewer complications than before. Knowledge of new diseases which effect the digestive tract has made the gastroenterologist truly one of the specialties of the next century.