Best of Five MCQS for the European Specialty Examination in Gastroenterology and Hepatology

The new edition of The Best of Five MCQS for the European Specialty Examination in Gastroenterology and Hepatology is a question book designed to assist in preparations for the European Specialty Examination in Gastroenterology and Hepatology (ESEGH). The book has been fully updated to reflect the new examination introduced in 2018 and the most recent guidelines.

Containing a foreword by Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of both the British Society for Gastroenterology and the Royal College of Physicians, the book adopts the same Best of Five question format used in the ESEGH and covers the breadth of the curriculum. It has been designed to exactly match the relative proportion of questions on each topic area found in the examination.

Each of the 300 questions contained in the book is accompanied by an answer, a set of three succinct bullet points of key 'take-home' messages, and a short summary of the relevant background, evidence-base and up-to-date European guidelines. The book ends with a chapter of 50 questions, which again matches the proportions of topic areas found in the ESEGH, and is designed to act as a mock-examination for use in the final stages of preparation.

Thomas Marjot, Specialty Registrar in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK,Colleen McGregor, Specialty Registrar in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK,Tim Ambrose, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK

Dr Thomas Marjot graduated from Imperial College as runner up for the University of London Gold Medal, before moving to Oxford as an Academic Clinical Fellow in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is now a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellow at the University of Oxford completing a doctoral degree investigating the pathogenesis and management of metabolic-dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). He is particularly interested in using translational experimental medicine techniques to identify pathways leading to hepatic steatosis. Recently, Dr Marjot has set up an international registry collecting data for patients with COVID-19 and pre-existing chronic liver disease (COVID-Hep) and has written the European Association for Study of the Liver (EASL) updated position paper on managing liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Colleen McGregor graduated from Imperial College London in 2012 with Distinctions and was awarded a First-Class Honours BSc degree in the Medical Sciences of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. She undertook her Foundation and Core Medical Training in London before moving to Oxford as a Specialist Registrar in Gastroenterology & Hepatology. She is now OOPR as a Clinical Research Fellow within the Translational Gastroenterology Unit, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on translating mechanistic insights into personalisation of care in IBD. Her interest in medical education developed through her role as a College Clinical Teaching Fellow at the University. She currently sits on the regional Trainee Physicians Committee as the Cultural Diversity & Inclusion representative.


Dr Tim Ambrose is a Consultant Gastroenterologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He qualified from The University of Edinburgh in 2006 and undertook higher training in Gastroenterology & Hepatology in the Thames Valley region. Additionally, he spent a year undertaking specialist training in Intestinal Rehabilitation at St Mark's Hospital, London, and in Intestinal/Multivisceral Transplant at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. Between 2014 and 2018 he completed a DPhil looking at the endocannabinoid system, innate immune responses and inflammatory bowel disease. He was appointed to a substantive consultant post in March 2020. He is currently Training Lead for Oxford and sits on the regional Specialty Training Committee.

Professor Simon Travis is a former President of the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (ECCO, 2012-2014). He is a Fellow of Linacre College and Consultant Gastroenterologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. In 2015 he received the Joanna and David B Sachar International Award, Visiting Professor of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, ICAHN School of Medicine, New York and the Inaugural Distinguished Visiting Professor of IBD, Sydney. In 2020 he received the International Golden OTIS Award from the Polish Society of Gastroenterology. He is currently Chair of the Global Working Group on IBD for ICHOM.

Dr Aminda De Silva studied medicine at Imperial College School of Medicine, where he won several prizes. Whilst completing specialist clinical training in gastroenterology he spent 3 years in research in clinical nutrition and inflammatory bowel disease at the Institute of Human Nutrition, University of Southampton.
He was appointed to Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust as a consultant Gastroenterologist in June 2009. He was a member of the Royal College of Physician's Nutrition Committee between 2011-19 and the British Society of Gastroenterology Small Bowel & Nutrition committee between 2013-2015. He currently chairs the RCP working party on Oral Feeding Difficulties & Dilemmas and is the Training Programme Director for Thames Valley Gastroenterology.


Dr Jeremy Cobbold is Consultant Hepatologist and Clinical Lead for Hepatology at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford.
Dr Cobbold qualified in Medicine from the University of Cambridge and University College London in 2001. He trained in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in London, including at the Royal Free Hospital and St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, before being appointed to a Consultant post in Oxford in 2014. Between 2005 and 2008, Dr Cobbold completed a PhD in imaging technologies for non-invasive assessments of liver diseases at Imperial College London, then as a Clinical Lecturer at Imperial, conducted research into treatment strategies in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Dr Cobbold conducts clinical research including clinical trials in liver diseases and lectures nationally and internationally.