Schmelkin Joins Berkshire Medical Center’s Gastroenterology Group

PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Medical Center (BMC) recently announced that Ira Jay Schmelkin, M.D., a Mount Sinai Medical Center-trained gastroenterology specialist, is joining the Central Berkshire Gastroenterology Group, located at the BMC Medical Arts Complex, 777 North Street in Pittsfield.

Central Berkshire Gastroenterology has provided gastroenterology consultation and endoscopy services to the community for the past 35 years. Schmelkin will be joining Dr. Joel Colker, Dr. Larry Pellish, and Dr. Arthur Wasser to provide consultative and endoscopic services.

Schmelkin received his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He performed his internal medicine internship and residency, as well as his gastrointestinal fellowship, at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He is a member of the American Gastroenterologic Association, American College of Gastroenterology, and the American Society of Gastroenterology Endoscopy.

Schmelkin has been in private practice for the past 15 years, in Great Neck, Long Island, N.Y., where he was the founding senior partner of Great Neck Gastroenterology Associates. He specialized in gastrointestinal endoscopy, capsule endoscopy, and liver disease, and has extensive experience in diagnostic and therapeutic colonoscopy and endoscopy. He was an attending physician at North Shore University Hospital and NYU School of Medicine, where he taught clinical gastroenterology, as well as teaching at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

Schmelkin has authored many abstracts and papers in leading gastrointestinal journals, and is an internationally recognized authority on Capsule Endoscopy, a technology in which patients swallow a ‘camera pill’ to visualize the intestinal tract. Since the FDA gave clearance for this device three years ago, Schmelkin has performed hundreds of these procedures, as well as having authored many studies and abstracts on Capsule Endo-scopy. He has given several presentations and lectures on the use of Capsule Endoscopy in community clinical practice.