Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship

Our program’s patient population spans the gamut from complex primary and secondary immunodeficiencies (bone marrow and solid organ transplant recipients and oncological, perinatally and behaviorally acquired HIV patients); neonates; school-age and adolescent patients with complex infectious disease problems, as well as common pediatric infectious diseases (bacteremia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, etc.).

The breath and wealth of the clinical service ensures that each fellow will have a well-rounded clinical experience. Each fellow rotates through the Clinical Diagnostic Microbiology Laboratory, an infection control tutorial and Resident Scholarly Activity Project (RSAP) Course, to provide them with the foundations in biostatistics and epidemiology. Each fellow is expected to become involved and complete both a quality improvement project and a research project during their fellowship training.

Six months of the year are dedicated to the inpatient service at Holtz Children’s Hospital, in which fellows will be responsible for inpatient consultations on a wide range of infectious diseases, including community acquired infections and nosocomial infections, as well as infections in a diverse array of immunocompromised patients (HIV, bone marrow and solid organ transplantation and oncology patients). In addition, fellows will be expected to choose a mentor and a project in a clinical, basic or translational area of research.
For the remainder of the year, fellow responsibilities will be in the outpatient setting participating in our ambulatory clinics and divisional seminars (fellow case conferences, journal clubs, etc.). Our first-year fellow is encouraged to participate in the Resident Scholarly Activity Project (RSAP) Course, in order to acquire the tools and skills to develop their research project. One, month-long rotation in the Jackson Memorial Hospital Microbiology Laboratory and a one-week infection control rotation are scheduled in the first year, as well. Each fellow is required to participate and present at our twice weekly divisional teaching seminars.

Three months of the year will be allotted to inpatient duties as described in the first year, and the remainder will focus on research. In addition, fellows are expected to lead multidisciplinary journal clubs, aid in the development of clinical care guidelines and take an active role in the education of the pediatric house staff, including presentations during “ID week” and board review sessions.

As senior fellows, third-year fellows are responsible to schedule divisional meetings and assist the program director with the administration of the fellowship program (on-call schedules and organizing and scheduling divisional conferences). In addition to the presentations as described in the second year, fellows will be expected to give a lecture in pediatric grand rounds as a culmination of fellowship training, and a research project is expected to be completed prior to graduation from the program.