The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship program is three years of training designed specifically to prepare qualified pediatricians for an academic career in infectious diseases.
Year 1
1 month: During the first month of fellowship, all new fellows complete a comprehensive orientation program. This includes an immersive experience in our state-of-the-art clinical microbiology laboratories as well as the SHEA Online Fellows’ Course and IDSA Antimicrobial Stewardship Curriculum. Each afternoon of this first month will also include a core curriculum of Pediatric ID topics led by pediatric infectious diseases and immunology faculty.
5 months: Roughly five months of first year training will be on the inpatient consult service teams. We have two parallel service, a general infectious diseases service (Gen ID) and an immunocompromised infectious diseases service (ICID). ICID typically sees patients with underlying or acquired immunologic conditions including cancer diagnoses, biologic treatments, transplantation, HIV or other immunodeficiencies. Fellows take home call during these weeks of inpatient consult service.
5 months: Fellows also spend about five months on the outpatient clinical service. This service is comprised of patient care in our general pediatric infectious diseases clinic and pediatric HIV clinic weekly. Further, fellows get the opportunity to participate in several specialized clinics (e.g., Ortho ID), phone consultation with community pediatricians, and meetings with the infection prevention group and Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Fellows have dedicated antimicrobial stewardship weeks during this time, but are encouraged to round with the SLCH antimicrobial stewardship team at their discretion during these months.
1 month: Protected research time is highly valued at Washington University and fellows are provided a full four weeks during their first year to exploring research opportunities with the goal of identifying a scholarly project and mentor. Many fellows use this time to write grant proposals or initiate IRB applications for their proposed studies.
Years 2 & 3
2-3 months: As senior fellows, trainees are given further autonomy in their clinical training and schedules are largely tailored to the fellows’ career interests and objectives. Most fellows spend 2-3 months per year on inpatient consultation services while performing research with the remainder of their time.
9-10 months: Scholarly activities can range from basic research, clinical research, educational research, global health, antimicrobial stewardship initiatives and a range of other possibilities. This mentored scholarly project should ultimately culminate in a manuscript for submission. Fellows present their scholarship annually at the division research conference and in departmental forums. Fellows are also encouraged to present their data at regional and national meetings.
Optional additional clinical experiences are also available, including rotations in pediatric immunology/rheumatology, adult infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, pediatric dermatology, The SPOT (a center providing free medical and social services to youth aged 13-24) and various international sites.