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Transplant ID Fellowship

2024-25 Transplant ID fellow Emilty Wong with leadership
2024-25 Transplant ID Fellow, Dr. Emily Wong, with Drs. Ricardo La Hoz and Christian Larsen

UT Southwestern's Transplant ID Fellowship is a fully-funded one year training program that provides advanced subspecialty training in the management of infections in Solid Organ Transplant, Bone Marrow Transplant, Lymphoma/Myeloma and Hematologic Malignancy patients. The curriculum provides a strong foundation in the management of these unique infections as well as in the core knowledge necessary to provide programmatic support for consulting services.

kidney

238

Kidney transplants performed

liver

114

Liver transplants performed

heart

52

Heart transplants performed

lung

69

Lung transplants performed

sct

180

55 CAR-T,
33 Allogeneic SCT,
101 Autologous SCT

Summary of UT Southwestern Medical Center transplant activity for 2023

Mission Statement:

  1. Provide state-of-the-art clinical training in the management of infections in patients with solid organ transplants, leukemia/lymphoma/multiple myeloma, and CAR T cell recipients.
  2. Educate all trainees in the practical skills required to support collaborating medical and surgical teams.
  3. Perform clinical and translational research that will further the care of infections in all immunocompromised patients.
  • Application Process

    Application Requirements

    • Successful completion of two years of General Infectious Diseases training through an accredited US-based fellowship program prior to start date though consideration will made for exceptional candidates
    • A brief, 500-word statement of interest
    • Three letters of recommendation
    • An updated CV

    Materials are accepted on a rolling basis and should be submitted by August 1st of the year prior to intended start date and sent via ricardo.lahoz@utsouthwestern.edu.

    International Applicants

    Recognizing that some of our most talented applicants are not permanent residents, we are committed to recruiting qualified international trainees. UT Southwestern accepts permanent residents or J-1 ECFMG sponsored visas. Unfortunately, the medical school does not sponsor H-1B visas.

  • Salaries

    Salaries

    Fellowship YearProgram YearSalary
    Fellowship Year 1 PGY4 $71,552
    Fellowship Year 2 PGY5 $74,256
    Fellowship Year 3 or more PGY6 $77,646
    Fellowship Year 4* PGY 7 $80,558

    *Restricted to programs that offer advanced training certification that can only be accomplished with a fourth year of clinical training.

  • Training

    Clinical Training

    • Inpatient Care:
      The bulk of training occurs on the Transplant Infectious Diseases inpatient consulting service at William P. Clements University Hospital. By training at the largest transplant center in North Texas, fellows encounter a range of pathology on the Solid Organ,  Leukemia/Lymphoma/Multiple Myeloma, and BMT services. On-service learning focuses on graded autonomy and allows for opportunities to participate in donor calls.

      Fellows join an inpatient consulting team that includes Transplant ID faculty, a physician assistant, a pharmacist, and a General ID fellow. 
    • Outpatient Training:
      While on the consulting service, fellows have clinic onw half-day per week working with the Oncology Infectious Diseases Clinic or in Abdominal or Thoracic Transplant ID clinics.

    • Collaborating Services:
      The program emphasizes learning in core areas of transplant medicine/surgery as well as oncology. To this end, fellows may spend time working in the outpatient setting in UT Southwestern Bone Marrow Transplant; Lymphoma/Myeloma; and Kidney, Liver, Heart and Lung Transplant clinics.

    • Elective Tx Rotation:
      Transplant ID fellows are expected to complete three months of elective rotations. They can choose to spend from one week to one month in any of these rotations. Example rotations include inpatient or outpatient time with collaborating medical or surgical services, the Southwest Transplant Alliance, and the Microbiology Lab.

    Didactics

    Fellows participate in weekly didactics and monthly conferences designed to provide reenforced learning of core topics in the field of Transplant ID. Opportunities may be tailored to the interests of incoming fellows. Additionally, fellows are allotted time to attend regional and national conferences related to the field.

    Research

    Fellows are permitted up to three blocks of time to dedicate to research. Our Transplant ID faculty represent a range of expertise in clinical and translational research. Our faculty are internationally recognized for their work on Donor Derived Infections, Norovirus and Multidrug Resistant Organisms. Opportunities for research include access to the UT Southwestern Transplant Infectious Diseases Database as well as through a genomic database of MDR organisms.

  • Rotation Distribution

    Rotation Distribution

    Rotation

    1st Clinical Year
    (4-week blocks)

    University Hospital Consults*

    6

    Research**

    3

    Electives

    3
    *One half-day per week will be dedicated to Transplant ID clinic
    **Includes allotted vacation time
  • Training Site

    Clements University Hospital

    William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital

    William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, a tertiary referral center for patients with complex disorders, opened in December 2014 in a newly constructed state-of-the-art facility. The building housed 825 single-patient rooms, and contained more than 35,000 square feet of space dedicated to research and learning, including the Education and Conference Center, a high-tech space for conferences, symposiums, and demonstrations. In 2020, a third tower was added to CUH, increasing the total number of beds to 750. 

  • Curriculum and Conferences

    Biweekly Core Transplant ID Curriculum

    • Approach to Solid Organ Transplant (SOT)
    • Approach to Stem Cell Transplant (SCT)
    • Pre-transplant SOT Evaluation
    • Autologous Stem Cell Transplant and CAR-T
    • CMV In SOT and Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT)
    • Introduction to SOT Donor Call
    • AML/ALL
    • Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant
    • Medical Kidney Transplant
    • Medical Liver Transplant
    • Surgical Abdominal Transplantation
    • Structure and roles of OPTN/UNOS, OPOs, and the NMDP
    • Mechanical Circulatory Support and ECMO
    • Medical Lung Transplant
    • Medical Heart Transplant
    • Surgical Thoracic Transplant
    • Invasive Aspergillosis, fusarium, and other hyaline molds
    • Post-Transplantation Lymphoproliferative Disorders (PTLD) in SOT and SCT
    • Opportunistic Yeast Infections
    • Nocardia and Rhodococcus
    • Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Infections
  • Faculty
    a man with short dark hair wearing a white lab coat

    Vivek Beechar, M.D.

    Assistant Professor

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • CMV
    • Medical Education
    Dr. Pearlie Chong

    Pearlie Chong, M.D.

    Associate Professor

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • Clinical and translational research projects in HSCT/hematological malignancies and SOT recipients
    • Role of gut microbiota in human norovirus infections in transplant patients (funded by NIAID K23)
    a woman with brown hair wearing a white lab coat

    Hanine El Haddad, M.D.

    Assistant Professor

    Associate Director of Infection Prevention for Transplant/ Immunocompromised Diseases

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • Infections in patients with hematologic malignancies and cellular therapies
    • Infection prevention in immunocompromised patient populations
    Dr. David Greenberg

    David Greenberg, M.D.

    Professor, Internal Medicine and Microbiology

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • Antibiotic resistance
    • Novel therapeutics
    • Genomics
    • Research Lab
    a woman with dark hair pulled back wearing a white lab coat

    Vidya Jagadeesan, M.D.

    Assistant Professor

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • Management of fungal and viral infections in immunocompromised
    • Clinical trials in immunocompromised population
    Dr. Ricardo La Hoz

    Ricardo La Hoz, M.D.

    Associate Professor

    Director, Transplant Infectious Diseases
    Program Director, Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • Donor-derived infections
    • Optimizing deceased organ donor utilization and testing
    • Parasitic infections in solid organ transplant recipients
    Dr. Christian Larsen

    Christian Larsen, M.D.

    Assistant Professor

    Associate Program Director, Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • Non-tuberculous mycobacterium
    • Medical education
    Dr. Jeffrey Tessier

    Jeffrey Tessier, M.D.

    Associate Professor

    Service Chief, Infectious Diseases at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital

    Clinical & Research Interests:

    • Pathogenesis and treatment of bacterial tozxin-mediated diseases: Clostridioides difficile, Bacillus anthracis
    • Clinical trials in immunocompromised patients

Contact Us

Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine
UT Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75390-9113

Phone: 214-648-0234
Fax: 214-648-9478

Dr. Ricardo La Hoz

Ricardo La Hoz, M.D.

Program Director

Dr. Christian Larsen

Christian Larsen, M.D.

Associate Program Director

Antonio Atkins

Antonio Atkins

GME Program Coordinator II

antonio.atkins@utsouthwestern.edu

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