Fellow Education

The Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease has a long tradition of training fellows in the subspecialty. Since 1965, more than 100 fellows from 28 countries have completed training in infectious diseases. Eighty percent are involved in teaching and research in university-affiliated medical centers.

Many graduates are leaders in the field of infectious diseases, and some have become division directors and department chairs or deans of medical schools.

The purposes of the training program are to provide a background in laboratory techniques of classical microbiology, immunology, and molecular biology, to provide experience in application of the scientific method to clinical and laboratory research, and to develop competence in diagnosis and management of infectious diseases.

Clinical training is in the form of consultations, rounds, and conferences, and outpatient Infectious Disease and HIV Clinics.

Jeffrey S. Kahn, M.D., Ph.D., serves as the Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program Director. All Division faculty, each with specific clinical and research interests, actively participate in the training program.

Each trainee is instructed in all relevant basic laboratory methods, including fundamentals of aerobic and anaerobic bacteriology, antibiotic susceptibility testing, antibiotic assays, serologic techniques, immunoelectrophoresis, the fluorescent antibody method, tissue culture technique, and leukocyte function studies. 

Pediatric infectious disease fellows consistently receive national and international recognition and are published in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals during their fellowship.

Additionally, the fellows have ample opportunity to work with collaborators in molecular microbiology to acquire basic techniques such as PCR, microarray analyses, cloning, and purification of bacterial outer membrane components (e.g. endotoxin). 

The trainee carries through one or more research protocols of his or her own design with supervision by the program directors and collaborators. This is tailored to the interests and capabilities of the individual trainee, either in basic laboratory experimentation or in clinical research.

The clinical material available at Children’s Health℠ Children’s Medical Center and on the neonatal service at Parkland Health & Hospital System and the newly opened William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital is extensive. There are approximately 120,000 outpatient visits, 9,000 pediatric admissions, and 16,000 deliveries per year. A high proportion of these have infectious disease problems; therefore, trainees have the opportunity to see many common infections and most of the rarer disorders.

Infectious disease clinical rounds are conducted daily; the clinic is scheduled twice weekly. We average approximately 60 inpatient consultations monthly and 15-20 new outpatient consultations monthly.

The three-year program aims to provide individuals with sufficient background to pursue a career of independent research, teaching, and managing patients with wide variety of pediatric infectious diseases.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites include one year of internship and two years of pediatric residency.

Applicants must:

• Be citizens of the United States or Canada, OR
• Hold a permanent resident card or J-1 Visa, OR
• Have passed the USLME examination and be eligible for an ECFMG-sponsored visa.
• In addition, foreign medical graduates will be required to provide original documentation of education and licensure upon acceptance into the program.

We participate in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Match Program administered by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).

 

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