Fellows who wish to pursue academic careers may be offered additional training devoted primarily to research. Clinics include general Infectious Diseases Clinic, AIDS Clinic, Travel Medicine Clinic, and the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic. Fellows in Infectious Diseases see a broad variety of infectious disease problems in both hospitalized and ambulatory patients. SMH and the affiliated hospitals, all with active emergency departments, also admit patients with typical community-acquired infections such as pneumonia, cellulitis, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, and meningitis. Most of the first year of training is devoted to in- patient rotations at SMH, including general Infectious Diseases, the AIDS Service, and Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
Trainees have fewer clinical rotations in the second year, allowing substantial time for research.
Rotations on infectious disease consultation services at affiliated hospitals during both years provide additional clinical experience and afford the trainee a higher level of clinical responsibility. A variety of clinical conferences, described below, ensure that trainees acquire broad knowledge of infectious diseases and allied disciplines, including infection control and hospital epidemiology. In addition, one month during the first year of fellowship is spent in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratories, learning diagnostic laboratory procedures which are crucial to the role of the infectious diseases physician. This experience is designed to give the trainee a thorough understanding of current diagnostic techniques in bacteriology, virology, mycology, serology, and parasitology. Return to top of this page Research Training Fellows in the first year gain familiarity with the research activities of the Unit through attendance at research seminars and conferences, and through meeting with individual senior investigators.