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Fellowship Program The goal of our fellowship program is to train physician scientists in the subspecialty of infectious diseases. All of the graduates of our program receive sufficient training in inpatient and outpatient infectious diseases to prepare them to function as expert practitioners in our subspecialty. Many of the graduates of our program have become physician scientists either doing laboratory based research or clinical research. Others have become clinical consultant/educators in our specialty. All have received the best possible training to achieve their goals. Please see the links for a sample of achievements of our previous trainees. (Link) There are three tracks for fellowship training in Infectious Diseases - the clinician track, clinical investigator track, and basic investigator track. Fellows need to choose a track based on their career goals, and fulfill the requirements for that track (as outlined below). Clinician Track
Clinical Investigator Track
Basic Investigator Track For both research tracks, fellows will be asked to prepare a career development plan which will include one, three and five year goals and objectives. Their research plans and productivity will be reviewed regularly with their mentors. Stipends range from $43,058 to $56,072 per annum, depending on previous training. The Division considers applications from MDs who are in their second or third year of our accredited Internal Medicine training program, a combined Medicine Pediatrics residency, Family Practice or General Surgery residency program. Four or five fellows are selected each year. The first year of the fellowship is 90% clinical with rotations on the busy inpatient general Infectious Diseases services and the transplant service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and on the general infectious diseases service at the John Cochran Veteran’s Administration. Each of the fellows follow patients on our outpatient clinical service one-half day per week. We have an active office practice that includes patients with acute and chronic infections, travel patients and HIV/AIDS patients. An elective rotation is also available on the inpatient pediatric infectious disease service at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The remaining 10% of time is devoted to the choice of a preceptor with whom to pursue research training during the subsequent years of the fellowship. The clinical fellows are exposed to the entire breadth of research activities in the Pathogenesis Program during their clinical year. This is achieved by: i) attendance at a weekly research conferences in which students and postdoctoral fellows from all the laboratories participating in the Pathogenesis Program present the data from their research projects; ii) a weekly lunch seminar series in which fellows hear each faculty member present his or her research; iii) one-on-one meetings with potential preceptors and fellows in their labs. In October of each year, Drs. Goldberg and Fraser meet with the clinical fellows individually to discuss their research interest and to arrange meetings between fellows and preceptors with overlapping interests. They then meet twice more with the fellows individually through the course of the academic year to be certain that the fellow has made an optimal plan for research training. During these meetings, they also advise fellows about appropriate coursework. Each M.D. fellow is required, during the first research year, to take a course on research ethics and general scientific methods. This course is taught by the faculty in the basic research section of the ID division program. M.D./Ph.D. fellows are exempted from lectures on general scientific methods. Fellows are strong encouraged, but not required, to take one course each semester offered through the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences. Further didactic training is available from weekly research conferences, journal clubs and seminars (see below under “Enrichments”). In addition to individual advising from Drs. Goldberg and Fraser that occur twice a year or more frequently if needed, each fellow forms an advisory committee consisting of Dr. Goldberg, Dr. Fraser, the research mentor, and two faculty with expertise in the specific research area. Every 6-12 months the fellow presents research findings and future directions to this committee. The major reasons for these committees are: i) to increase the ease with which expert technical and strategic advice is available to the trainee; ii) to increase the exposure of each trainee to the faculty of the pathogenesis program; iii) to provide general oversight for decisions about the direction for future research; and iv) to provide career advice. The heart of the training program for the M.D. postdoctoral fellows, as for all trainees, is the research project. 90% of time in the research years is devoted to research training, the vast majority in experimental work and the remainder in coursework, journal clubs and research conferences. M.D. fellows have minimal required clinical activities in the research years of their fellowships – second year fellows have one half-day clinic per week (to satisfy the ABIM’s requirements for board certification in Infectious Diseases), fellows in their third or subsequent years have no required clinical activities. M.D. fellows participate in clinical or basic science research according to their interests. Fellows with interests in biodefense may be eligible for the MRCE’s Clinical/Translational Fellowship, directed by Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D. Some of our fellows, interested in clinical research, have obtained Master’s degrees in Clinical Research or Public Health as part of our training program. A schedule of the most popular conferences and rounds are listed below:
Inquiries for fellowship should be directed to: Nigar Kirmani , M.D.
Division of Infectious Diseases
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