Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program Curriculum and Schedule
First-Year Fellows
The first year of UT Southwestern's Pediatric Infectious Disease (ID) Fellowship Program begins with a three-week orientation and microbiology block. During this period, fellows spend mornings in the clinical microbiology laboratory learning at the bench how testing for a wide range of bacteria, fungi, and viruses is conducted. Afternoon sessions held jointly with incoming internal medicine ID fellows are devoted to small group discussions on the pharmacology of antimicrobials, laboratory diagnostics, and common infectious disease case scenarios. Fellows also have the opportunity to join clinical teams on rounds before starting to take call.
Approximately half of the first year of fellowship is devoted to clinical service. Time on the inpatient consult service is scheduled in one-week blocks. A typical schedule would be:
- 13 weeks of general infectious disease consults
- 7 weeks of immunocompromised host infectious disease consults
- 13 weeks of ambulatory clinics (50% clinical time, with 4 to 5 half-day clinics per week)
Other activities during the first year include one-week rotations in infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship. The remaining time is then spent exploring research opportunities as well as preparing case presentations or didactic talks.
Second- and Third-Year Fellows
Approximately one-quarter of each of these years is devoted to clinical service, with a similar balance of rotations as during the first year. Upper-year fellows take increasing responsibility for managing the service and providing education for residents and students rotating on the team.
Third-year fellows have four weeks of elective time within their required clinical service that they may choose how to spend. Previous fellows have used electives to join services led by other divisions, such as stem cell transplant or internal medicine HIV care, or to gain additional experience in antimicrobial stewardship or clinical microbiology.
Research blocks make up the balance of the second and third years of fellowship. Fellows are expected to complete a scholarly project but have wide flexibility to design an activity best suited to their interests and career goals. Fellows may select mentors within the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease or elsewhere at UT Southwestern.
Guidance on projects is provided by a Scholarship Oversight Committee (SOC). Previous fellows have pursued a broad range of projects, ranging from bench research in immunology and virology to clinical epidemiology and quality improvement.
Fellows are also able to audit courses at the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health.
Core Curriculum Conferences
Attendance and participation at the following lecture series and educational activities are part of the fellowship curriculum.
- Internal Medicine ID Core Curriculum/Journal Club/Case Conference, Tuesday morning
- Department of Pediatrics Multidisciplinary Case Conference, Tuesday at noon
- Pediatric HIV Conference, every other Monday at noon
- Department of Pediatrics Grand Rounds, Wednesday morning
- Pediatric Infectious Disease Case Conference, Wednesday morning
- Pediatric Infectious Disease Didactic Conference, Thursday morning
- Department of Pediatrics Research Seminar, Thursday at noon
- Pediatric Transplant Immunocompromised Host ID Conference, every other Friday morning
Professional Conferences
Fellows are encouraged to attend professional meetings each year. Examples include IDWeek, the St. Jude/PIDS Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Conference, and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Spring Conference. The program provides support to attend one meeting per year. Support to attend additional meetings is available for fellows presenting their research.
Evaluations
Fellows are evaluated after each rotation by the faculty with whom they work. Every six months, the fellowship program director and associate program director meet with each fellow to review their progress and provide feedback for continued success and professional development. Upper-year fellows also receive feedback from their SOC to guide their research.
Night and Weekend Call
Night call is taken from home during weeks that fellows are on inpatient consult services. Fellows are responsible for calls related to the general or immunocompromised host ID service on which they are rotating.
Fellows on the general ID consult service are scheduled for seven-day, Monday through Sunday blocks during which weekend coverage is also provided for immunocompromised patients. During these general ID consult weeks, night call is covered for one evening by the attending rather than the fellow.
Fellows on the immunocompromised host ID consult service are scheduled for five-day, Monday through Friday blocks without weekend coverage. Fellows do not provide night or weekend coverage except when on these inpatient consult services.
Other Opportunities
Fellows may attend an annual camp sponsored by Children's Health for children with HIV and their families.