The Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine seeks to develop leaders in Infectious Diseases. This program provides opportunities for rigorous training in clinical infectious diseases, clinical scholarship, clinical investigation, and basic science research. Fellows are given the flexibility to design training programs that will allow them to pursue careers in clinical medicine, clinical research or laboratory research. Clinical Training Research Training Conferences Seminars Vacation and Conference Time Evaluation Applications Contact Information CLINICAL TRAINING Clinical training is provided on the inpatient services and in the infectious diseases clinics at Northwestern University Medical School's affiliated hospitals. Affiliated hospitals include Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Opportunity for elective training in pediatric infectious diseases is available at Children's Memorial Hospital. Ambulatory clinics include the HIV Treatment Center, Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic, and General Infectious Diseases Clinic. Additional ambulatory clinic experience in sexually transmitted diseases is available through the Chicago Board of Health. Fellows train on the inpatient consultation services for twelve months and maintain a one half-day ambulatory clinic throughout the duration of the fellowship. During the second year, fellows staff the Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic one half-day a week for two months. The Feinberg School of Medicine maintains active training programs in medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, neurology, ophthalmology, psychiatry, pathology, and numerous surgical and medical subspecialties. Therefore, fellows are exposed to a broad range of infectious disease problems in both hospitalized and ambulatory patients. As a referral center for bone marrow transplantation, solid organ transplantation, oncology, trauma, and AIDS care, there is extensive exposure to infectious complications in compromised hosts. Active surgical and medical intensive care units provide clinical experience with critically ill patients, while an active emergency department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital admits patients with trauma and numerous community-acquired infections. The patients seen at Northwestern are extremely diverse and are representative of the full range of socioeconomic, ethnic and racial groups in Chicago. Fellows coordinate the consultation service provided at all hospitals. Currently, there are two infectious diseases consultation services: Immunocompromised Infectious Diseases and General Infectious Diseases. While on one of these services, fellows provide care to 10 to 20 patients daily. Each fellow consults on a minimum of 300 inpatients in one year. Members of the faculty conduct daily teaching rounds with fellows, residents, and medical students. Fellows take an active role in leading rounds, including teaching residents and students. Emphasis during rounds is on developing the clinical skills of the fellows. In the ambulatory clinics at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, each fellow has 250-300 outpatient encounters per year. Fellows are responsible for the daily management of a panel of patients that is developed from the beginning of their training. The clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital has five examination rooms, two treatment rooms equipped to provide infusion therapy, an ophthalmologic suite with slit lamp and retinal camera, and rooms equipped to perform pelvic examinations. The clinic has its own phlebotomy room/laboratory. Three dedicated licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) are active in the management of HIV-infected patients on a daily basis, interacting with fellows and faculty on cultural, social, family, behavioral, and economic issues. In the management of patients, the need to integrate biopsychosocial issues and clinical care is stressed. A member of the infectious disease faculty is present at each outpatient session for supervision of the fellows. Fellows provide initial telephone consultation from home at night and weekends with an identified faculty member available for supervision. Each week, fellows have at least 24-hours free of all clinical responsibilities. During this time, fellows forward all fellowship-related pages and telephone calls to the covering attending physician. Although not prohibited, patient care duties outside of the fellowship program are discouraged. Any outside patient care duties should not conflict with the requirements of the training program. The program director must be made aware that the fellow has outside patient care duties. Formal teaching is provided as part of the training program to ensure that the fellows acquire a broad knowledge of infectious diseases and related disciplines, including infection control, hospital epidemiology, and clinical microbiology. Fellows take an intensive 5-week course in clinical microbiology and antimicrobial pharmacology at the outset of their fellowship. Instruction in clinical microbiology allows the fellow to learn diagnostic laboratory procedures that are crucial to the role of the infectious disease physician. In addition, fellows attend a four-day course on nosocomial infections given yearly by the Society of Hospital Epidemiology. This didactic course supplements practical clinical experience in infection control and epidemiology. Dedicated pharmacy expertise is available on teaching rounds and in the ambulatory clinics. RESEARCH TRAINING The second year of the fellowship is dedicated to allowing the fellows the opportunity to learn or augment clinical or basic science research skills. Interested fellows wishing to pursue academic careers may seek additional research training. Northwestern University offers a two-year Masters of Science degree program in Clinical Investigation for fellows with a strong interest in a career in clinical investigation. The central premise for the research program is that the fellow will assume greater independence as his or her research skills and conceptual grasp of relevant intellectual problems matures and develops. A large group of faculty members participates in the research training of the fellows. In addition to the faculty from the Division of Infectious Diseases, faculty from the Departments of Medicine, Microbiology-Immunology, and Pathology can serve as advisors for proposed research projects. Consequently, there are diverse opportunities available for each fellow to develop and work on clinical or basic science research projects in the general areas of immunology, infectious diseases, and microbial pathogenesis. Brief summaries of the wide range of research opportunities available are listed in the Faculty and Affiliated Faculty Sections. CONFERENCES Infectious Disease Conference Two times a month one-hour clinical conference planned and conducted by the fellows. Following the format of a clinicopathological exercise, the fellows present interesting clinical problems, unknown cases and microbiologic findings encountered during their clinical training. For each case, the presenting fellow provides pertinent microbiology, pathology and radiographic test results, a review and discussion of the relevant literature, and a citation bibliography. The location of the conference alternates between Northwestern Memorial Hospital (1st Thursday) and Children's Memorial Hospital (3rd Thursday). Date: 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month
Time: 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Locations: Division of ID Conference Room (676 N Saint Clair St.) and Children's Memorial Hospital (Belden Bldg, Room 360) Journal Club Every week a one-hour conference is held in which the faculty and fellows review recent articles relevant to infectious diseases. Emphasis is on developing the skills necessary to evaluate critically the scientific literature. Every faculty member and fellow is assigned to prepare a particularly interesting or relevant journal article and lead discussion once per month. Date: Wednesday
Time: 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Location: Division of ID Conference Room, 676 N. Saint Clair St. Clinicopathologic Conference This is a monthly one-hour case-based conference with discussion of the microbiologic and pathologic features led by the faculty. Date: 2nd Wednesday of each month
Time: 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Location: Division of ID Conference Room, 676 N. Saint Clair St. Research Conference Monthly one-hour seminar in which ongoing research by the faculty and fellows or by visiting speakers is presented. Date: the Wednesday of each month
Time: 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Location: Division of ID Conference Room, 676 N. Saint Clair St. Antibiotic Formulary Subcommittee of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee Monthly one hour meeting to discuss issues of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance in the hospital.
Date: 1st Monday of the month
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Feinberg 3rd floor conference rooms Infection Control Committee Meeting Quarterly meeting to review infection control policies and procedures at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Date: the Monday of January, April, July and October
Time: 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m
Location: Feinberg 2-715 TEACHING SEMINARS Clinical Pharmacology Seminar Series The clinical pharmacology seminar series consists of four combined lecture and discussion sessions. The objectives are for the fellows to obtain instruction in the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, mechanisms of action, and adverse reactions of antimicrobial agents. Methods to determine absorption and excretion of antimicrobial agents and to determine concentration of antimicrobial agents in the blood and other body fluids will be discussed, along with the appropriate use and management of antimicrobial agents in the hospital and ambulatory setting. The date, time and location can be changed for scheduling conflicts. Date: Mondays in July
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Location: 676 Building, ID Division Conference Room Clinical Microbiology The clinical microbiology course consists of didactic lectures, bench work, and weekly case studies and discussions with faculty supervisors. The objectives are for the fellows to obtain instruction in basic microbiology and immunology techniques relevant to the practice of clinical infectious diseases.
Date: July and August
Lecture Modules Include:
1. The Immunoinflammatory Response
2. The Enterobacteriaceae
3. The Non-fermentative Oxidative Gram-Negative Bacteria
4. Haemophilus
5. Neisseria and Moraxella catarrhalis
6. Sexually Transmitted Diseases
7. Staphylococcus and Micrococcus
8. Streptococcus and Enterococcus
9. Aerobic Gram-Positive Rods
10. Aerobic Actinomycetes and Anaerobic Actinomyces
11. Mycobacteria
12. Overview of Diagnostic and Clinical Virology
13. Parasitiology
14. Pathogenic Fungi: Classification/Yeast and Molds
15. The Dimorphic Fungi
16. Obligate Anaerobes and Microaerophilic Bacteria
17. Overview of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
18. Selection of Antimicrobial Agents; General Concepts
19. Antimicrobial Resistance in Gram-Positive Bacteria
20. Antimicrobial Resistance in Gram-Negative Bacilli
21. Sepsis VACATION AND CONFERENCE TIME Fellows are entitled to three weeks of paid vacation each year. Fellows can take vacation at any time, but need to notify the fellowship director and ambulatory clinic staff at least two months before the start of planned vacations. There is no accumulation of vacation time from year to year. Each year, fellows may attend one week of conferences in fields relevant to infectious diseases. The costs incurred from strictly educational conferences are the responsibility of the fellow. If the fellow is attending one or more conferences to present original research data, the division will pay the incurred costs, based on the availability of funds. The fellowship program director may authorize more than one week of conference time for extenuating circumstances. Each year every fellow is given the opportunity to attend the annual meeting of the Infectious Disease Society of America. During the second year of fellowship, fellows are given the opportunity to attend a four-day course on hospital infection control given by the Society of Hospital Epidemiology. The division will pay the incurred costs, based on the availability of funds. Fellows must notify the fellowship director before attending any conference. EVALUATION Evaluation of fellows by the attending physicians is at the conclusion of each clinical rotation. Evaluation forms are compiled in each fellow's folder after being reviewed by the program director. In addition, the program director meets with each fellow at least two times a year in October and March. Discussion during these meetings includes the fellow's progress and prior evaluations. A principle objective of these meetings is to discuss how the training program can facilitate the fellow's career goals. The program director and division chief are available for informal discussion of progress and career advice at anytime. At the April meeting of the Committee, the progress of each fellow is summarized by the program director and recommendations are made for promotion to the next postgraduate year. In the event that a fellow's progress is judged to be insufficient, a remediation program will be recommended by the program director. The program will be designed to address the specific areas of deficient knowledge, behavior, attitudes, and/or skills. If, at the time of re-evaluation, the progress is still judged to be insufficient, the fellow will be placed on probation. The fellow will be notified in writing of the probationary status, specific areas judged to be deficient, expectations for improvement, methods for regular re-evaluation of progress, and the anticipated date at which time the fellow's status will be reviewed. The fellow will also be notified in that letter that the fellow has the right to request an appeal of the decision at the departmental level. This request must be made in writing within 14 days of receipt of the probationary letter. If this request is made, the Residency Committee will address the appeal according to the process described in the Reference Manual. The Committee will notify the fellow, in writing, of the result of the appeal within 5 days of completion of the review. If the action is to sustain, the fellow will also be notified in writing that he/she has the right to appeal the decision at the GME level. If the fellow does not achieve satisfactory remediation during the probationary period, the Committee will make the decision for non-renewal of contract. Except in unusual circumstances, this decision will be made and communicated to the fellow in writing at least 4 months prior to the completion of the current postgraduate year. The fellow will also be notified in wiring of his/her right to appeal as described above. APPLICATIONS All application materials should be submitted through ERAS. The deadline for receipt of completed applications for the 2007 fellowship is March 31, 2006. Applicants may begin entering application materials for the 2007 fellowship program via ERAS in July, 2005. The required supporting material to be included with the application is as follows:
* Curriculum Vitae (CV)
* Personal Statement (Why Infectious Diseases?)
* Medical School Transcript (original or copy)
* Medical School Dean's Letter (original or copy)
* USMLE, or equivalent, score report (original or copy)
* USFMG form if foreign medical school graduate
* Copy of Visa or Green Card if non-US citizen
* Three letters of recommendation from faculty who have supervised you during residency or medical school, (preferably one from your residency program director) should be addressed to Dr. Flaherty's attention. These letters must be received before we can review your application and consider extending you an invitation to interview.
After evaluation of the applications is completed, selected candidates will be invited for a day of interviews with faculty members of the Division. Selection of fellows is in accordance with procedures outlined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Admission to the training program is usually after three years of an internal medicine residency. The typical fellowship is for two years; however, fellows who desire extensive research experience may be offered additional training. After review of the applications by the Fellowship Committee, selected applicants will be invited for interview. Selection for interview is based upon both academic credentials and clinical performance as indicated in the Dean's letter narrative and letter of recommendation. At the time of interview, two faculty members, the program director, the Division Chief and a fellow will interview the applicant. The final ranking of candidates is done on the basis of perceived clinical ability, academic accomplishments, communications skills, and personal qualities including motivation and integrity. There is no discrimination with regard to sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, disability, or military status. Northwestern University is an equal opportunity employer. Applications from members of minority groups are encouraged. CONTACT INFORMATION John P. Flaherty, M.D.
Director, Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program
676 N. Saint Clair St., Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60611
Telephone: 312.695.5085
Fax: 312.695.5088 Alison Palumbo
Coordinator, Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program
676 N. Saint Clair St., Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60611
Telephone: 312.695.5085
Fax: 312.695.5088
e-mail: a-palumbo@northwestern.edu | 
