The MedStar Health—Washington Hospital Center Fellowship Program in Infectious Disease
The MedStar Washington Hospital Center Infectious Diseases program is a 2-year training program based in the largest and busiest hospital in our nation’s capital. We offer a tremendous clinical experience in a hospital that is a level I trauma center and home to the Heart and Vascular Institute. In addition to general ID consults, the fellows rotate on a service dedicated to transplant and device-associated infections.
Our fellows also spend one month caring for highly immunocompromised patients at the National Institutes for Health and two weeks of pediatric/adolescent infectious diseases experience at Children’s National Medical Center. Its outpatient continuity clinic affords experience taking care of a large cohort of HIV patients in addition to the variety of infections that are seen by practicing in a location such as Washington, D.C.
Why train here
Our program has several unique qualities that make our fellowship stand out.
- We have a special relationship with the National Institutes for Health. We share a joint core didactic curriculum and case conferences with NIH that allow our fellows to participate in talks with world-renowned experts in the field.
- We are a Ryan White-funded HIV clinic. Our fellows work with an interdisciplinary group that includes, among other, social workers, behavioral health specialists, and case managers to care for our large outpatient cohort of HIV patients.
- We are a designated Ebola Treatment Center with a robust disaster preparedness team that is necessary, given our location in the nation’s capital. As such, we were well-prepared to deal with the Covid pandemic, including adequate PPE, science-based policies, and communication to all healthcare workers.
- We have a small group of faculty who are dedicated to fellow education. All faculty are committed to teaching and mentoring and regularly participate in faculty development activities. However, because of our relationships with NIH, Georgetown, Children’s National Medical Center, and Walter Reed Hospital, our fellows have the benefits of a smaller, cohesive program within a larger network.
Benefits of the program
- We have an on-site microbiology laboratory that allows our fellows to gain first-hand knowledge of different microbiologic tests and techniques.
- Our transplant and device-associated infections service has a unique relationship with our orthopedic and advanced heart failure colleagues that allows for outpatient consults in a setting that fosters communication and collaboration among multiple services. The fellows learn how to provide outpatient consults via an alternate paradigm that improves patient care.
- Our fellows have multiple additional educational opportunities outside their clinical experiences, including:
- Funding to attend IDWeek, the annual IDSA conference
- Funding for ID board review course
- Funding for attendance of other conferences if an abstract is accepted
- Hands-on microbiology course at the NIH
- Course on principles and practice of clinical research
- $10,000 for research support to all trainees (for statistical support, publication fees, etc.)
- Antimicrobial stewardship curriculum that combines didactics and pragmatic, real-world experience to prepare for a future career in stewardship
Curriculum
The MedStar Washington Hospital Center Infectious Diseases Fellowship program is located at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., The program trains two fellows per year, and is centered at the largest and busiest hospital in the city.
Read our Policy and Procedures Manual.
Curriculum highlights:
- Training in an 800-bed hospital, seeing an incredibly diverse spectrum of diseases
- On-site microbiology laboratory
- On-site ambulatory clinic, supported by Ryan White funding
- Off-site rotations at NIH and Children’s National Medical Center
- Opportunities for clinical research
- Shared case conferences with NIH and Georgetown
Program overview
We have a 2-year, clinically focused training program with approximately seven months of inpatient consult time per year. The consult months are generally split up as:
Year 1
- 3.5 months on the general consult team
- 2.5 months on the transplant / orthopedic and cardiac device infection team
- 1 month at NIH (stem cell transplant and highly-immunocompromised patients)
Year 2
- 4 months on the general consult team
- 2.5 months on the transplant / orthopedic and device infection team
- 0.5 months on the pediatric ID consult service at Children’s National Medical Center
Didactic curriculum and conferences
Infectious Diseases Didactic Series
Fellows attend regularly scheduled presentations. Supplemental instructional sessions are scheduled throughout the year, including sessions on microbiology, ethics, and health disparities.Below are the regularly scheduled presentations that MedStar Washington Hospital Center infectious disease fellows attend. Supplemental instructional sessions are scheduled throughout the year, including sessions on microbiology, ethics, & health disparities.
Tuesday
- 8:30 a.m.: HIV lecture series: Monthly HIV-specific topic talk
Wednesday
- 12:30 p.m.: Department of Medicine Grand Rounds
- 1:30 p.m.: Didactics
- Faculty core lectures (shared with NIH)
- Journal club
- Board review
Friday
- 11:30 a.m.: Department of Medicine Grand Rounds
- Noon: Case conference: Fellow-led review of two instructional cases. Conference is shared with NIH and Georgetown Infectious Disease programs.
Conferences and other opportunities
All fellows are fully funded to attend the conferences / courses during their first and second years of fellowship as listed. Other opportunities and resources are also available.
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First year of fellowship
- Microbiology course: Week-long, hands-on microbiology training at the NIH
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Second year of fellowship
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Other opportunities and resources
Contact information
If you have questions, please feel free to reach out.
Program director: Saumil Doshi