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Clinical Training

The University of North Carolina Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program

The Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease at UNC offers a rich training environment for physicians and researchers to receive a comprehensive educational experience, drawing on our close relationship with other world-class clinical teachers and researchers within the UNC School of Medicine community. UNC offers an unparalleled opportunity for studying pediatric infectious diseases within a strong general and subspecialty pediatric setting. Our training program consists of a comprehensive clinical and research experience spanning three years. This program is intended for physicians who desire to pursue a career in academic medicine that combines clinical, research, and educational activities.

Clinical Training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Clinical experience on the UNC Pediatric Infectious Disease Consult Service and in outpatient Pediatric Infectious Disease and HIV Clinics will provide the majority of clinical experiences in this subspecialty. Specific goals for the Pediatric Infectious Disease services at UNC are:

  • Provide care to a broad spectrum of in-patients and out-patients with infectious diseases and complications due to bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic infections and/or fever without a source or fever of unknown origin.
  • Develop diagnostic and therapeutic skills as related to the infectious complications of patients who have solid organ transplants, HIV / AIDS, neutropenia, hepatitis, , malignancies, dialysis, or other immunocompromising conditions.
  • Develop skill selecting and prescribing antimicrobial agents, with special emphasis on pharmacology, and skills in antimicrobial stewardship
  • Gain consultative skill through “first-call” interactions with hospital staff and outside referring healthcare providers
  • Develop skills in clinical and diagnostic microbiology through daily “plate rounds”
  • Develop administrative and management skills though supervision of house-staff and students
  • Develop teaching skills though organization, presentation, and discussion in clinical case conferences and other educational settings

Inpatient training at UNC Hospitals

Fellows will rotate on the inpatient consult service 6 months during their first year, and 2 months each during the second and third years.

Outpatient training at UNC hospitals

The subspecialty fellows spend a half-day session each week that they are not on inpatient service during the 1st year of training and a half-day two times per month in their second and third year of training.

Our curriculum is very flexible and duration and participation in some rotations is dependent upon the fellow’s specific interests. The additional clinical experiences in specialized settings noted below augment clinical training:

  • Local Health Department STD and TB clinics
  • UNC Compromised Host Infectious Disease Clinical Service
  • UNC Burn Center
  • Clinical Microbiology Laboratory
  • Hospital Epidemiology / Infection Control
  • Antibiotic Stewardship Team (with required quality improvement project)
  • State Health Department Outbreak Investigations
  • National Committee Attendance (e.g. CDC ACIP)