The Division of Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine is an ACGME approved program designed to attract outstanding young physicians and train them for academic careers in infectious diseases.

The Program offers two fellowship tracks.  For fellows interested in research, an integrated, three-year program combines broad and intensive clinical training with two years of in-depth research training. A separate two-year track is offered for fellows interested solely in the clinical practice of infectious diseases.

In an effort to provide the highest quality care in both inpatient and outpatient settings, faculty of the Division and their colleagues in the departments of Molecular Microbiology, Biology, Cell Biology and Physiology, Pathology and Genetics foster and maintain excellent communication between basic scientists and clinicians. The fellowship training program places a high value on a fertile collaborative atmosphere in which basic and clinical investigations alike are pursued to advance the forefront of knowledge relevant to understanding the pathogenesis, pathophysiology, clinical consequences and treatment of infectious diseases.

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.

Clinician, Investigator and Basic Investigator Tracks

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
An additional twelve months of fellowship after the first year will consist of six months of clinical training (transplant, ID consult, hospital epidemiology, etc.), an additional half-day clinic, and scholarly activity leading to authorship of a paper submitted for peer review, or presentation at a national or regional meeting.

Clinical Investigator Track
This requires a minimum of 2 years after the first year. Fellows will choose a clinical research project and mentor by the end of their first year, and present their research ideas/findings to the ID Division at the end of their second and third years. Presentation at national meetings, and one or more manuscript submissions are expected. Didactic coursework in aspects of clinical research are an additional option. Fellows could pursue K30 coursework leading to a Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation, ultimately leading to K23 or K12 or other career development grant applications.

Basic Investigator Track
The requirements for this are similar to the clinical investigator track above. Presentations and manuscript submissions are important; additional coursework should focus on basic science research -- study design, molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, bacterial/viral/fungal pathogenesis, ultimately leading to applications for career development award such as the K01, K08, K23, etc. Fellows can choose a laboratory from any department in the medical center.

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. Fellows interested in the research tracks will have their third research year either funded by the departmental training grant, or obtain institutional or extramural funding through one of numerous K-level awards or foundation grants