Fellowship Program
The Section of Infectious Diseases at the Boston University School of Medicine is an integration of staff located at Boston Medical Center (formerly Boston City Hospital and Boston University Hospital) and the VA Boston Healthcenter. The Section Chief and Fellowship Program Director is Dr. Paul Skolnik, and Dr. Meg Sullivan is the Associate Director of the Fellowship Program.
Fellows enter an academic training program. For those with primarily clinical interests, in addition to a comprehensive inpatient consultative experience, emphasis will be placed on clinical microbiology, antibiotic use and control, epidemiology, infection control, and outpatient infectious diseases. For those with research interests, emphasis will be placed on laboratory or clinical investigation, in addition to a clinical experience. A minimum of three years of training is usually expected of those electing the research program.
The fellow begins the first year in the clinical microbiology laboratory learning basic microbiologic techniques. The majority of the first year is spent as a consultant, with rotations divided among the major teaching hospitals. Fellows may also spend a month as a consultant on the Pediatric Service. Training in outpatient Infectious Diseases involves rotations in the Center for Infectious Diseases (CID) at Boston Medical Center and the HIV Clinic at the VA Medical Center, the International Health Clinic, and the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic. A longitudinal experience in HIV outpatient care in the Center for HIV/AIDS Care and Research in the CID is provided beginning in the first year.
Designation of research plans prior to entry into the training program is desirable, but not required. Prior to starting and early in the first year, the fellow will have an opportunity to review research opportunities with faculty members, and to match with a specific faculty preceptor whose ongoing research most closely coincides with the fellow’s interests. Upon completion of the first year of fellowship, research trainees will spend two or more additional years in laboratory or clinical investigation directed by the faculty preceptor. Fellows with interests in hospital epidemiology or public health may choose epidemiologically-related research activities with an appropriate faculty preceptor; these fellows may also take courses or pursue an advanced degree at the Boston University School of Public Health.
A regular schedule of fellow-directed weekly clinical conferences is held at each teaching hospital. There are also research conferences, an AIDS conference, and a once monthly journal club. Fellows are responsible for organizing cases and discussions at journal club and clinical conferences. A series of didactic lectures on core infectious disease topics is presented by the faculty and the senior fellows. Fellows actively participate in teaching students and house staff who rotate through the clinical services. In addition, fellows beyond their first year of training may be involved in the teaching of microbiology to second-year medical students.
Salary support is guaranteed for first- and second-year fellows; support for training beyond the second year for fellows who plan to pursue research training is derived from research grants, training grants, and institutional sources. Benefits include four weeks of paid vacation and individual health insurance.
