Other Training Activities
Teaching is one of the priorities of our Division, which is reflected in the activities organized for ID fellows. The goals of the educational activities are to provide the fellows with the most updated information on core topics of Infectious Diseases, teach them how to critically analyze the literature, and give them an opportunity to polish their presentation and teaching skills.
The educational activities are spread out throughout the week:
- Research Seminar Series: weekly basic science seminars are presented at the School of Public Health. This is a great opportunity for the fellows to learn about research being conducted by members of the Division and by members of other departments within the University. Attendance is optional.
- ID Journal Club: meets weekly. Presented by fellows, who are assigned to a faculty member for each session. The role of the faculty mentor is to guide the fellow with article selection, making sure that it is relevant to a general ID audience, data interpretation and conclusion. The fellow is encouraged to choose an article that answers a clinical question or that pertains to a research interest. Attendance is mandatory.
- HIV conference: meets thrice monthly. Sessions are divided between morbidity & mortality, relevant topics in HIV care and HIV resistance testing and interpretations. Guests from other Divisions are often invited to lecture. Fellows present M&M cases. Attendance is mandatory.
- Transplant ID Journal Club: meets bimonthly. Recent advances in the field of infections in solid organ and stem cell transplantation are discussed. Attendance is optional.
- Infectious Diseases Grand Rounds: meets weekly. There are 2 presentations per session. Presentations are varied and include case discussion accompanied by pertinent review of the literature, faculty research in progress, and state of the art presentations by invited guest. Every session starts with a microbiology puzzle of the week, which is distributed in advance. Fellows and faculty are expected to submit their thoughts in advance, and the answer to the puzzle is given at the beginning of the session. Each of the services are assigned to present cases on a rotating basis: general ID service, surgical ID service, transplant ID, Magee ID, VA ID, Mercy ID, Infection Control, HIV/AIDS, Pediatric ID (presented by Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh) and the Antibiotic Management Program.
Faculty research in progress is a great opportunity to educate all members of the Division about the research projects that are being conducted and to foster collaboration.
Well-renowned national and international guests in different fields of ID are invited to present and spend the day with the fellows. Attendance is mandatory
- Core curriculum series: presented weekly by the Division’s finest lectures. It provides didactic lectures on a variety of topics in ID and prepares the fellows well for their clinical activities and for the board exam. A few sessions are dedicated to board review. Attendance is mandatory.
In the summer, the schedule is focused on the new 1st year fellows, with the time allotted to journal club used for an intensive course on the most common infections encountered by an Infectious Diseases consultant. Summer ID Grand Rounds are an informal case management conference.
Another important educational activity of the division is Fellow’s Research in Progress, which occurs bi-annually. Second year fellows are expected to present their research proposals in July and all the other fellows present their research progress every six months. This activity is well attended by all members of the division and is a great opportunity for the fellows to listen to constructive criticism about their research.
The 2nd and 3rd year ID fellows have developed and are responsible for the resident’s lecture series, in which they give a series of didactic lectures to the house staff and third and fourth year medical students rotating on the ID consult services and the HIV/AIDS clinic. This activity is seen as a great opportunity for the fellows to do an in-depth review of ID topics and to polish their teaching skills.
Starting in 2008, the division sponsored the “Excellence in Infectious Disease Education Award”. The award has the purpose to honor an individual who has contributed significantly to the field of Infectious Diseases, particularly to the training of fellows. The awardee is selected by the fellows. Dr. Robert Bonomo from Case Western Reserve was the recipient in 2008.