Infectious Disease Fellowship

Fellowship Tracks

Fellows select a fellowship track, usually near the end of Year 1. That choice is based on professional aspirations of the fellow and leads to customized training opportunities that provide advanced competence in one/several of a host of areas which position the fellow for success in their desired career paths. All fellows attend IDWeek during Year 2, have IDSA membership sponsored by the Division and complete SHEA’s online fellows’ course in Health Care Epidemiology and Infection Control and Antimicrobial Stewardship, regardless of the track they select

Clinical/Clinician-Educator Track

In addition to our standard curriculum that prepares fellows to be excellent ID consultants, this track promotes more in-depth clinical experience in specialized niches of ID or through elective rotations outside of ID, such as Allergy-Immunology, Addiction Medicine, or Dermatology. Further, beyond their principal role as a consultant, many ID physicians will lead health care teams in their medical centers, such as antimicrobial stewardship or hospital epidemiology programs. Experiences offered in this track promote acquiring skills in these areas. Specific opportunities include:

  • Elective rotations: Allergy/Immunology, Global/Tropical Medicine, Dermatology, Addiction Medicine, NTM Pulmonary Clinic, Pediatric ID, Rheumatology, Ortho ID
  • Elective weeks embedded with Antimicrobial Stewardship or Hospital Epidemiology Teams
  • Participation in University of Iowa Health Care Quality Leadership Academy
  • Participation in Department of Medicine Fellows as Clinician Educators (FACE) Program
  • SHEA membership
  • Scholarly project such as a QI or Infection Prevention initiative or in medical education

Healthcare Services and Healthcare Quality

This track prepares fellows for ID careers with special emphasis in hospital epidemiology health services research or healthcare quality, including antimicrobial stewardship.  It is anticipated that the majority of fellows who select his track are interested in an academic career.  Features of this track include the following:

  • Support for 3rd year of fellowship and possibly a 4th year with majority research time is possible through the following mechanisms:
    • VA Quality Scholars Program
    • T32 ID Training Grant (renewal pending as of summer 2025)
    • Departmental support
  • Mentors/projects are available from within the ID Division. Listed below are the principal areas of scholarly work studied by faculty within the division.
    • Computational Epidemiology/Data Science programs that investigate the epidemiology of infections: Philip Polgreen, Aaron Miller
    • Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Prevention: Loreen Herwaldt, Karen Brust, Philip Polgreen, Joseph Tholany
    • Health Services Research: Daniel Livorsi, Mike Ohl, Michi Goto, Martha Carvour, Hiroyuki Suzuki
    • Antimicrobial Stewardship: Dilek Ince, Daniel Livorsi, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Joseph Tholany
  • Additional components of this track may include the following, based on fellow interests:
    • Availability of IDSA’s Advanced Curriculum for Antimicrobial Stewardship
    • Elective time spent embedded with the antimicrobial stewardship team or the program of hospital epidemiology to acquire more advanced experience in these areas
    • Attendance at the SHEA Spring meeting  
    • Nomination to the VA Quality Scholars Program (VAQS)  or the VA Health Services Research Fellowship (Note that recently the VA has limited eligibility for visa-holders for these fellowships)
    • Paths to a Master’s of Public Health or Master’s of Science in Clinical Investigation if additional years of advanced fellowship are sought, such as through the VAQS program. Coursework in statistics or epidemiology is possible for those not planning on a master’s degree
    • Participation in University of Iowa Health Care’s Quality Leadership Academy

Physician Investigator Track

This track prepares fellows for careers in ID-related basic science or clinical/translational investigation.

  • Basic Science Investigation
    • Support for 3rd year of fellowship and possibly a 4th year via the following mechanisms:
      • Department of Internal Medicine support
      • T32 (renewal pending as of summer 2025)
      • Parasitism Training Grant
      • Immunology Training Grant
  • Mentors/projects are available from within the ID Division or other divisions/departments (e.g., Microbiology, Immunology, Pulmonary Medicine).
  • Basic science investigators in the ID Division and their area of focus include:
    • Virology and infections of immunocompromised hosts: Jack Stapleton, Jeffrey Meier, Sabrina Tan
      • Inflammation and immunity: Priya Issuree, Prajwal Gurung, Thorsten Maretzky
      • Parasitology: Mary Wilson (and adjunct Selma Jeronimo)
  • Clinical and Translational Investigation
  • Support for 3rd year of fellowship for fellows who want to pursue substantive research as part of their careers (and possibly a 4th year) is possible via the following mechanisms:
    • Department of Internal Medicine support
    • T32 (renewal pending as of summer 2025)
  • Mentors and projects are available from within the ID Division or other divisions/departments (please see faculty list for more information)
  • Clinical and Translational investigators in the Division of ID and their areas of study are listed below
    • Vaccine and therapeutics trials:  Patricia Winokur, Dilek Ince, Lemuel Non, Sabrina Tan, Jack Stapleton, Mary Wilson, Selma Jeronimo
  • Clinical Microbiology: Kunatum Prasidthrathsint
  • Investigators outside the Division who are aligned with ID and their areas of interest are listed below
    • Bradley Ford, Medical Microbiology Lab Director
    • Julia Gudenkauf studies neurologic disease in immunocompromised