Clinical Training

Inpatient Clinical Services

General Infectious Diseases Service – The General Infectious Diseases consult rotation forms the main bulk of training in the first year of fellowship. Fellows can expect to round on inpatients at UPMC Presbyterian and Montefiore hospitals over several rotations and also at UPMC Mercy hospital and the VA hospital for exposure to a diverse group of patients unique to each hospital. They will be part of a team that often includes residents, interns, medical students and pharmacy ID residents rotating through ID. Fellows can expect to become proficient in managing bacteremia, endocarditis, pneumonia, complicated skin and skin structure infections, meningitis and other infections that are frequently encountered in general ID practice. UPMC is a tertiary referral center for most of Western Pennsylvania, and parts of West Virginia and Ohio. This allows fellows the opportunity to manage patients with unusual infections and travel-related infections due to a large referral base. Fellows will become adept in treating complex MRSA and multi-drug resistant gram-negative infections as well as Clostridium difficile infections.

Surgical Infectious Diseases Service – The Surgical Infectious Disease service focuses on the care of patients on the neurosurgical, orthopedic, cardiothoracic and otorhinolaryngology services. This service was initially designed to provide continuity of care for patients who require prolonged courses of intravenous antibiotics for their infections. Typical consults include endocarditis, empyema, lung abscess, meningitis, brain abscesses, infections of indwelling intrathecal devices, spinal epidural abscesses, osteomyelitis, infected prostheses, malignant otitis externa, mastoiditis, and perioperative antibiotic choices in complex trauma patients. The fellow can expect to round on the inpatient service at the Presbyterian and Montefiore Hospitals. Most patients are followed for their long-term antibiotic therapy in the outpatient setting and may be transitioned to the OPAT Program. In addition to the management of the above infections, Fellows should expect to end the rotation with knowledge of antibiotic penetration into various sites including the CNS, bone, other tissues, and serum. They should expect to gain knowledge on intrathecal dosing of antibiotics.

Solid Organ Transplant Infectious Diseases Service – UPMC is one of the most recognized and experienced medical centers in the world for solid organ transplantation. Over the last 30 years, UPMC transplant services have evolved to include longstanding programs in heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, intestinal and multivisceral transplantation. In 2017, the UPMC Cardiothroacic Transplant Program celebrated its 4000th transplant, only the second transplant program in the world to achieve this milestone. As for abdominal transplantations, through the mission of Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, more types of complex and combined abdominal transplant procedures have been done than those at any other institution. Transplant Infectious Disease (TID) service plays a crucial part of multidisciplinary team managing our extremely complex. Our experienced and highly dedicated TID faculty is consistently challenged with some of the most difficult and complex patients. General ID fellows round with our faculty on 2 in-patient TID services:

General ID fellows round with our faculty on 2 in-patient services: (i) an abdominal service that includes patients with liver, kidney, pancreas, small bowel and multivisceral transplantation; and (ii) a cardiothoracic service that evaluates heart, lung and combined heart-lung recipients along with patients with ventricular assist device.

Through their rounding on the TID services, fellows will be able to develop expertise in managing bacterial infections (including those caused by multidrug resistant organisms, Nocardia, mycobacteria), various viral infections (including CMV, respiratory viral infections) and invasive fungal infections. In addition to the in-patient TID service, the ID Fellow will have an opportunity to participate in the dedicated TID Clinic that provides pre-transplant evaluations and assessment of infectious risks, vaccinations, evaluation and follow up of recipients with various infectious issues immediately and long-term after transplantation.

Bone Marrow Transplant and Leukemia Service – Our ID Fellowship provides training in managing infectious complications in Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) recipients and patients with hematologic malignancies at the Mario Lemieux Center for Blood Cancers, a brand new facility that is one of the largest regional providers of SCT in Western Pennsylvania. The Center performs approximately 130 allogeneic, autologous and syngeneic transplantations per year and is actively participating in innovative clinical trials of promising new transplant approaches. During SCT rotation, ID fellows will perform consultation and follow up evaluations of SCT recipients under supervision of dedicated ID faculty as well as participate in hematology/oncology service rounds in leukemia/lymphoma and SCT units.

HIV Clinical Experience – The UPMC HIV/AIDS Program offers comprehensive HIV primary care services to over 1600 HIV-infected adults provided by qualified physicians, psychiatric nurse clinician, HIV pharmacist, nurse practitioner and a physician assistant. On-site care and services include the diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection, treatment of opportunistic infections, hepatitis B and C treatment, adherence counseling, mental health services, HPV-associated cancer screening and treatment in men and women, HIV pharmacologic support, pain management and palliative care specialty services, substance abuse counseling, peer advocacy, medical case management, and support services. Individuals requiring hospitalization are admitted to UPMC and HIV physicians are consulted on HIV admissions. HIV fellows help staff the consultations on HIV inpatients. All ID fellows attend a half-day continuity HIV clinic, paired with an HIV attending physician, for at least 12 months during their training; those focused on HIV/AIDS may elect to participate throughout their fellowship training. Fellows participate in weekly HIV-focused didactic and clinical case conferences, and may rotate through the Allegheny County Health Department’s STD Clinic. Fellows also take part in quality assurance projects that aim to further improve patient care.

Division of Infectious Diseases
Academic Administrative Office

818 Scaife Hall
3550 Terrace Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Academic Office: 412-383-9062

For Patients: 412-647-7228

Center for Care of Infectious Diseases

Falk Medical Building
3601 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Patient Appointments: 412-647-7228

Main CCID Fax: 412-647-7951