The first-year is devoted to clinical training that provides both the didactic and clinical experience required to attain a superior level of clinical competency in infectious diseases practice. The second year of fellowship is individualized to the fellow’s clinical interest.

The fellow will have one half-day per week in the continuity clinic throughout both years of training. The ambulatory general ID clinics are located at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and in the Falk Medical Building. The HIV/AIDS clinic is located in the Falk Medical Building. Fellows will also participate in the antimicrobial management and stewardship program throughout the 2 years of fellowship.

First Year Structure

Second Year Structure

Subspecialty Tracks

1.) Infection Prevention Track
This track is designed to provide comprehensive training in hospital epidemiology and infection prevention for fellows interested in a career in infection prevention.  The second year of fellowship will be structured as an “embedded” experience with the fellow primarily located in the UPMC Presbyterian Infection Prevention suite with additional learning activities at the Pittsburgh VA and UPMC Mercy.  The fellow will meet regularly with the Medical Director and/or Associate Medical Director of Infection Prevention for focused didactics on key infection prevention and quality improvement topics, participate in infection prevention team meetings, assist in conducting cluster and exposure investigations, and become knowledgeable in surveillance and reporting of healthcare-acquired infections.  The fellow will also complete a scholarly project on an infection prevention topic, with opportunities to publish their research findings.  Some examples of ongoing projects include understanding the impacts of changing contact precautions policies, impact of change in C. difficile testing, VRE acquisition and transmission, and improving adherence to chlorhexidine gluconate skin treatment.
Rotation and Track Competencies can be found here and published in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology 2021.

2.) Innovative Antimicrobial Track
The Innovative Antimicrobial Therapy (IAT) Track offers a comprehensive training experience for fellows interested in a career path in antimicrobial resistance (AR) research. This track is working closely with the XDR Pathogen Laboratory and the Antimicrobial Management Program service. Faculty interests and expertise range from laboratory research to translational and clinical research in AR.

3.) Antimicrobial Stewardship Track
The Antimicrobial Stewardship Track offers a robust training experience for the ID fellow interested in a career path that includes antimicrobial stewardship. The overarching goal of this track is to provide a range of both executive level and operational experiences to the fellow so that on graduation, s/he has the confidence and competency to establish, grow, and direct an antimicrobial stewardship program within an acute care facility. Interested fellows would work with our Antibiotic Management Program (AMP) group to achieve these objectives. Examples include intervention and/or education of health care teams to enhance antimicrobial therapy, treatment guideline review, updates and recommendations, surveillance of antimicrobial utilization, and resistance trends. This track provides experiences with the medical and pharmacy director of the stewardship program at UPMC Presbyterian, an established program with a record of commitment to stewardship and associated patient care since 2002. Fellows are required to participate in monthly stewardship meetings and have the opportunity to conduct stewardship oriented scholarly projects and/or direct a quality improvement initiative with subsequent recommendations for practice.

4.) Transplant Infectious Disease Track
A transplant infectious diseases track is offered during the second year of training to those fellows interested in transplant related infections. Similar in structure to the TID fellowship, this track allows the fellow to spend more clinical time on both of the TID services (abdominal and cardiothoracic) as well as on the bone marrow transplant service, and will rotate on the TID outpatient clinic. The fellow will also have at least 6 months of protected time for a scholarly project. This track is ideal for fellows interested in becoming experts in treating transplant related infections, without having to complete a third year of specialized training in transplant infectious diseases.

5.) UPMC Division of Infectious Diseases Fellowship HIV Track
This fellowship trains fellows in the clinical care of adults with HIV at the Pittsburgh Area Center for Treatment (PACT), an integral part of UPMC’s Center for Care of Infectious Diseases. Fellows rotate through primary care and specialty care clinics as well as the inpatient service, gaining experience managing complications and comorbidities of HIV. Working with experienced HIV clinicians, fellows learn how to manage antiretroviral therapy, opportunistic infections, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections. Other areas of focus included metabolic, cardiovascular, psychiatric, gynecologic, anal dysplasia, and substance use comorbidities, as well as PrEP and PEP. Fellows are required to engage in a quality improvement project related to HIV care or prevention, and participate in PACT’s case conferences and CME-accredited HIV conferences. Fellows may attend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Clinical Conference.

Funding from HRSA through its Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Parts B, C, and D helps PACT provide comprehensive medical care, medications, and essential support services to persons with HIV regardless of ability to pay. Through HRSA’s Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS), PACT clinicians are developing innovative models of HIV care for people aging with HIV. PACT faculty are affiliated with the MidAtlantic AIDS Education and Training Center (Part F) which provides training and assistance to providers treating persons with HIV or at risk for HIV, centered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

The University of Pittsburgh Clinical Research Site (CRS) in the Division of Infectious Diseases has over two decades of experience in conducting HIV/AIDS clinical research protocols sponsored by the NIH/DAIDS, industry and other sponsors. The site is a DAIDS-funded Clinical Research Site (CRS) for the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). The CRS collaborates with numerous investigators and groups within the University of Pittsburgh. A main focus of the Pitt CRS is HIV cure translational and clinical research and HIV prevention strategies.