Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship

Program Overview

UPMC is one of the largest and oldest solid organ transplant centers in the world, with established programs in lung, heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, intestinal, and multivisceral transplantation, as well as a large ventricular assist device (VAD) service. In 2013, the Cardiothoracic Transplant program performed its 3,000th transplant, becoming only the second program worldwide to reach this milestone. Under the leadership of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute, UPMC has performed more types of abdominal organ transplants than any other institution, making it a global leader in this field.

Fellows on the Transplant Infectious Diseases (TID) services care for patients with hematological malignancies, including hematopoietic cell transplant and CAR-T therapy recipients, alongside a wide range of solid organ transplant patients. Clinical exposure spans infections caused by molds, yeasts, Nocardia, cytomegalovirus (including resistant strains), Epstein-Barr virus, mycobacteria, multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, respiratory viruses, and many others. Fellows also gain experience with clinical trial protocols and compassionate-use therapies for patients with recalcitrant infections. Complex inpatient and outpatient cases are reviewed in the weekly TID case conference, and fellows acquire expertise in prophylaxis and monitoring strategies for post-transplant infections.

Outpatient training complements the inpatient experience, with weekly clinics dedicated to solid organ transplant recipients, candidates, and patients supported with VADs. Fellows may also participate in the hematological malignancy TID clinic at the Hillman Cancer Center.

Clinical Curriculum

The TID fellowship is a one-year, non-ACGME accredited program. Fellows spend approximately 24 weeks in clinical training and 24 weeks devoted to scholarly activity. During the clinical blocks, fellows provide consultative services for hospitalized patients and maintain a continuity outpatient clinic one half-day per week.

Training includes the management of both acute and chronic infectious complications of transplantation, pre-transplant infectious risk evaluation, and the development of prophylaxis strategies. Fellows also participate in multidisciplinary rounds, review transplant protocols, and learn infection prevention approaches specific to immunocompromised hosts. An optional second year focused on clinical or translational research may be arranged if grant support is available.

TID Services

The TID program is fully integrated into UPMC’s multidisciplinary transplant care model and is organized into two inpatient teams. The Abdominal TID service cares for liver, kidney, pancreas, small bowel, and multivisceral transplant recipients, while the Cardiothoracic TID service manages patients after heart, lung, and combined heart-lung transplantation, as well as those supported with VADs.

Through these services, fellows gain expertise in the management of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections (including Nocardia and mycobacteria), invasive fungal infections, and a wide range of viral pathogens such as CMV and respiratory viruses. Outpatient training includes the dedicated TID clinic, which provides pre-transplant evaluations, vaccination strategies, and long-term follow-up of recipients with infectious complications.

Educational Activities

Fellows participate in a wide array of structured learning opportunities in addition to bedside teaching. These include weekly ID Grand Rounds, weekly Transplant Grand Rounds, weekly TID Clinical Case Conference, monthly TID didactic sessions, monthly TID research meetings, and the monthly international TID videoconference with colleagues from the Cleveland Clinic, UNC, University of São Paulo, and UPMC. Additional opportunities include the weekly general ID journal club and didactic conference, ensuring broad exposure to both general and transplant-specific infectious diseases.

Research Experience

Each fellow completes a scholarly project during the one-year program, tailored to their research and clinical interests. Projects are supported by close mentorship, usually with a TID faculty member, though opportunities exist to collaborate with faculty across other departments depending on the fellow’s goals.

Core TID faculty

Our TID group is one of the largest and most established in the nation: