Program Curriculum
Our required two-year training program is designed to offer the fellow comprehensive clinical training experiences and flexible research opportunities.
Rotations
The traditional two-year program is designed to offer the fellow comprehensive clinical training experiences and flexible research opportunities. Within the two-year experience, the fellow will spend:
- Three months on the Mount Sinai General ID-HIV consultation service
- Three months on the Elmhurst ID consultation service
- Four months on the Mount Sinai Transplant ID consultation service, divided into two months on Solid Organ Transplant ID consultation and two months on BMT/Oncology ID consultation
- Fellows who choose to do the Transplant Infectious Disease Track will do an additional two 4-week blocks on Solid Organ Transplant ID and two 4-week blocks on BMT/Oncology ID consults during their second year of fellowship (total of 4 months on Solid Organ Transplant ID and 4 months on BMT/Oncology ID consults during their two year fellowship).
- Two months on the Mount Sinai Inpatient HIV service.
- One month of Microbiology
During the second year of fellowship, fellows will have the option to choose between an additional month on the Mount Sinai Inpatient HIV service or pursuing the Transplant ID track depending on their career interests.
Each fellow has a weekly continuity clinic at either Mount Sinai or Elmhurst Hospital for the entirety of the two-year fellowship. As noted above, each fellow will receive four weeks of formal microbiology training during their first year as well as participate in a weekly microbiology “plate rounds”. Fellows learn infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship throughout their fellowship but will work directly with our Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) and Infection Prevention (IP)/Hospital Epidemiology teams during a 4 week ASP/IP rotation in their second years. Fellows interested in further training in transplant infectious diseases can decide in the second half of their first year to pursue the Transplant ID (TID) track during their second year. The remainder of the fellowship is dedicated to research. Fellows can also elect to spend two to four weeks on the Pediatric Infectious Diseases during their second year.
Year-by-Year Schedule
Each fellow has a weekly continuity clinic at either Mount Sinai or Elmhurst Hospital for the entirety of the two-year fellowship. Fellows learn infection prevention/hospital epidemiology and antimicrobial stewardship throughout their fellowship and will do a total of four weeks with our Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and Infection Prevention/Hospital Epidemiology teams during their second years. All fellows will be given guidance and opportunity to pursue scholarly projects during their training. During their first year of fellowship, fellows are assigned a faculty advisor to help with career development and to discuss the fellow’s clinical and research interests. Fellows will also attend quarterly research meetings as a part of their core lecture series; these meetings have been designed to help first fellows identify an area of interest, formulate a research question, and develop a study design and to allow second year fellows to present their research and receive feedback. Research lunches are scheduled in the second half of the academic year to introduce fellows to faculty projects and to inform them of potential scholarly opportunities. Fellows are given protected time during their second year to pursue their scholarly projects according to their areas of interests. Potential areas for scholarly activity for fellows at Mount Sinai include but are not limited to:
- Antimicrobial stewardship and antibiotic resistance
- Clinical and translational research including behavioral, epidemiology, genomics and interventional trials
- HIV laboratory research including pathogenesis, therapeutics and vaccine development
- Host pathogen interactions
- Infection control & prevention and hospital epidemiology
- Molecular diagnostics and epidemiology
- Transplant infectious disease
- Virology including coronavirus (SARS CoV2), CMV, flaviviruses, influenza, hepatitis
Fellows will also gain experience in quality improvement projects during their fellowship and will be able to pursue activities in medical education with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, both in the classroom and in the clinical settings. Fellows have the option of a third year of fellowship which would be fully dedicated to research if this is in line with their career path.
First-Year Fellowship
The first year of fellowship training is a clinical year divided into 13 four-week blocks. During this year the fellows spends the majority of time on clinical consultation services, including General ID-HIV, Transplant ID (including Solid Organ Transplant and Bone Marrow Transplant/Oncology Service) and Inpatient HIV Service.
Second-Year Fellowship
The second year of fellowship is primarily a research year. Fellows interested in additional training in transplant infectious diseases have the option to complete our new Transplant Infectious Disease (TID) Track during their second year. The curriculum for this track is described separately below.
Transplant-Infectious Disease Track
The Transplant Infectious Disease (TID) Track is an optional training path for fellows interested in a career in transplant infectious diseases. Ambulatory: During their second year, TID fellows will attend one half day session per week at the transplant ID clinic except when the fellow is on an inpatient consults service. Inpatient: Fellows on the TID track will spend a minimum of two 4 week blocks on Solid Organ Transplant ID and two 4 week blocks on BMT/Oncology ID consult service during their second year of fellowship training. This will give TID track fellows a total of 4 months of Organ Transplant ID and 4 months of BMT/Oncology ID consult services during their two years of fellowship. Call schedule: Fellows selected for the TID track will not be required to do any additional weekday or weekend call aside from the call days assigned to them as part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Infectious Disease Fellowship. Research/Scholarly Responsibilities: The TID track fellow will be required to participate in scholarly projects related to transplant infectious diseases under guidance of a dedicated mentor from among the transplant ID faculty. Time allotted for scholarly work will be flexible, depending on the time required for completion of ACGME core rotations/activities; and time spent on the transplant ID clinical services. The ID fellows will be expected to present their scholarly work at the end of their second year of fellowship and will be encouraged to submit an abstract to a relevant national or international meeting and prepare a manuscript for publication in a peer reviewed medical journal. Fellows on the TID track will participate in other TID educational opportunities, including attending weekly TID meetings and monthly TID research meetings. Supervision: This track has been developed by Dr. Sarah Taimur, Director of the Transplant ID Fellowship Track, and Dr. Meenakshi Rana, Director of Transplant ID, under the guidance of Dr. Mikyung Lee, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Infectious Disease Fellowship Program Director. Fellows on this track mentored by Dr. Taimur and Dr. Rana and will be directly supervised by our Transplant ID faculty when on the TID services.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES CONFERENCES
Ambulatory HIV curriculum
Tuesdays, 7:30am
The second year fellows lead these didactic sessions with supervision by the Program Director. This curriculum covers the principles of and evidence behind HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy, HIV guidelines, infectious and medical complications of HIV infection and treatment, and co-morbidities seen in HIV infected individuals.
Fellows Case Conference
Tuesdays, 5pm
This is an integrated conference during which our adult and pediatric infectious disease fellows throughout the Mount Sinai Health System present interesting cases from the consult services, the HIV service, or ambulatory settings. The case presentations are complemented by a review of the relevant medical literature. Our monthly divisional Quality Improvement (QI) conference is incorporated into the weekly case conference schedule.
Microbiology Plate Rounds
Wednesdays, 9am
Fellows attend weekly rounds where they review the microbiology and pathology specimens of clinical cases. These sessions are supervised and taught by Drs. Melissa Gitman, Michael Nowak and Alberto Paniz-mondolfi.
Divisional Grand Rounds
Wednesdays, 12pm
This is a weekly conference for the Division of Infectious Disease and Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute (GHEPI). A variety of topics including basic and clinical research as well as clinical updates are presented by expert speakers from Mount Sinai and other institutions.
Journal Club
Wednesdays, 5pm
Journal club is an integrated conference with all the infectious disease fellows in the Mount Sinai Health System. This journal club is supervised by the Program Directors at each of the campuses and appropriate faculty based on the topic of the articles. Both recent and “landmark” articles will be reviewed and key concepts in the critical review of the literature will be taught.