The Traditional/Research Track in the ID Fellowship program at Stanford offers outstanding clinical training and research opportunities for physicians who wish to specialize in infectious diseases. This fellowship is an ACGME-accredited program for which the primary goal is to prepare trainees for an academic career in basic science, clinical research, public health, epidemiology, industry, and others.
First Year: Clinical Training
The first year of the training program is dedicated to providing clinical exposure to a broad spectrum of infectious diseases. Fellows spend the majority of the year rotating through the infectious diseases consult services at our program’s three hospitals under the supervision of an attending physician. These services include General ID at all three hospitals, the Transplant ID services at Stanford (which specialize in the care of patients with malignancies, solid-organ transplants, and hematopoietic cell transplants), ICU-ID at Stanford, and others. Fellows also spend a month learning fundamental aspects of microbiology and virology in the clinical laboratory, a month rotating through subspecialty outpatient ID clinics, and training in antimicrobial stewardship / hospital epidemiology at Stanford.
A continuity clinic is maintained one half-day per week throughout the first two years of training in the program: the first year in General Infectious Diseases clinic, and the second year in HIV clinic. Fellows also participate in weekly didactic and research conferences.
Dr. Brian Blackburn, Co-director of the ID fellowship training program, meets with each first-year fellow regularly regarding their progress and advises them regarding their clinical and research training.
Second and Third Year (and Beyond): Research
Beginning in the second year, fellows spend the majority of their time involved in research activities. Our division offers an outstanding array of research opportunities in basic, clinical, epidemiologic, or translational science supported by NIH training grants and other funding resources. This is done under the supervision of a mentor(s) who can be chosen from among the diverse and outstanding faculty within the Division of Infectious Diseases. We also encourage fellows to choose a mentor from any Department at Stanford including the Department of Medicine, Pediatrics (Division of Infectious Diseases), the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, other faculty in the School of Medicine, and the larger Stanford University community (outside of the medical school).
Dr. Lucy Tompkins, Co-director of the ID fellowship training program, is responsible for facilitating each fellow’s research training and selection of mentors beginning in the first year of the program. She meets with each fellow in the program regularly to assist and advise fellows regarding their progress and facilitates their opportunities for research support. Each fellow is encouraged to select a faculty advisory panel to meet with them regularly to review and facilitate their research progress.
Fellows typically spend three to six years as postdoctoral fellows in the program. The division has an outstanding record of success in preparing and placing its trainees in prestigious faculty positions, public health careers, and industry.
For more information about the Division of Infectious Diseases research labs and programs, please visit the Research page.
