Weill Cornell Medical College

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Infectious Diseases Fellowship

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The goal of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program is the training of academic physician-scientists. The program provides individualized training through faculty guidance, clinical rotations, mentored research, and didactic coursework. Graduates of the program are highly qualified for the practice of infectious diseases, bench and clinical research, and for leadership roles in medicine.

We provide a wide variety of clinical training experiences in different venues including: the inpatient consult services of New York-Presbyterian (NYPH)/Weill Cornell (general and immunocompromised), the Hospital for Special Surgery (orthopedics, rheumatology), and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; weekly outpatient clinic experiences encompassing general ID, HIV/AIDS, and travel medicine; clinical elective rotations; clinical microbiology laboratory and hospital epidemiology rotations; and a sexually transmitted disease rotation at the NYC Department of Health. All fellows develop a research project in collaboration with one or more faculty mentors from Weill-Cornell, Rockefeller University, or Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Fellows' research projects span basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiologic research in diverse areas of investigation. The majority of our fellowship graduates seek careers either in academia, government or with private foundations.

Clinical Sites and Consult Service Rotations

Fellows see inpatients at three institutions: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell, the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

The New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell is the primary institution of our fellowship training program. The medical center is located in a large clinical and research complex on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) is the current name of what were formerly two distinct institutions: the Cornell-New York Hospital and the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Currently, New York-Presbyterian Hospital is the largest health care facility in the New York Metropolitan area and one of the largest and most prestigious within the world. The Greenberg Pavilion of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell campus) is a one million square foot facility with 867 patient beds. The hospital services patients with a broad range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, which reflect the diversity of New York City. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides an extensive assortment of services through its Level I Trauma Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Burn Center, Bone Marrow and Blood Stem Cell Transplant Program, surgical services including neurosurgery and solid organ transplant, OB-GYN, pediatric, neurologic and psychiatric departments. Fellows therefore learn to manage patients with both common and rare infectious diseases in a myriad of medical settings.

At NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, fellows rotate on our General ID consult service as well as the immunocompromised services (leukemia, lymphoma, solid organ and stem cell transplant). On average, the General ID consult service manages 80-90 inpatient consults per month. Fellows are supervised by members of the Division of Infectious Diseases which has more than 50 full-time, affiliated, voluntary and adjunct faculty. Pharm Ds with expertise in infectious diseases round daily with the consultation team and provide information and teaching regarding the appropriate use and monitoring of antimicrobials. In addition, medical students and residents are integrated into the team.

New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell is contiguous with the Weill Cornell Medical College as well as physically connected to the 192-bed Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). HSS provides orthopedic and rheumatologic care including specialized surgical services for the hand and upper extremity, hip and knee prostheses, orthopedic trauma, scoliosis, spine, and arthritis surgery. The HSS affords our fellows an unusually broad exposure to infectious diseases involving bones and joints and prosthetics.

MSKCC is located across the street from NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and is a designated National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center. The 775-bed private hospital specializes in oncologic evaluation and treatment. It provides a full range of services through departments which include neurology, pediatrics, gynecology and psychiatry and offers multiple treatment modalities including pharmacologic, surgical and radiation therapy as well as bone marrow transplant. MSKCC affords the fellows an unusual opportunity to study infection in the immunocompromised host. The Infectious Disease Divisions of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and MSKCC are independent but have a close affiliation. MSKCC fellows rotate on the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell in-patient service in a reciprocal fashion and attendings at MSKCC have faculty appointments at Weill Cornell Medical College. A combined TransYork NewYork-Presbyterian/MSKCC Infectious Disease clinical case conference is held once per month. The combined areas of expertise of the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, HSS and MSKCC and location in a major urban center provide a rich clinical experience which ensures that fellows see the full spectrum of infectious diseases.

Other Clinical Rotations

In addition to clinical in-patient rotations, during the first year fellows spend 2 weeks in the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Clinical Microbiology Laboratory and with the Epidemiology service. Annually the Microbiology lab performs 250,000 requested procedures and is a major reference laboratory which allows the fellows opportunities to learn how to evaluate samples for all major classes of infectious agents including bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic. On the epidemiology service they learn the essentials of infection control for a major medical center. This experience is augmented by the attendance at monthly meetings of the service in which both acute and ongoing epidemiologic issues are managed.

Subspecialty elective-rotations (2 - 4 weeks) are available on the clinical in-patient service. These rotations provide fellows with more intense and dedicated exposure to specific types of infections that occur on the general consult service. The rotations are staffed by senior clinicians with specific clinical expertise/research interests in the area. Current electives include:

• Cardiovascular and post-surgical infections
• Orthopedic/rheumatologic infections
• HIV/AIDS outpatient intensive rotation
• Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Fellows also have the option of an international elective at Weill Bugando Medical Center in Tanzania.

Outpatient clinics

During the first two years fellows have weekly one half day continuity clinic sessions which alternate between the Center for Special Studies (CSS) HIV clinics and ID Associates, the general ID clinic. At ID associates, fellows evaluate patients referred from the community as well as continuity care for patients seen on the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell inpatient service. Expertise is therefore gained in the acute and longitudinal care of patients with infectious diseases as well as outpatient antibiotic management. Experience in the care of outpatients with HIV/AIDS is acquired through training individually with a CSS physician at one of two outpatient clinics: the Bernbaum Unit at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell or the Rogers Unit which is located off-site in Chelsea, Manhattan.

Fellows also rotate in the Travel Clinic which services ˜ 3,000 people annually. They gain experience providing pre- and post travel advice and infectious disease consultations in international traveler's and immunizations. Fellows also obtain experience in the management of sexually transmitted diseases through a rotation at the the New York City Department of Health Bureau of Sexual Transmitted Disease clinics.