Fellowship Program Curriculum

Clinical Microbiology

The first month of the Division of Infectious Diseases' fellowship subspecialty training teaches basic diagnostic laboratory techniques crucial to the microbiologic diagnosis of human infections. During this month, fellows gain hands-on experience in diagnostic microbiology working side-by-side with experienced technologists under the supervision of the director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at UMMC.

Outpatient experience

Fellows participate in two half-day infectious diseases continuity clinics weekly. These outpatient clinics are continuity clinics with every effort made to ensure that fellows follow their own patients throughout the course of their training. Faculty, providing guidance and supervision, participate with fellows in each clinic. 

Ambulatory care facilities are housed in the multidisciplinary University Clinics at the Jackson Medical Mall and Medical Pavilion Suites. Infectious diseases continuity clinics convene weekly. Both settings offer full outpatient services including nursing, pharmacy, multidisciplinary consultative services, respiratory therapy, phlebotomy, clinical laboratory, diagnostic radiology, social services, medical records and administrative support. 

Fellows may elect to participate in the Mississippi State Health Department outpatient clinics (also located at the Jackson Medical Mall for Hinds County) and laboratories directed toward the control of communicable diseases (e.g., sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis). Additional facilities include the offices of clinical faculty in private practice settings, along with advanced wound care with UMMC wound care surgery. Consultation requests from the Emergency Department, Outpatient Surgery and ambulatory clinics of other departments (both pediatric and adult) provide ID fellows with further experience managing infectious diseases in the ambulatory setting.

Further ambulatory care experience is offered through the division’s International Travel Clinic located on campus in the UMMC Medical Pavilion. Travel clinic evaluations and advisory sessions are scheduled on an as-needed basis. ID fellows and rotating medicine residents are encouraged to participate in travel clinic evaluations under the direct supervision of the attending faculty.

Inpatient Consult Services

The university ID services include two general infectious diseases teams and a transplant infectious diseases team.  These are high volume services with medically complex conditions.  Infectious diseases care at UMMC involves a multi-disciplinary approach with co-management with surgical and medical sub-specialties, intensivists, transplant specialists, etc.

The ID consult team will include medical and pharmacy students, internal medicine residents, infectious diseases pharmacists, and an ID fellow and attending.  The ID fellow will assume progressive autonomy over patient management throughout fellowship.

Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Fellows have the opportunity to rotate with the pediatric infectious diseases service at the state's only children's hospital.  Similar to adult infectious diseases, UMMC's pediatric services include medical and surgical subspecialties, neonatal and pediatric intensive care, and a statewide referral base for high volume, complex ID patient care led by committed clinician-educators.

Stewardship and Infection Prevention

The antimicrobial stewardship service is comprised of two ID pharmacists and the stewardship medical director.  Fellows will rotate with the antimicrobial stewardship service for at least two months during fellowship, overseeing antimicrobial prescribing patterns and providing audit and feedback to inpatient teams throughout the inpatient university health system with the supervision of the medical director.

The infection prevention office provides outbreak surveillance, monitors hospital-acquired infection trends, and facilitates ongoing quality improvement in the university hospitals.  Fellows will rotate for at least one month with the infection prevention office under the supervision of the hospital epidemiologist.

Mississippi State Department of Health Clinics

MSDH offers clinical rotations through several outpatient clinics.  The Crossroads Clinic provides STI screening and treatment services.  Rotating fellows will have the opportunity to gain expertise in STI evaluation and management and hone skills in the male and female GU exam.

UMMC ID physicians also provide tuberculosis care in several clinical settings through MSDH, and fellows will rotate through TB clinics under the supervision of the state TB health officer.

The MSDH state laboratory offers specialized testing for mycobacteria, serology, virology, and bacteriology.  Fellows have the opportunity to rotate through the state health lab gain additional experience in medical microbiology.

Sample two year schedule

Inpatient general infectious diseases: 8 months
Transplant infectious diseases: 2 months
Antimicrobial stewardship: 2 months
Infection prevention: 1 month
Ambulatory infectious diseases: 2 months
Medical microbiology: 1 month
Research: 4 months
Pediatric infectious diseases: 1 month
MSDH clinics: 1 month