Infectious Disease Fellowship

Transplant Expertise

• HMH is one of the top solid organ transplant centers in the country (#1 in multiorgan transplants, #2 in liver transplants and #7 transplant program in the nation for the year 2022), leveraging a large population of immunocompromised patients. HMH just celebrated performing 10,000 transplants.
• Rotations at MD Anderson Cancer Center, the largest cancer hospital in the country with a high volume of hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

ID Specialty Fellowship Tracks

We offer optional ID subspecialty fellowship tracks to further specialize in training:

• 3rd Year Oncology and Transplant ID track
• 3rd Year Clinical Investigator and research track
• Plans to introduce Critical Care-Infectious Diseases track in the future

Comprehensive Educational Experience

• We prioritize the educational growth of our fellows and provide dedicated educational courses and workshops without clinical service obligations. The fellowship has several multi-day immersive and interactive educational experiences:

   

  • Infectious Disease boot camp course- a one-week intensive course on the fundamentals of ID at the start of fellowship.
  • Evidence based medicine course.
  • Ultraportable POCUS (Point of care Ultrasound) course
  • ID board review course
  • Health care epidemiology and infection prevention course
  • Antimicrobial Stewardship course
  • Gulf Coast Consortium antimicrobial resistance seminars and conference (held in January every year)

• Educational conferences weekly, biweekly, or monthly (Journal club, core curriculum, case conference, ID Grand rounds, Houston City Wide conference).

• In addition to the general ID service the fellows gain valuable experience through specialized services:

   

  • Immunocompromised and transplant ID service at HMH and MD Anderson Cancer Center 
  • Ambulatory block rotation through viral Hepatitis clinic, transplant ID clinic, Tropical medicine clinic, Wound care clinic, Sexually Transmitted Infections clinic.
  • “Junior attending” block at the end of 2nd year to simulate life as an attending, and training on practice management.
  • General ID continuity Clinic at Houston Methodist Hospital.

• State-of-the-art clinical microbiology and molecular diagnostics laboratory.

   

  • Virtual micro rounds on clinical consult service
  • 4-week rotation in microbiology and molecular diagnostics

Research Opportunities

• Houston Methodist and the TMC is the home of a robust community of researchers focusing on antimicrobial resistance and immunocompromised patients with a strong NIH grant portfolio encompassing molecular, translational, and clinical aspects.
• Clinical and research partnerships with several institutions in the Texas Medical Center. Houston Methodist is part of the Gulf Coast Consortium that includes MD Anderson Cancer Center, UTHealth, Baylor College of Medicine, UTMB, University of Houston, Rice University, Texas A&M and UTMB.
• The Texas Medical Center is the home of a one of the first T32 training programs in antimicrobial resistance open to all clinical fellows training in the TMC.
• Mentored research training with research opportunities, training grants and scholarships with > $20 million in direct costs of NIH funding for the division. Grants focus on a variety of topics including molecular mechanisms of resistance, microbiome science in immunocompromised and critically ill patients, VRE bacteremia, resistance to novel agents in Gram-negative organisms, genomics and bioinformatic sin infectious diseases, nanotechnology for infectious diseases.
• Clinical and research educators and mentors with a national and international reputation and a sustained program for K awards. Houston Methodist also has different mechanisms to support outstanding young trainees who want to become academic investigator through the Clinical Scholars Awards program.
• The Academy of Physician Scientists, an initiative of Texas A&M, Houston Methodist, and the TMC, is one of only ten medical schools in the nation to receive a highly prestigious Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Physician-Scientist Institutional Award to catalyze highly innovative programs for training physicians for successful academic careers as physician-scientists and available to all fellows.

Important Dates

• 8.21.24 (9 am CT) - Match Opens
• 9.25.24 (12pm ET) - Ranking Opens
• 10.31.24 (11:59 pm CT) - Program Application Deadline
• 12.04.24 (12:00pm ET) -Match Day

Interview Season: August through October

Houston Methodist Hospital participates in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) (NRMP Program Code: 1167146F0). All positions are offered through the NRMP.

Applications must be processed through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Paper applications are not accepted. All applications are carefully reviewed, and selected applicants are notified electronically through ERAS if an interview is requested.

"Pre-Match" positions are not offered.

**Please note: For the upcoming recruitment cycle, all applicants, including those local to the Greater Houston Area, will be interviewed virtually.**

Application Requirements

• Complete a common ERAS application form
• At least three (3) other letters of recommendation; preferably, one of the letters should be from the program director of your residency program. All letters of recommendation should be current or within the last 2 years.
• Official medical school transcript.
• Personal statement.
• Passing score on all USMLE steps and/or COMLEX
• Three years previous internal medicine residency training or in good standing in the third year of residency at the time of the application.
• Will consider H-1 and J-1 Visas.

Responsibility

Houston Methodist is committed to improving the health of our patients, employees, and communities around us. As a health care provider, it’s our responsibility to promote a healthier environment for our employees.

• Drug and Tobacco Screening- Job seekers will be tested for nicotine and drug usage during the post-offer physical. If a job seeker tests positive for nicotine use, including nicotine gum and patches, the offer will be rescinded, and individuals will be given the opportunity to participate in a free Houston Methodist-provided tobacco cessation program. Job seekers wishing to reapply after testing positive for nicotine may do so 90 days after the date the initial offer was rescinded. If the job seeker tests positive for drug use, the offer will be rescinded. Job seekers wishing to reapply after the drug screening is positive may do so one year after the date the initial offer was rescinded.
• Background Check - Prior to employment start date, job seekers must complete a criminal background check.

Schedule

Weeks on clinical service over the 2 years of general ID Fellowship:

• 5 months/ year of required inpatient consult service.
• Weekly half a day continuity clinic and two 2-week ambulatory blocks of subspecialty clinics in a year.
• Other months are protected for research or electives.

Weekend call: Average of 1 weekend or less per month while at Houston Methodist Hospital. The call schedule for away rotations will be based on the specific institutional polices.

Most of the courses listed beside are multi-day immersive educational experiences with seminars complimented by hands on scenario or case based workshops. During these courses the fellows will have no clinical duties other than their weekly continuity clinic, so they can focus on the course work.

Didactics and Conferences

In addition to the dedicated courses mentioned in earlier sections, there will be a weekly core curriculum conference, which is a series of seminars that rotate every two years so that each fellow will be exposed to important topics in infectious diseases necessary for the practice of infectious diseases. The series of seminars will be reviewed every year by the Program Evaluation Committee, so the topics are contemporary and capture emerging topics. There will also be other conferences periodically throughout the year.

• Journal Club (weekly)
• Clinical Case Conference (weekly)
• Citywide ID conference (weekly)
• ID grand rounds (weekly, every other month)
• Antimicrobial Resistance Conference (monthly)
• Clinicopathological conference (weekly, every other month)
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Conference (every other month)
• ID fellow Research in progress conference ( every three months starting in January)
• Tropical Medicine Case Conference (once a quarter)

Rotations and Block Schedule