Member Spotlight: Sandra Arnold

Sandra Arnold, MD, MSc, FPIDS, is Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). She earned her medical degree at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Her residency in Pediatrics and fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases were completed at The University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children. She earned her Master of Clinical Epidemiology degree at the University of Toronto as well. She has been on the faculty at UTHSC for 23 years.

Dr. Arnold is a newly elected member of the PIDS Board of Directors. She is a past chair of the Clinical Affairs Committee and will be chairing the committee to update the IDSA Guidelines for the Management of Histoplasmosis.

Why Pediatric ID? When I started medical school, I thought I was going to be an adult oncologist. I matched into internal medicine, but even before I started, I knew I was probably going to apply to pediatrics. Happily, I made the switch. I did struggle a bit in choosing a specialty but with a little nudge from one of my favorite attendings, I ended up in ID.

I think what really appeals to me about ID is that it doesn’t limit you to a particular organ system or area of the hospital. We are needed everywhere, more so than just about any other specialty. We work in the ICU, the emergency department, and all the floors – and we even occasionally go to the OR to make sure that really important specimen is collected and arrives in the lab promptly. We really have our, very clean, hands in everything. Finally, I love the intellectual, clinical challenge and intense problem solving in which we engage.

Where have you taken your ID focus? Antibiotic stewardship has always been my main focus. When I completed my Master’s degree during fellowship, there were not yet any institutional stewardship programs. My thesis focused on understanding the drivers of inappropriate outpatient antibiotic use. I continued to do research in this area and eventually started the stewardship program at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. The hospital president recognized the importance of prudent antibiotic use to the hospital and the wider community, even before these programs were required, and funded our program because it was the right thing to do. Since that time, we have grown and expanded our reach. It has given me the opportunity to study a wide variety of community and hospital acquired infections and to engage other specialists in the process.

What is a recent development in peds ID you are working on? I had a fantastic experience serving on the IDSA committee for the osteomyelitis and bacterial arthritis guidelines. My involvement with these guidelines led me to become the chair for the update of the guidelines for the management of histoplasmosis. This has provided me the opportunity to work with adult ID clinicians with a wide array of expertise, from general ID, to mycology, to infections in immunocompromised hosts. I have enjoyed getting to know these individuals and learning from them.

What do you enjoy most about being a PIDS member? What keeps you renewing your membership? The best thing about PIDS is the camaraderie and networking with like-minded people. When you choose a specialty, you choose, in part, because of the people in that specialty – the people with whom you mesh, with whom you are happy to spend your work days. PIDS is filled with all the people you chose. You automatically have that connection.

Pediatricians are different from other physicians. Those who have chosen ID as their subspecialty have chosen it because we are fascinated by the clinical and scientific challenges. We have chosen it because we are strong advocates for children, and vaccines, and, let’s face it, because there is nothing we love more than a great medical mystery. PIDS gives us the space to advocate for children, for each other, and for our beloved specialty.