Member Spotlight: Andrea Green Hines

Andrea Green Hines, MD, FPIDS, is Associate Professor, Adult and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). She also serves as Medical Director for the Children’s Nebraska Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and Program Director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at UNMC. Dr. Green Hines obtained her medical degree at UNMC, where she also completed her med-peds residency and her med-peds ID fellowship.

She serves on the PIDS Workforce Development Committee, which she vice chairs, and serves on its Training Programs Subcommittee.

Why Pediatric ID? When I started residency, I didn’t initially plan to pursue a fellowship. However, I quickly found myself drawn to the infectious disease cases. I still remember my first pediatric ID rotation — after a long, hectic day seeing patients across every floor and ICU of the hospital, I came home thinking, ‘That was an awesome day!’

That’s when I knew I was hooked. I loved every part of it: the detective work of taking thorough histories, synthesizing physical exam findings with lab and imaging data, and piecing it all together to arrive at a diagnosis and treatment plan. I cannot imagine a specialty more intriguing, dynamic and impactful than ours.     

Where have you taken your ID focus? I am really proud of the work that we are doing in the PIDS Workforce Development Committee to foster early exposure and interest in pediatric ID, including the meetID program. I look forward to exploring additional opportunities that we have to strengthen our successive workforce and am wrapping up work with several other pediatric ID colleagues across the country examining characteristics of pediatric residency programs that correlate with graduates entering undersubscribed subspecialities, including pediatric ID. As a Med-Peds ID trained and practicing physician, I am also interested in expanding our workforce through expanded pathways, including combined and dual fellowship training programs.

The PIDS Training Programs Subcommittee has been hard at work planning Fellows’ Day at ID Week (October 18th), and we are looking forward to fun and energizing day with our members-in-training! 

What is a recent development in pediatric ID that your are working on? Perspectives from Beyond the Mazeis a commentary, co-authored by me and several fellow Med-Peds ID physicians. It discusses how to support Med-Peds ID fellowship candidates and the vital role of Med-Peds ID specialists in strengthening the ID workforce.

What do you enjoy most about being a PIDS member? What keeps you renewing your membership? I truly value being a part of a community that shares a passion for pediatric infectious diseases. I always look forward to our committee meetings–not only for the opportunity to collaborate and advance the field, but also for the sense of camaraderie and enjoyment that comes with the work.