UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

TRAINING PROGRAM DIRECTOR:  Philana “Ling” Lin, MD, MSc

COORDINATOR:  Ms. Kathy Kotova

CHIEF, INFECTIOUS DISEASES:  John V. Williams, MD

MAJOR FEATURES OF TRAINING PROGRAM: The PIDS fellowship is an ACGME-approved training program at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP), a major tertiary pediatric facility ranked among the top 10 pediatric institutions by the US News and World Report. It is the only children’s hospital in Western Pennsylvania with a catchment area of >2.5 million with referrals from southeast Ohio, western Maryland, and West Virginia. CHP is a center for bone marrow and solid organ transplantation, cardiac surgery, cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, and the care of patients with short-gut syndrome. Fellows become skilled in the management of serious infections in immune-competent, immune-compromised, and medically complicated children. Abundant opportunities are available for clinical or bench research from world-renowned researchers at the University of Pittsburgh (many of whom are on the CHP campus). Degrees in Medical Education or Clinical Research (from certificate to PhD) can also be sought at the Institute for Clinical Research Education at the University. Fellows are active members of the Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs at CHP. Limited funds are available for extension of the research activities of fellows to a fourth year of training in order to better prepare the fellow for the assumption of an academic career. U.S. citizenship is not required for application to the fellowship.

TITLES OF RECENT FELLOWS’ PUBLISHED RESEARCH PAPERS:

1. Freeman MC*, Rapsinski GR*, Zilla M, and Wheeler SE. 2020. Immunocompromised Seroprevalence and Course of Illness of SARS-CoV-2 in One Pediatric Quaternary Care Center. Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piaa123
2. Freeman MC, Haddadin, Z, Lawrence, L, Piya, B, Krishnaswami, S, Faouri, S, Shehabi, A, Williams, JV, Khuri-Bulos, N, and Halasa N. 2020. Utility of RSV Rapid Diagnostic Assays in Hospitalized Children in Amman, Jordan. Journal of Medical Virology. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26546
3. Lopez SMC, Campfield BT, Nowalk AJ. Oral Management for Pediatric Lyme Meningitis. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2018 Aug; 8(3):272-275.doi: 10.1093/jpids/piy072
4. Walker LW, Nowalk AJ, Visweswaran S. Predicting outcomes in central venous catheter salvage in pediatric central line-associated bloodstream infection. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 Mar 18; 28 (4): 862.867. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocaa328
5. Yamada M, Nguyen C, Fadakar P, Ganoza A, Humar A, Shapiro R, Michaels MG, Green M. Epidemiology and outcome of chronic high Epstein-Barr viral load carriage in pediatric kidney transplant recipients. Pediatr Transplant. 2018 Feb 6. doi: 10.1111/petr.13147

GRANT FUNDING RECEIVED FOR FELLOW RESEARCH PROJECTS:

1. Stanley and Susan Plotkin and Sanofi Pasteur Fellowship Award 2020
2. Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Fellowship Program in Basic Research
3. Pediatric Scientist Development Program (Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs) 2019

NUMBER OF INPATIENT/OUTPATIENT CONSULTS PER YEAR:  4,500

FELLOWS ACCEPTED EACH YEAR: 2

VISAS ACCEPTED: J1, H1B

FUNDING ENSURED FOR ALL 3 YEARS: Yes

IS COMPLETION OF PEDIATRIC RESIDENCY TRAINING IN THE U.S. OR CANADA A REQUIREMENT:  Yes

Program provides training (didactic lectures, hands on experience, or antimicrobial stewardship meetings/membership) in:

1. Microbiology lab on site
2. Infection control and hospital epidemiology
3. Antimicrobial stewardship
4. Immunocompromised hosts

Opportunities to fulfill the ABP requirements for scholarly activity is available in the following general areas:

1. Antimicrobial agents
2. Antimicrobial stewardship
3. Bacteriology/bacterial infections
4. Bioethics
5. Clinical trials
6. Epidemiology and statistics
7. HIV
8. Immunizations
9. Infection control/hospital epidemiology
10. Medical Education
11. Mycology/fungal infections
12. Public health
13. Quality improvement
14. Transplant medicine
15. Virology/viral diseases

Opportunities exists for research outside of the ID Division?  Yes

Program offers the opportunity to obtain a Master’s degree in a field such as Public Health, Education, Clinical Sciences, or Epidemiology (assuming appropriate arrangements are made): Yes