Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Training Program Director:  William J. Barson, MD

Associate Director/Co-Director:  Monica Ardura, DO

Coordinator:  Gina Pacheco

Chief, Infectious Diseases:  Octavio, Ramilo, MD

Major Features of Training Program: The mission of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ID) Fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) is to prepare fellows for successful academic careers as ID physician scientists by providing diverse clinical, research, and educational experiences throughout the 3-year ACGME-approved program. Clinical expertise is gained by functioning as the attending on both our dedicated 26-bed inpatient ID unit and busy consult service that serves our 527-bed hospital. Consultations come from the PICU, NICU, CTICU, BM/SOT services, burn unit, and various medical and surgical subspecialties. Fellows also provide consultation in multiple ambulatory clinics including General ID, HIV/hepatitis C, Host Defense, Immunodeficiency, Kawasaki Disease, Neo-ID, PANDAS, TB, and COVID-19/MIS-C clinics. Fellows spend time in and are supported by experienced microbiology, virology, and molecular diagnostic laboratories that offer state of the art testing. The fellowship offers exposure to our antibiotic stewardship, epidemiology/infection prevention, and quality improvement programs. Diverse research opportunities in clinical, bench, and translational studies are available through the division and the NCH Research Institute’s Centers of Microbial Pathogenesis and Vaccines and Immunity. Fellows participate in a rigorous ID-specific didactic curriculum including journal clubs, clinical case and morbidity/mortality conferences, Host Defense didactic and roundtable series, PID board review course, NCH fellow core curriculum and ID research consortiums. As the pediatric teaching hospital for The Ohio State University College of Medicine, fellows perform formal and informal teaching of residents, medical students, and other learners. Opportunities also exist for enrollment in master’s degree conferring post-graduate course work, as well as Host Defense, QI, and Informatics fellowships.

Title(s) of Recent Fellows’ Published Research Papers:

1. Taveras J, Ramilo O, Mejias A. Preventive Strategies for Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Young Infants. Neoreviews 2020;21:e535-e45.
2. Hecht SM, Ardura MI, Yildiz VO, Ouellette CP. Central Venous Catheter Management in High-risk Children With Bloodstream Infections. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2020;39:17-22.
3. Diaz A, Ardura MI, Wang H, Antonara S, Ouellette CP. Osteomyelitis Due to Mycobacterium goodii in an Adolescent, United States. Emerg Infect Dis 2020;26:2781-3.
4. Smith S, Honegger JR, Walker C. T-Cell Immunity against the Hepatitis C Virus: A Persistent Research Priority in an Era of Highly Effective Therapy. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2021;11.
5. Gowda C, Smith S, Crim L, Moyer K, Sanchez PJ, Honegger JR. Nucleic Acid Testing for Diagnosis of Perinatally-Acquired Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Early Infancy. Clin Infect Dis 2020.

Grant Funding Received for Fellow Research Projects:

Intramural Grant, “Understanding the Epidemiology and Clinical Implications of Clostridium difficle Detection in the Molecular Age: Colonization versus Infection in Children Less Than 3 Years of Age”, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, December 2018

Fellow Intramural Research Award- “HCV immunologic evolution during pregnancy”, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, The Infectious Disease Consortium, January 2020 – 12/31/2020

COVID-19 Fast Track Intramural Funding- “Mucosal Innate Immune Response in Children with SARTS-DOV-2 Infection” The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, June 2020

Research Trainee Travel Award- – “Mucosal Interferon Responses in Infants with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection to Inform Live Attenuated Vaccine Development”, Research Institute Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, July 2019

ID Week Travel Grant –“Algorithmic Release of Clostridium difficile PCR Results from a Multiplex Gastrointestinal (GI) Panel in Children < 3 years old”, Annual Meeting IDSA/PIDS, San Francisco, October 2018

ID Week Travel Grant – “Enterovirus D68 Infections in Pediatric Patients in Central Ohio:
Clinical Characteristics of a new Outbreak in 2018”, Washington, DC, September 2019

ID Week Travel Grant – “Mucosal Interferon Responses in Infants with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection to Inform Live Attenuated Vaccine Development”, Washington, DC, September 2019

ID Week Travel Grant- “ The Protective Role of Mucosal Interferons in infants with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infections”, ID Week (due to COVID19, no monetary value, mentioned at conference), Virtual Annual Meeting IDSA/PIDS, Philadelphia, Pa, July 2020

Number of Inpatient/Outpatient Consults Per Year:  6,537

Fellows Accepted Each Year:  2

Visas Accepted: J1

Funding Ensured for all 3 Year:  2

Is Completion of Pediatric Residency Training in the U.S. or Canada a Requirement?  No

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. Global health
8. HIV
9. Immunizations
10. Infection control/hospital epidemiology
11. Medical education
12. Mycology/fungal infections
13. Parasitology/parasitic diseases
14. Public health
15. Quality improvement
16. Transplant medicine
17. Virology/viral diseases

Opportunities exist 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