University of Alabama at Birmingham

Training Program Director:  Scott H. James, MD

Associate Director/Co-Director:  Claudette Poole, MD

Coordinator:  Ms. Tracy Downey

Chief, Infectious Diseases:  Richard Whitley, MD AND David Kimberlin, MD

Major Training Program Features:  The UAB Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program is a three-year ACGME training program affiliated with the Pediatric Residency Program at the UAB School of Medicine. The mission of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program is to train, educate, and mentor fellows to become exceptional clinicians and researchers in the field of pediatric infectious diseases. Our trainees are immersed in a learning environment that values excellence in clinical care, scholarly activity, and professionalism. Fellows gain experience in a wide variety of clinical conditions and settings, participate in antimicrobial stewardship, hospital epidemiology, quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and are provided close mentorship and guidance for the development of successful research careers. The program is flexible and is tailored to suit each individual’s interests, previous experience, and future career goals. We strive to prepare our trainees to be future leaders in healthcare who will advance the field of pediatric infectious diseases as innovative physician-scientists. Our track record of placing fellows in top clinical, research, and public health programs throughout the country is a testament to the success of this approach. All of our former fellows over the past decade have easily passed their pediatric infectious diseases boards.

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

1. Hough-Telford C, Kimberlin DW, Aban I, Hitchcock WP, Almquist J, Kratz R, O’Connor KG. Vaccine Delays, Refusals, and Patient Dismissals: A Survey of Pediatricians. Pediatrics. 2016 Sep;138(3):e20162127. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-2127. PMID: 27573091.
2. Poole CL, Camins BC, Prichard MN, Faye-Petersen O, Hutto C. Hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections in neonates hospitalized since birth in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. J Perinatol. 2019 May;39(5):683-689. doi: 10.1038/s41372-019-0318-9. Epub 2019 Feb 5. PMID: 30723275; PMCID: PMC7100243.
3. Samies N, Jariwala R, Boppana S, Pinninti S. Utility of Surface and Blood Polymerase Chain Reaction Assays in Identifying Infants With Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus Infection. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2019 Nov;38(11):1138-1140. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000002451. PMID: 31626049.
4. Pinninti S, Trieu C, Pati SK, Latting M, Cooper J, Seleme MC, Boppana S, Arora N, Britt WJ, Boppana SB. Comparing Nasopharyngeal and Mid-Turbinate Nasal Swab Testing for the Identification of SARS-CoV-2. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Jun 29:ciaa882. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa882. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32596725; PMCID: PMC7337631.
5. Trieu C, Poole C, Cron RQ, Hallman M, Rutledge C, Bliton K, Phillips A, Lawrence M, Boppana SB, Pinninti S. Severe Neonatal Coronavirus Disease 2019 Presenting as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2020 Nov;39(11):e367-e369. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000002864. PMID: 33021595.

Grant Funding Received for Fellow Research Projects:

1. NIH T32 Training Grant (4 fellows)
2. The Dixon Foundation Research Fellowship (3 fellows)
3. Kaul Pediatric Research Institute (KPRI) Grant (1 fellow)

Affiliated Hospitals:

• Children’s Hospital of Alabama
• University of Alabama Hospital

Number of Inpatient/Outpatients Consults Per Year:  2, 608

Fellows Accepted Each Year:  2

Visas Accepted:  J1, H1B

Is Funding Ensured for all 3 Years:  Yes

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. Clinical trials
5. Epidemiology and statistics
6. Global health
7. HIV
8. Immunizations
9. Infection Control/hospital epidemiology
10. Medical education
11. Mycology/fungal infections
12. Parasitology/parasitic diseases
13. Public health
14. Quality improvement
15. Transplant medicine
16. 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