University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics offers a one year ACGME accredited fellowship in clinical microbiology. The fellowship program combines training in the analytical, clinical, and administrative aspects of clinical microbiology with clinical research experience. The training is designed to prepare the fellow for a career in academic medicine. Exposure to infection control, molecular diagnostics, and molecular epidemiology is included. The clinical microbiology training faculty is comprised of three individuals of varied backgrounds and interests. The clinical research experience is generally in the laboratories of these faculty but can be arranged in the laboratories of other members of the University of Iowa faculty if desired.
There are fellowships available in surgical pathology, cytopathology, hematopathology, microbiology, blood/bank transfusion medicine, and molecular pathology.
Fellows have 15 weekday vacation days a year. Professional leave for meetings is negotiated on an individual basis. Leave is granted for National Board exams and American Board of Pathology exams but not for board preparation courses. For job interviews or board preparation courses, each house staff member will be allowed five working days of leave. Additional days taken for job interviews or board preparation courses must use vacation.
Each fellow is given $1500/year for books/journals, meetings or memberships. Travel to national conferences is paid for by the department for fellows presenting abstracts.
The established reputation of excellence in training at the University of Iowa, combined with the recent trend of increasing demand and aging of current pathologists, has meant a tremendous opportunity for fellows from our program. All departing fellows in recent years have had no difficulty getting offers for desirable positions in both academic and private settings.
The Medical Microbiology Fellowship at UI Hospitals & Clinics is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Information specific to program requirements for a pathology training program may be found at the ACGME’s Pathology Residency Review Committee.
Forty-six weeks of the fellowship training occurs at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics within the Department of Pathology’s Division of Medical Microbiology. Fellows also complete six weeks of rotations at the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa that includes a two-week parasitology rotation and four one-week rotations in bacteriology/bioterrorism, virology/serology, mycology/mycobacteriology, and molecular diagnostics.
Numerous conferences are available. The required conferences are listed below.
Pathology has historically been defined by the intersection of laboratory science and clinical medicine. Each new advancement in science that has had an impact on diagnostic medicine has spawned a new area of "laboratory medicine", from the application of light microscopy to immunohistochemistry, from serology to flow cytometry, and molecular genetics. In order for a pathology department to lead, and not just follow, it must create and maintain "germinal centers" of those sciences related to human biology and pathobiology. This difficult and fragile process is called "research". It is the strength of our Pathology Department that this process has happened in the past. We are fully committed to its continuation.