In addition to our standard curriculum that prepares fellows to be excellent ID consultants, this track promotes more in-depth clinical experience in specialized niches of ID or through elective rotations outside of ID, such as Allergy-Immunology, Addiction Medicine, or Dermatology. Further, beyond their principal role as a consultant, many ID physicians will lead health care teams in their medical centers, such as antimicrobial stewardship or hospital epidemiology programs. Experiences offered in this track promote acquiring skills in these areas. Specific opportunities include:

• Elective rotations: Allergy/Immunology, Global/Tropical Medicine, Dermatology, Addiction Medicine, NTM Pulmonary Clinic, Pediatric ID, Rheumatology, Ortho ID
• Elective weeks embedded with Antimicrobial Stewardship or Hospital Epidemiology Teams
• Participation in University of Iowa Health Care Quality Leadership Academy
• Participation in Department of Medicine Fellows as Clinician Educators (FACE) Program
• SHEA membership
• Scholarly project such as a QI or Infection Prevention initiative or in medical education

This track prepares fellows for infectious diseases careers with special emphasis in hospital epidemiology, health services research or health care quality, including antimicrobial stewardship.  It is anticipated that the majority of fellows who select this track are interested in an academic career.  Features of this track include the following:

• Availability of IDSA’s Advanced Curriculum for Antimicrobial Stewardship
• Elective time spent embedded with the antimicrobial stewardship team or the program of hospital epidemiology to acquire more advanced experience in these areas
• Attendance at the SHEA Spring meeting  
• Nomination to the VA Quality Scholars Program (VAQS)  or the VA Health Services Research Fellowship (Note that recently the VA has limited eligibility for visa-holders for these fellowships)
• Paths to a Master’s of Public Health or Master’s of Science in Clinical Investigation if additional years of advanced fellowship are sought, such as through the VAQS program. Coursework in statistics or epidemiology is possible for those not planning on a master’s degree
• Participation in University of Iowa Health Care’s Quality Leadership Academy
• Scholarly work mentored by ID or other University of Iowa faculty who are leaders in Health Services Research, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Hospital Epidemiology or Computational Epidemiology

This track prepares fellows for careers in ID-related basic science, translational research or clinical investigation.

Physician Investigator Track: to prepare fellows for careers in ID-related bench research or clinical investigation.

1. Basic science emphasis
   1. Membership in specialty society related to research
   2. Support for 3rd and 4th years of research
      1. ID Training Grant (T32) (renewal due in 2025)
      2. Parasitism Training Grant
      3. Immunology Training Grant
   3. Mentors/projects available from within the ID Division or from other divisions/departments (e.g., Microbiology, Immunology, Pulmonary Medicine, etc.) Areas of focus within the ID division include:
      1. Inflammation and innate immunity [see faculty at Inflammation Program]
      2. Virology (Dr. Jack Stapleton, Dr. Jeff Meier, Dr. Sabrina Tan)
      3. Parasitology (Dr. Mary Wilson), including collaborative projects with Tropical Medicine Institute in Natal, Brazil (Selma Jeronimo, MD, PhD) and Banaras Hindu University of Varanasi, India
      4. Vaccine Trials [see Vaccine Education and Research Unit]
      5. Other labs directed by Carver College of Medicine research faculty or University of Iowa departments
      6. Department of Microbiology and Immunology
   4. Scientific meeting during 2nd or 3rd year
2. Clinical Investigation
   1. Mentored involvement in clinical trials (vaccine trials, HIV, neuro-ID, anti-viral therapies) (See Opportunities in Research/Scholarly Project section)