Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program
The Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program at Baylor College of Medicine offers a remarkable blend of clinical training and research opportunities. The full-time and voluntary faculty are actively involved in clinical medicine, research, and teaching.
Two training positions are offered annually in our traditional infectious diseases training program. Beginning in 2009, we will also offer two training positions per year in our Baylor/M.D. Anderson Track Training Program, which is a joint fellowship between the infectious diseases sections at Baylor College of Medicine and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. BCM Infectious Diseases fellows in either program have opportunites for international study through our established relationships with academic centers in Peru, Mexico, India, Africa, Romania, and Thailand.
Training Program (Traditional Infectious Diseases)
The training program integrates five hospitals: Ben Taub General Hospital, The Methodist Hospital, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA), and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDA).
Program Goals
- Develop in the trainee a high level of competence in diagnosing and treating infectious diseases
- Provide experience in clinical or laboratory research that conveys the educational value of scientific inquiry and launches the academic career of our program graduates
Program Details
The traditional infectious diseases training program consists of a three-week intensive course in laboratory microbiology, followed by 12 months clinical experience and 12-24 months of research experience. Fellows are eligible for infectious diseases boards after two years of training, but most choose to do the optional third year so as to have two years dedicated to research and to completing a didactic educational program, such as an MPH or a masters in clinical investigation.
Clinical rotations at each hospital provide experience with the urban indigent patient (Ben Taub), the private patient (Methodist and St. Luke's hospitals), the cancer patient (M.D. Anderson) and the veteran (MEDVAMC), and acquaint the fellow with different approaches to the care of patients by a number of different ID specialists. Outpatient continuity care experience continues throughout all years of fellowship at the VA HIV clinic and the Harris County Thomas Street HIV clinic. Elective experiences are also available at the City of Houston sexually transmitted diseases clinic, travel medicine clinics, hepatitis and liver transplant clinics, Ben Taub adult infections diseases clinic, and at Texas Children’s Hospital. Trainees participate in City-Wide Infectious Disease Conference, Infectious Diseases Journal Club, and Infectious Diseases board preparation conferences weekly in additional to a variety of teaching conferences available at each individual hospital. They also participate in hospital infection control and pharmacy committees. Fellows can pursue several international health electives in order to gain experience in treating the infectious diseases more common in other parts of the world.
Trainees assume increasing levels of responsibility for 
guiding residents and student's inpatient care decisions as their training progresses, and they participate actively in teaching rounds along with the attending staff. Progress is closely monitored by the full-time infectious diseases faculty, many of whom have received teaching awards from Baylor students, house officers, and the college.
Additional opportunities for didactic training are available though the Clinical Scientist Training Program at Baylor College of Medicine and through the Masters of Public Health program at the University of Texas School of Public Health. The CSTP focuses on training physicians to perform translational research and allows fellows to earn a masters or Ph.D. in clinical investigation, while the MPH program has more emphasis on health-care epidemiology.
Training Program (Baylor/MDA Joint Training Program)
Fellows in the Baylor/MDA training program receive the same training as fellows in Baylor’s traditional infectious diseases training program with 2 differences. First, the primary training site for clinical rotations will be the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDA). Fellows will spend approximately 9 of their 12 inpatient clinical months at MDA, rotating among the hematology, intensive care, and solid tumor services. The remaining clinical months will be spent at Ben Taub, St. Luke’s, the VA, and/or Methodist Hospital.
The second difference will be in the 12-24 months of research training. Fellows in the joint track can choose a faculty mentors from MDA and from Baylor College of Medicine, thus facilitating investigation of the infectious complications of cancer therapy.
Research Opportunities
The infectious diseases faculty, together with the large 
and diverse faculty in the Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, provide research opportunities that range from molecular to clinical and include all categories of microorganisms. Particular strengths are in pathogenesis of bacterial infection and treatment and prevention of viral disease, although nearly every area of infectious disease medicine is included. It is the philosophy of this division that each fellow should have maximal opportunity to exploit his/her own research interests and skills in an area of his/her own choosing. Two stipends per year are available to support research activities of ID fellows through a training grant (T32) from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fellows who wish to pursue an academic career are strongly encouraged and supported in their efforts to choose a mentor, develop a research program, and prepare an application for a mentored K-type training grant.
Contact Information
For program information, please contact the program director or coordinator. Applications are accepted through ERAS.
Training Program Director
Barbara Wells Trautner, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, BCM286, N1319
Houston, Texas 77030
713-798-8918 (phone)
713-798-8948 (fax)
E-mail: trautner@bcm.edu
Program Coordinator
Linda R. Johnston, Fellowship Coordinator
Gastenterology, Infectious Diseases and Nephrology
One Baylor Plaza, MS: 620, Houston, Texas 77030-3411
Physical Address: 1709 Dryden St., 5th floor, 05.56, Houston, Texas 77030-3411
Office: 713-798-5808
Fax: 713-798-0198
E-mail: lindaj@bcm.edu