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City of Syracuse

Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program

Welcome to the SUNY Upstate Medical University Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program. The three year subspecialty fellowship program is designed to prepare pediatricians for a career in academic pediatric infectious diseases with a focus on clinical care and research. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program fulfills the requirements for subspecialty training in pediatric infectious diseases as prescribed by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) and is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
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Program Overview

The three-year (36 months) subspecialty fellowship program is designed to prepare pediatricians for a career in academic pediatric infectious diseases with a focus on clinical care and research. The first year of the fellowship is primarily dedicated to inpatient and outpatient clinical training. The second and third years of the fellowship focus on research training in either the clinical or basic sciences. The development of teaching skills is emphasized, with fellows being given opportunities to develop educational portfolios and didactic skills. Fellows are expected to present their research data at national/international meetings and to publish one to two manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Investigative and clinical skills acquired during our training program distinguish our fellows as highly competitive for research funding and outstanding in clinical competence.

 

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program fulfills the requirements for subspecialty training in pediatric infectious diseases prescribed by the American Board of Pediatrics ABP) and is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). After successful completion, fellows are eligible to sit for the ABP Pediatric Infectious Diseases sub-board examination to become board-certified.

Clinical Training

The Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases provides care for infants, children and adolescents with severe or unusual infections and immune deficiency syndromes, including HIV. Pediatric infectious disease specialists often evaluate and treat patients presenting with:

  • Recurrent infections;
  • Persistent or periodic fever syndromes;
  • Unusual or severe bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases;
  • Surgical wound infections;
  • Osteomyelitis;
  • Chronic HBV and HCV;
  • Innate or acquired immune deficiency syndromes;
  • Infection with or exposure to Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Our outpatient care is provided in the Pediatric and Adolescent Infectious Disease and Immunology Center in the pediatric multi-specialty outpatient setting located in the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Patients referred by their primary care physicians for infectious disease and immunological diagnostic evaluations are cared for in this Center.  Follow-up evaluations on recently hospitalized patients also take place in this setting.

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Division also provides inpatient consultation services.  Our infectious disease specialists work closely with pediatric hospitalists, primary care pediatricians and family physicians, surgical specialists, pediatric subspecialists and neonatologists to direct the diagnostic and therapeutic evaluations of patients with infectious disease and/or immunological problems.

Research Highlights

The fellowship program benefits from the clinical and research expertise of our ABP Board Certified Pediatric Infectious Disease Faculty members. The program has benefited from faculty participation in multi-center, national and international studies and clinical trials that investigate a number of topics of current clinical significance. Faculty 

Leonard B. Weiner, MD is the Division Chief of the Pediatric Immunology and Infectious Disease Program and is the Program Director of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program. Dr. Weiner currently supervises protocols to evaluate novel antiviral therapies and multiple clinical vaccine trials. Vaccine studies have included examining newer meningococcal, pneumococcal, influenza, DTAP/Hib/IPV and MMRV vaccines in the pediatric population. Vaccine trials usually take place at University Pediatric and Adolescent Center.

Joseph B. Domachowske, MD, is a Professor of Pediatrics and a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and is currently the Director of the Global Maternal-Child and Pediatric Health Program at Upstate's Center for Global Health and Translational Science.  Dr. Domachowske's global clinical research interests focus on the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of lower respiratory tract viral infections.  Research interests include studying the use of Cadazolid versus Vancomycin in the treatment of pediatric Clostridium difficile and examining the use of RSV vaccine in healthy pregnant women.

Jana Shaw, MD, MPH, MS, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and a Clinical Associate Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Dr. Shaw’ research interests focus on vaccine acceptance and efficacy with recent publications including a longitudinal population analysis of sudden infant death syndrome, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and vaccines. Dr. Shaw has also examined the epidemiology and severity of S. aureus infection among healthy children. Dr. Shaw has pursued research topics such as establishing the role of S. aureus virulence factors among seriously ill children and the importance of S. aureus colonization among children with cystic fibrosis. 

Manika Suryadevara, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at SUNY Upstate.  Dr. Suryadevara’s current research projects include a single center in vitro study to evaluate the level of expression of CD11b in neutrophils of children less than 2 years of age with viral respiratory tract infections and a prospective study to evaluate the efficacy of using an electronic severity and outcome rating system (PRESORS) to assess the severity of pediatric Respiratory Syncytial Virus(RSV).

Contact Information

If you would like more information about the Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program, please contact the Program Coordinator, Nuala Wheat, at 315-464-7551 or wheatn@upstate.edu
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