Fellowship Training/Application

The Program

The fellowship has the traditional educational, research and patient care components and is supported by the division's fulltime and clinical faculty. Training is based at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), New Brunswick, New Jersey, the core clinical teaching site of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) and at Jersey Shore University Medical Center (JSUMC), Neptune, a major clinical affiliate of RWJMS. The fellowship blocks include inpatient consultation services, outpatient consultations that include general infectious disease problems and a continuity of care experience, travel medicine, bench or clinical research, a microbiology laboratory rotation, experience in infection control and hospital epidemiology, and an optional pediatric infectious disease rotation. During the clinical inpatient rotations, the fellow is responsible for the work-up of patients referred for infectious disease consultation. At RWJUH, the service averages two to three new consults per day; at JSUMC the service averages four new consults per day (the fellow dividing the workload with the attending and PGY 3 resident). There is call every third day at RWJUH and no call at JSUMC. Fellows participate actively in student and resident training at both hospitals.

Laboratory experience in diagnostic microbiology and research experience are integral parts of the program. Fellows participate in research projects with any of the fulltime faculty members in the division (five at RWJUH and six at JSUMC). Research interests of the faculty include mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, nosocomial infections, HIV and management of HIV-associated infections, clinical and prognostic implications of bacteremia, and evaluations of innovative blood culture systems and other diagnostic methods in clinical microbiology. Clinical trials of new therapeutic agents also are conducted.

Regularly scheduled Department of Medicine conferences include Morning Report, Medical Grand Rounds, CPC, Radiology Conference, Journal Club, Case Conferences, Research Conference, Microbiology Lab Rounds, and the RWJMS Regional Infectious Disease Conference, as well as other subspecialty conferences.

The Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program was reaccredited in 2007 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and was commended for its demonstrated substantial compliance with the ACGME's requirements for graduate medical education. This program received the maximum length between reaccrediations. The approximate date of the next ACGME site visit is May 2012

Outpatient Experience

Our subspecialty stresses outpatient, as well as inpatient, experience. Outpatient infectious disease is taught in three locations: 1) Eric B. Chandler Health Center, which is the focus of three HIV clinics per week and is supervised by two faculty members; 2) Clinical Academic Building (CAB-5), which houses the office practice of the fulltime faculty caring for patients with a variety of infectious diseases and HIV, as well as counseling and immunizing international travelers; and 3) STD clinic at JSUMC. Fellows have continuity of care experience either at Chandler Clinic or at CAB-5.

The Hospitals

RWJUH is the 572-bed primary teaching hospital of RWJMS and a major referral facility in central New Jersey. The hospital offers numerous tertiary care services, including the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, heart, kidney, pancreas, and bone marrow transplant programs, an active Clinical Research Center, sophisticated cardiodynamics, open heart surgery, a regional hemophilia program, a comprehensive breast center, a reproductive endocrinology and infertility center, Level 1 trauma services with heliport and a shock-trauma unit, and a children's hospital, which is attached to the main hospital.

JSUMC is a full-service, 502-bed teaching hospital that is a major teaching affiliate of the Medical School. Located in Neptune near the New Jersey shore and about 45 minutes southeast of New Brunswick, the hospital draws from a demographically diverse catchment area. The varied patient population is enhanced also by the hospital's status as a major referral center for interventional cardiology, EPS and open heart surgery; renal dialysis; trauma; high-risk maternal-fetal medicine; Lyme disease and HIV infection.

Stipends and Benefits

Term of Appointment

Fellows are appointed for one year, with reappointment occurring in

November for the following academic year.

Fellowship Program Director

Melvin P. Weinstein, M.D.

Professor of Medicine and Pathology

Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy & Immunology

Associate Program Director

Daniel Hart, M.D.

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Fellowship Application

A two-year fellowship in Infectious Diseases is offered by the Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy and Immunology beginning July 1 of each year. There are four fellows in the program, with responsibilities distributed according to the level of experience. The Fellowship Program participates in ERAS®, the Electronic Residency Application Service, a program of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Application deadline is May 1, 2009. This program also participates in the NRMP Match as follows:

Program Code: 2918146F0

Program Description: Infectious Dis/Clinical

Director: Melvin P. Weinstein, MD

Quota: 2

Visas sponsored: J-1

Stipends and Benefits

As of July 1, 2009, the approximate annual fellowship stipends, plus fringe benefits, are as follows: PGY 4: $59,159; and PGY 5: $60,730. An increase to $60,934 and $62,552, respectively, will occur at the pay period closest to September 1, 2009. Explore our Graduate Medical Education website for further information at rwjms2.umdnj.edu/gme .

Please contact Ms. Diane L. Palmer, Department of Medicine Fellowship Program Coordinator, with additional questions: palmerdl@umdnj.edu .