UC Davis Health
Department of Internal Medicine

Infectious Diseases Program Explanation

Protecting the Health of Our Community

Our Program At A Glance

We are committed to training fellows in all aspects of clinical infectious diseases to acquire competency as a specialist.

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Academic Programs

Infectious Diseases Fellowship

The Infectious Disease Fellowship at UC Davis offers a dynamic and comprehensive training experience designed to prepare fellows for successful, independent careers in infectious diseases. Whether your interests lie in academic medicine, clinical practice, or public health, our program provides the clinical depth, scholarly opportunities, and mentorship to help you achieve your goals.

Fellows train at two major teaching hospitals:

These distinct training environments expose fellows to a broad range of infectious disease pathology and patient demographics as well as different healthcare systems.

The fellowship includes rich inpatient and outpatient clinical experiences, including consult services, continuity clinics, HIV care, and transplant infectious diseases. Fellows are active participants in weekly didactic sessions, including case conference, journal club, and board review. Scholarly development is strongly supported. Fellows are encouraged to engage in research, quality improvement projects, and academic presentations. Many of our fellows present at national conferences such as IDWeek and collaborate with faculty on publishable work. We are proud to offer a collegial and supportive environment that balances clinical excellence with academic curiosity and professional growth.

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What Our Fellows and Faculty Have to Say About the UCD ID Fellowship!

UC Davis Health Office of Continuing Medical Education

UC Davis Health offers various Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities, including the Annual Infectious Disease Conference, which provides updates on epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases.

Educational Sessions and Workshops

Many of our UC Davis fellows may present at ID Week or participate other national or regional educational sessions.

Infectious Diseases Program At a Glance

Example schedule as an Infectious Diseases Fellow.

Rotation Number of weeks
UC Davis Medical Center General ID Consults 18 weeks
UC Davis Medical Center Transplant ID Consults 8 weeks
Sacramento VA Medical Center ID Consults 8 weeks
Elective/Research 14 weeks
Vacation 4 weeks
Clinics Frequency
UC Davis Continuity ID Clinic 1/2 day per week
Sacramento VA Medical Center ID Clinic 1 day per week while on VA consults
Travel Medicine Clinic 6 clinics per year

*An optional third year of fellowship is available for those desiring additional training, particularly in academics and research.

Infectious Diseases Fellowship Rotations

  • The fellow will be physically present at the appropriate site for each rotation.
  • The fellow will be provided one weekend free from clinical service while on the 2-week consultation service block so that there is one day off in every seven averaged over 30 days.
  • The fellow will also work no more than 80 hours in a week, and must report their work hours via Medhub in a timely manner.
  • There will be a minimum of 10 hours off between shifts. 
  • It is the fellows responsibility to inform the program director, program coordinator, & any faculty/clinics who are affected by the absence regarding any schedule change.

Inpatient Consultation Service

1. The fellow will take first call regarding antimicrobial approvals on off-hours (5:00 PM through 7:00 AM) and weekends.

2. The fellow will be responsible for patient management such as:
-Assigning new consultations to students and residents rotating on the consultation service.
-Determining the appropriate strategy for diagnosis and treatment of the patient.
-Providing a link between the inpatient consultation service and the outpatient clinic in order to maintain continuity and prevent medical errors.
-Suggesting appropriate times to sign off of patients

3.The fellow will supervise the residents and medical students on the service by:
-Confirming the history and physical examination.
-Assisting the housestaff develop a plan for the management of the patient.
-Providing education and references to the students and residents.
-Allowing residents to go to clinic and conferences in a timely manner.
-Providing constructive feedback to the students and residents.

3. The fellow will be responsible to preparing and organizing presentations such as:
-Journal Clubs
-Grand Rounds
-Case Presentations
-Research Presentations

4. The fellow will confer with the attending physician if difficulties are encountered in running the service.

5. The fellow will be responsible for organizing and presenting cases at the weekly case conference.

6. The fellow will be responsible for interaction with the requesting services.

7. The fellow on service should be available 24 hours per day by telephone except during the weekend off or when being covered by a colleague.

Inpatient Consultation Service at the Sacramento VA Hospital

1. The fellow will perform all of the Infectious Diseases consultations requested.

2. The fellow will present cases to the faculty physician on clinical rounds.

3. Interesting cases from the VA should be incorporated into the weekly case conference.

4. The fellow will review all laboratory results and work with the attending physician to appropriately act to provide patient care.

5. The fellow will take call one of the two weekends per block making certain to maintain 1 day off in every 7 averaged over 30 days.

Outpatient Clinic at UC Davis Medical Center

1. The fellow will see and evaluate patients referred to the clinic for consultation.
2. The fellow will present the patients to the faculty physician to develop the plan for management.

3. The fellow will review the pertinent documentation, laboratory and radiology results returned to the clinic that are not within the EMR and address those results that require immediate action while forwarding others to the appropriate provider.

4. The fellow will be responsible for prescription refills for their own patients and other patients if there is no assigned attending physician. The one exception is pain medications and other controlled substances where refills will go through appropriate avenues within the pharmacy.

5. The fellow will be primarily responsible for answering phone consultations by outside physicians and discuss them with the attending physician as required.

Outpatient Clinic at the VA

1. The fellow will attend one outpatient clinic at the VA Hospital during the months that they serve on the inpatient rotation. A second hepatitis C clinic will be attended for 6 months of the year.

2. The patients will be seen and evaluated by the fellow who will then present the case to an attending physician to review the plan of management.

3. The fellow is responsible for following labs, radiology and paperwork related to their patients.

Transplantation Service at UCDMC

1. The patients to be managed on the transplantation service include solid organ transplants (kidney, liver, lung and heart) and bone marrow (stem cell) transplants.

2. The fellow receives the calls for consultations and then evaluates the patient.

3. The patient will be presented to the transplant attending for teaching and review of the plan of management.

4. The fellow will then be involved in the discussions with the primary service regarding the final plan of action.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Service

1. This rotation occurs for a total of 8 weeks during the fellowship.

2. The fellow will report to a designated educator (PharmD and Infectious Diseases Physician) who are responsible for their experience.

3. The fellow will assist with the review of charts, determination of appropriate antimicrobial use, and interact with medical services for feedback on appropriate length of therapy, and determine the need for consultation.

All infectious diseases fellows are required to complete a research project during their fellowship. In the first year, fellows identify their research interests and are paired with a mentor within the ID division to guide the project.

Throughout the fellowship, fellows learn to design, conduct, and analyze their research, as well as navigate the IRB approval process. Fellows present their findings to the division at the end of their fellowship. Fellows are encouraged to present at both local and national conferences as well as publish their work. Each fellow is provided protected research time to focus on their projects throughout the duration of the fellowship.

Members of the division have developed bioengineered stem cells that generate an HIV-resistant immune system in transplant recipients and human clinical trials have recently begun. Other areas of active clinical and laboratory research include hepatitis B and C, Clostridium difficile and H. pylori, invasive fungal infections, transplant medicine, infection control, and antibiotic stewardship. Department faculty members pursuing research in infectious diseases are associated with many other departments in our Schools of Medicine, including:

Clinical Microbiology Laboratory

1. This rotation occurs for one month during the first year of the fellowship.

2. The fellow will report to a designated educator (Director or supervising technologist) who is responsible for their experience.

3. The fellow will rotate to the different benches in the microbiology lab learning the methods used and how to interpret these tests.

4. They will learn to read gram stains as part of bacteriology. They will rotate through mycology, virology, molecular diagnostics and mycobacteriology. There is an option to spend several days in the coccidioidomycosis serology laboratory.

Infection Prevention

1. Due to time constraints it is often difficult for the fellow to spend much time at UCDMC in Infection Control. Therefore, all fellows are sent to the CDC/SHEA Infection Control training course.

2. At UCDMC, the fellow on the consultation service is expected to help with tuberculosis management by evaluating patients regarding necessity for isolation.

3. The fellow on the consultation service is responsible for addressing bloodborne pathogen exposures on off-hours (5:00 PM through 7:00 AM) and weekends.

4. The fellow is invited to the weekly Department of Epidemiology and Infection Control meeting and the monthly Infection Control committee meeting as their schedule allows.

Additional Electives Available:

  • Vet Clinic
  • Sacramento Chest Clinic 
  • Travel Clinic
    Global Health Research Trip