Education and Training

The Division of Infectious Diseases is extensively engaged in the education and training of faculty, medical students, residents, fellows, and students.

Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program

Our Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program includes a combination of clinical and research training. While many fellows complete the training in two years, opportunities for additional training are available. We appreciate that each fellow’s goals are different and believe that the opportunities offered at Michigan Medicine, including the University Hospital, numerous ambulatory clinics, and the VA Ann Arbor training facilities, along with the division’s diverse programs, clinics, and elective opportunities allow fellows to meet those goals.

Medical Student and Resident Education

The Division of Infectious Diseases has played a major role in designing and teaching infectious diseases and microbiology courses at other departments including the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyDepartment of EpidemiologyDepartment of History, and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. In addition, resident education has always been an essential part of our strengths from the first year the division was established in 1967 until today. Individual faculty score high on evaluations from both resident and students, and several members of the division have won resident teaching awards.

Infectious Disease Course Taught by Dr. Kazanjian

History of Sexually Transmitted Diseases from Syphilis to AIDS (Department of History) - Taught by Powel H. Kazanjian, MD, PhD, Infectious Diseases Division Chief and Professor of Internal Medicine, Epidemiology, and History. This course covers the history of sexually transmitted diseases from the middle ages to the twenty-first century. Themes include changing ideas about disease causality, the nature of demographic and epidemiological change, the social and cultural significance and impact of each disease, the organized public health response to each outbreak, and the development and limitations of medical therapeutics and technologies. Learn more about the course and view course syllabus.

Conferences and Lectures

Infectious Diseases Grand Rounds

A weekly conference led by faculty, invited speakers from other institutions, or fellows. Fellows will have the opportunity to present, typically beginning with a case followed by a discussion of the relevant medical literature, accompanied by appropriate visual aids (usually computer generated slides and graphics). For selected conferences, divisional faculty members present a Research Conference summarizing their own research activities. Senior fellows are also expected to present a formal Research Conference relating to their own original work toward the end of the second year of training and a preliminary discussion of their research proposal during their first year. 

Infectious Diseases Weekly Report

Discussion of cases seen on the Michigan Medicine and Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System (VAAAHS)(link is external) Consultative Service during the previous week. This conference is limited to Infectious Diseases fellows, participating faculty, and microbiology and ID pharmacy staff (usually 10-15 per week in attendance). The fellows or faculty present cases as “unknowns” with discussion of the cases by faculty or, on occasion, fellows.

Infectious Diseases Journal Club

We have a comprehensive approach to learning more about reading and interpreting medical literature. Fellows have an opportunity to review selected articles in detail, mentored by one of our clinical researchers. These articles are then discussed in a small group setting. In addition, journal clubs involving the entire division are held monthly. Prior to journal club, fellows discuss the articles with a faculty expert in the relevant content area. Fellows then present the articles and focus on how the article fits within the context of previous literature and how the findings might change practice.

Weekly Fellow Lecture Series

The fellows are exposed to a two-year curriculum covering infections in immunocompromised hosts, hospital epidemiology, infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, HIV/AIDS, statistics, study design, and basic mechanisms of disease. General topics in infectious disease and parasitology are included as well. In addition, lecturers outside of the Division of Infectious Diseases (e.g. Pharmacy, Library Sciences) are invited. During the first two months of the academic years, first year fellows are provided with a “nuts and bolts” introductory series.

Morbidity and Mortality Conference

This conference is used as part of our patient safety curriculum. Fellows identify cases where in some way “the system failed the patient.” These cases are then discussed and, when appropriate, patient safety methodologies are applied to identify the root causes and correct the problem.