It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. We are pleased that you have chosen to pursue a career in one of the most exciting and challenging fields of medicine and welcome the opportunity to introduce you to the diverse and rewarding experiences of training at LSU.

Our fellows learn from the rich clinical landscape afforded by the culturally diverse patient population of the New Orleans metropolitan area. As a training program, we feel strongly at LSU that it is our mission to provide exceptional and compassionate care to the underserved population of our city for whom we are the major safety net provider. Fellows predominantly care for our patients at University Medical Center, the modern day incarnation of the historic Charity Hospital, and its affiliated broad network of clinics. At this site, they learn the practical management of advanced HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis, tropical infections, and endemic mycoses. As the level I trauma center for the region, fellows are also exposed to the interdisciplinary management of complicated trauma and surgical subspecialty infections as well as the advanced principles of antimicrobial stewardship and infection control. Through our network of affiliated training sites at Ochsner Medical Center and Touro Infirmary, fellows are afforded exposure to a complementary patient population with heterogeneous pathology in general infectious diseases and transplant infectious diseases. We feel that the diverse clinical exposures at these training sites provide our fellows with an unparalleled clinical training experience.

The diverse patient population at our training sites also provides a rich environment for clinical and translational research projects within LSU and its partnering institutions. Our faculty have NIH and industry funded grants in the areas of new HIV and viral hepatitis therapeutics, malignancies associated with HIV, molecular diagnostics and therapeutic interventions in sexually transmitted infections, and therapeutics for emerging infections. Fellows are encouraged to participate in projects with these national leaders in research during their training.

We offer a flexible yet comprehensive two-year training program designed to foster clinical mastery, intellectual curiosity, and professional development for future clinicians and educators in both the academic and private practice setting. The first year of training affords broad exposure to the various subspecialties of infectious diseases through a variety of inpatient and outpatient clinical rotations. Second year fellows are afforded more flexibility for elective rotations, independent clinical research, quality improvement endeavors, and other scholarly activity focused on their individual chosen career paths. Clinical and research experiences are supplemented by a rich didactic curriculum throughout training.  Longitudinal mentorship is provided along the way by a diverse group of faculty dedicated to training the next generation of physicians.

We look forward to sharing more of what makes LSU and New Orleans so special for applicants to our program. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Victoria Burke, MD
Program Director
LSU Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program