Curriculum

The ID Fellowship has a structured curriculum throughout our training program, from the first two weeks of fellowship (ID “Boot Camp”) to the Core Curriculum didactic series to career development workshops for second and third year fellows. While we know that a lot of workplace learning occurs during clinical rotations, we are dedicated to providing a protected space (without your pager!) for education on core and advanced topics in infectious diseases. These include didactics and workshops on common ID topics as well as other important topics in research, public health, microbiology, medical education, career development, well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The major elements in our curriculum are listed below.

ID “Boot Camp”  
First year fellows start fellowship with an immersive 2-week block that consists of core didactics, site-based orientations, research mentor meetings, and shadowing current ID fellows. The core didactics include common ID topics as well as talks on how to be an effective consultant and how to give an effective talk. The full Boot Camp didactic schedule can be seen below. 

Core Curriculum Series
Fellows have a weekly Core Curriculum Lecture Series on Monday mornings from 7:30-8:30am throughout the year. The topics include core ID topics as well as talks on well-being, teaching, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Core Curriculum lecture topics can be seen below. These conferences are protected for fellows - all pagers are covered by attendings during this time.

Ambulatory (HIV) Curriculum
All HIV continuity clinic sites have a dedicated HIV curriculum delivered as pre-clinic or post-clinic conference. Topics include viral dynamics, resistance, pharmacology, health care maintenance, pivotal trials for ARVs including both naive and switch trials, PrEP, report back sessions from IAS and CROI, hepatitis C, and addiction medicine.

ID Grand Rounds
The ID Divisions have a weekly joint Grand Rounds conference on Monday mornings from 8:30-9:30 (immediately following the Core Curriculum Series). These include case presentations from fellows, research and other talks from faculty (within and outside the ID Division, including the Department of Public Health), and “morning report” style conferences. These conferences are protected for fellows - all pagers are covered by attendings during this time. 

HIV Grand Rounds
Fellows rotating at ZSFG (and any other fellows who are interested) can attend HIV Grand Rounds at ZSFG, which occurs weekly on Wednesday mornings from 8-9am. An example schedule (from winter 2022) can be found here.

Site-Specific Conferences
ZSFG has a monthly ID/HIV case conference for fellows rotating at ZSFG. All sites have weekly or biweekly microbiology “plate rounds” where core and advanced microbiology topics are covered based on real-time cases from the consult services.

Research Retreat
Second and third year fellows present their research at a yearly research retreat in the spring. All first year fellows are excused from clinical service to attend the retreat.

Second and Third Year Fellow Career Development 
All second and third year fellows are part of the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Mentoring Program (irrespective of whether they are in HIV research). In this program each fellow is paired with a senior CFAR career mentor. Fellows also attend monthly workshops on a variety of topics related to career development and an annual retreat for intensive leadership training. This program also provides separate mentoring support for UIM trainees. An example of the mentoring program schedule can be found here.

Boot Camp and Core Curriculum Didactic Topics