Infectious Diseases Fellowship

The Division of Infectious Diseases of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College offers an Infectious Diseases Fellowship based at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Our division is dedicated to training physicians to become leaders in the field of Infectious Diseases.

We accept three fellows/year to our program. Fellows will gain unparalleled clinical experience with a diverse patient community and multidisciplinary team to mature into compassionate, competent ID physicians.

Our fellows see patients at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital as well as several other locations for a well-rounded clinical experience. Our fellows work alongside our 15 faculty members of the Medical College and actively manage patients on our general, opioid use disorder, solid organ transplant, bone marrow transplant, orthopedic surgery and neurological subspecialty consult services.

In addition, our program offers elective time to allow each fellow to tailor their training to their interest, for instance in medical education, Transplant Infectious Diseases, ambulatory HIV practice, critical care and global health.

There are plenty of opportunities for fellows to dive into research/quality improvement projects, educate other trainees including students and residents and partake in our Division's Antimicrobial Stewardship and/or Infection Control committees.

Check out what we're doing and follow us on twitter @jeffIDfellows

Welcome from the Fellowship Team

Thank you for visiting our website at Thomas Jefferson University Division of Infectious Diseases fellowship program. We welcome you to explore and learn about the many opportunities that await you as potential fellow in our program.

We are proud to offer several concentrated pathways within our Infectious Diseases fellowship program. These include additional and/or focused training in:

Transplant Infectious Diseases
Infectious Diseases-Critical Care Fellowship
Medical Education

We are proud to celebrate our differences and believe a diverse training program and division strengthens our ability to serve our patients.

We are constantly inspired by our fellows. Come join us and help shape not only your own education, but also the education of future Jefferson Infectious Diseases fellows for many years to come.

Devin Weber, MD - Program Director
Liz Novick, MD - Associate Program Director
Tina Melton - Program Coordinator

Our Schedule

First Year

Inpatient consult service - 36 weeks (General, Transplant, Surgical, OUD)
Research - 8 weeks
Elective - 2 weeks
Microbiology lab - 2 weeks
Vacation - 4 weeks

Second Year

Inpatient consult service - 22 weeks (General, Transplant, Surgical, OUD, Neuro)
Outpatient ID clinic - 6 weeks
Research - 8 weeks
ASP/IC - 4 weeks
Elective - 4 weeks
Subspecialty clinics - 2 weeks
Microbiology lab - 2 weeks
Vacation - 4 weeks

Outpatient

HIV clinic 1/2 day per week for all fellows with our HIV specialists
Transplant ID clinic while on service or elective
Lankenau outpatient clinic block in 2nd year (includes follow ups, new referrals, HIV, Hep C, Travel, miscellaneous)

Didactics

Weekly case management conference
Weekly board review
Weekly core curriculum lectures by faculty
Weekly microbiology rounds
Monthly HIV conference
Monthly journal club
Monthly city-wide conference amongst Philadelphia training programs
Quarterly IDSA guidelines reviews

Our Sites

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Thomas Jefferson University is an 800-bed university teaching hospital, based in Center City Philadelphia, with a broad referral base from the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware tristate area. Fellows rotate on several consult services, including: general teaching service, solid organ transplant service, bone marrow transplant service, and neurological/neurosurgical service. Fellows will mentor other trainees, but will also have the opportunity to work one-on-one with faculty on specialty services.

More information about Jefferson Health - Greater Philadelphia & South Jersey Region

Lankenau Medical Center

Lankenau Medical Center is a 500-bed community teaching hospital with a strong academic tradition. Fellows rotate on both inpatient and outpatient services with the Infectious Diseases physicians of the Delaware Valley Associates, including unique rotations in travel clinic consultation and exposure to private practice. Parking is free for fellows.

More information about Lankenau Medical Center

Drexel Partnership Comprehensive Care Pratice

The Drexel Partnership Comprehensive Care Practice (PCCP) is one of two sites where our ID fellows may rotate for their HIV continuity clinic experience. PCCP has been a safe haven for many in our local community with HIV/AIDS and has one of the largest ambulatory patient panels. PCCP offers an exceptional ambulatory experience inclusive of primary care, gender affirming care, behavioral health and case management.

More information about Drexel's Program

Wills Eye Hospital

Wills Eye Hospital is a freestanding eye hospital that has an affiliation with Thomas Jefferson University as its Department of Ophthalmology. The hospital includes an Emergency Department and four inpatient beds that fellows may visit while on the neurological/neurosurgical consult service.

More information about Will's Eye

Opportunity for One-Year Critical Care Fellowship

Fellows interested in pursing a career inclusive of infectious diseases and critical care medicine may apply to our combined 3-year ID-CCM fellowship. The program is administered through the Department of Medicine and is open to candidates who have completed an Internal Medicine subspecialty training. Upon completion of the combined fellowship, trainees will be eligible for board certification in both Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine.

Our Current Fellows

Class of 2026 Fellows

Class of 2025 Fellows

Christine Papastamelos, MD
Class of 2025

I am a first-generation Greek American born and raised in South Jersey. I completed medical school at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, followed by Internal Medicine residency at University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. I am thrilled to now be in Philadelphia for ID fellowship training. Jefferson offers diverse patient pathology, supportive faculty, amazing co-fellows, and an opportunity to serve our local community. I have also had a great time exploring the city of Philadelphia, taking full advantage of the incredible food, concerts, comedy shows, and sports scene.

Laura Walters, DO
Class of 2025

I'm a Philadelphia native born and raised in the suburbs and returned to the area to do medical school and Internal Medicine residency training. My insterests include HIV care, addiction medicine, and transplant ID. My favorite thing about Jefferson is the amazing people I get to work with and learn from every day. When I'm not at the hospital, my hobbies are spending time with family/friends and spending time outdoors with my dog, Bella!

Nikita Jaggernauth, MBBS
Class of 2025

I'm originally from Trinidad and Tobago where I also attended medical school at the University of the West Indies before pursuing an Msc in tropical medicine and hygiene at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I decided to trade a tropical island for the NE where I completed residency and a chief year at the Norwalk Hospital/Yale University program in CT and learnt to accept winter. Within ID, I'm interested in Tropical medicine, global health and travel medicine related infections. Jefferson and Philadelphia have both been a wonderful new adventure and the faculty at TJUH have been extremely supportive. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my co-fellows, exploring Philadelphia and hanging out with my cat, Luka.

Class of 2024 Fellows

Alumni Testimonials

Maliha Ahmed, DO
Class of 2021

Coming into fellowship the summer of 2019, there was no way I could have predicted that my training would include a worldwide pandemic. Prior to it, I was already receiving a first-class education in infectious diseases, simply by being at a large tertiary care center that acts as a referral hospital for many surrounding area hospitals. I was seeing cases that were transferred to Jefferson because the experts were here, and I was able to learn so much in a short period of time.

Once the pandemic was in full swing, I was able to witness how one department of a hospital system can contribute to and shape protocols that will affect every health care worker. My education at Jefferson has been highly clinical-based, but I will be walking away with a better understanding of hospital systems, infection control, and antimicrobial stewardship in ways that may not have been possible at other programs.

In addition to the learning, I was able to work with great mentors who I will continue to turn to as an attending. The faculty and staff here at Jefferson were all so welcoming, and I feel I was able to create real and lasting relationships that are invaluable to me.

Zahra Qamar, MD
Class of 2021

Entering the fellowship program, the thought of independently managing the complex patients at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital was daunting. Having worked with an outstanding faculty, I now feel confident to practice on my own. Weekly conferences, lectures, and a strong liaison with the pharmacy and microbiology departments has laid a strong foundation for my future career. I was fortunate to find true mentorship, something which was missing in my educational and training years. This has helped me immensely to grow as a learner, clinician, and an individual. I managed complex, rare, exciting, humbling, and bread-and-butter infectious disease cases; everyday has been a positive challenge and every experience a learning opportunity. Philadelphia and suburbs were a perfect place to raise my family - with good food, museums, parks, hiking trails, there is something new to do every time. I look forward to my future career and I know that in times of uncertainty, I will always have guidance and support from my co-fellows and the faculty.

Mitch Sternlieb, MD
Class of 2018; Attending, Delaware Valley Infectious Diseases Associates at Lankenau Medical Center, PA

I have very good memories from my time as an Infectious Diseases fellow at Jefferson. I formed close ties with the faculty and program staff. I am now thrilled to have them as colleagues. They taught me how to think critically about each patient and how to build an Infectious Diseases differential diagnosis - this was a collaborative process, and it was helpful to watch them model it alongside me. The faculty were genuinely interested in my personal and professional development and supported me in both areas. I also continued to build my relationships with the faculty at Delaware Valley Infectious Diseases Associates at Lankenau Medical Center, where I now work and continue to work with the Jefferson fellows. Perhaps the strongest ties I formed were with my co-fellows. We remain in close contact (almost daily) as close friends.

Anusha Govind, MD
Class of 2018; Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern, Dallas, Texas

I trained at Thomas Jefferson for my internal medicine training, and quickly knew that I wanted to stay there for my infectious disease fellowship as well. I was lucky to match there and receive training under a stellar group of faculty. Every faculty member is knowledgeable and well versed in general infectious diseases, but are experts in their respective fields of infectious disease. As a fellow, you could reach out to an expert in every specific ID field, be it infections in immunocompromised patients or infection control or antibiotic stewardship. The pathology that we saw at Jefferson was humbling, and you see a wide breadth of cases in all areas of infectious disease. More important though than the superb clinical training was being treated as an equal colleague even as a fellow. Your ideas and plans were always valued on rounds, and there was always an exciting discussion to be had. While expectations of the fellows were very high, equal was the support that was provided by each and every faculty member. I had my first child during fellowship, and could not have asked for a better group of faculty and co-fellows to help manage a complicated and exciting time of life without any hindrance to my training. The collegiality between every member of the group is what I remember most about my time in the Jefferson ID training program. As an assistant professor now at UT Southwestern hospital in Dallas, I find myself constantly referring back to what I studied during fellowship to help treat patients. I have a built-in network of support and amazing mentors that I still turn to for help with managing complicated patients and for personal support and guidance. Philadelphia was also an amazing place to live, with a unique food scene and the ability to travel to many other metropolitan cities for a quick getaway. My years in the fellowship were a phenomenal two years that I will cherish for a lifetime. I’m always looking forward to heading back to Philly for a vacation and sitting in on an interesting Friday morning conference.

Puja H Nambiar, MD
Class of 2016; Assistant Professor, Weill Cornell Medical College, NYC

I joined as an Infectious Disease Fellow at Thomas Jefferson University hospital in 2014. The decision was personal to move to Philadelphia, following residency training. When I look back in time, I can say it was one of my best career moves. Fellowship training at Jefferson was a fun learning joyride that I shared with my exceptional co-fellows. I was immersed in a diverse clinical experience that provided extensive exposure to ID, with unwavering support from faculty that were more like family. I felt confident to practice independently following my fellowship training. And above all got to enjoy a terrific city. I am so honored to be a Jefferson alumna!

Jay Sellers, MD
Class of 2014; Attending, Raleigh Infectious Diseases Associates, NC

I very much enjoyed my two years of ID training at Jefferson. I am very fortunate to have worked with several of the faculty, whom I consider mentors, and whom I model myself after every day in my current professional life. I found the environment to be very collegial, with the attending physicians always having their doors open to discuss patients, research projects, and future plans. The program is very unique in that fellows are exposed to both large-scale, urban academic medicine and private practice in a more suburban environment. I am currently in private practice and found the experience at Lankenau Hospital to be invaluable. The attending physicians there were extremely influential on my future in infectious diseases. Philadelphia is such a great city for learning medicine from a historical and cultural perspective as well - and the food scene is spectacular. I felt extremely well prepared to become an attending physician following completion of fellowship at Jefferson. We had weekly board review sessions, progressive autonomy with patient management, and a fund of knowledge obtained through weekly case presentations and lecture series. Of all the transitions in medical training, I have always thought the transition from fellow to attending was the smoothest - and this is because I was trained extremely well at Jefferson.

Post-Graduation Careers

2024: Hackensack Meridian Health University Medical Ctr Infectious Diseases-NJ

2024: Allegheny General Health Infectious Diseases-PA

2024: Christiana Care, Infectious Diseases Associates-DE

2023: Transplant Fellowship-Vanderbilt University, TN

2023: Main Line Health-Riddle Hospital, PA

2022: Albany Medical Center, NY

2022: Rutgers Health/Robert Wood Johnson, NJ

2021: Delaware Valley ID Associates, PA

2021: Associates in Infectious Diseases, Abington Jefferson, PA

2020: Critical Care Fellowship Thomas Jefferson University; Associates in Infectioius Diseases-Abington Jefferson, PA

2020: Upstate University Medical Center Infectious Diseases, NY

2019: Loma Linda University, Veterans Affairs Infectious Diseases, CA

2019: Capital Health Infectious Diseases, NJ

2018: Southwestern Medical Center, University of Texas, TX

2018: Delaware Valley Infectious Diseases Associates, PA

2017: Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health, NJ

2017: Christiana Care Health System, PA

2016: Albert Einstein Medical Center, PA

2016: Transplant Fellowship-Cleveland Clinic, OH; Louisiana State University, LA

2015: Orlando Health Infectious Diseases, FL

2015: Pinnacle Health Infectious Diseases Assciates, PA

Fellows Research Endeavors

A selection of recently published and presented work by our Infectious Diseases fellows:

Tsang, D., Cox, Avery. "The Impact of Telemedicine on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Related Clinical Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic" was accepted for publication in AIDS and Behavior 2024.
Glowacki, J, Weber, D, Coppock, D, Novick, E, Tucker, M. Mixed Fungal Brain Abscess. Contagion. March 2024. Mixed Fungal Brain Abscess (contagionlive.com)
Haddad, Sara MD∗; Zurlo, John MD∗; Wang, Zi-Xuan PhD†; Richards, Bonnie DO‡; Badjatia, Nitika PhD†; Coppock, Dagan MD, MSCE∗. Genetic Sequencing of Breakthrough Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infections in Fully Vaccinated Healthcare Workers. Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice 31(1):e1202, January 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/IPC.0000000000001202
Tsang, D, Tucker, M. A Rare Case of Positive Heterophile Antibody in a Patient With West Nile Virus. Contagion, December 2022 (Vol. 07, No. 6).
Tsang D, Haddad S, Sahin Z, Vareechon C, Sternlieb M, Royer T. Cladophialophora bantiana brain abscess and concurrent pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans infection in a patient twenty years after renal transplantation. IDCases. 2022 Nov 5;30:e01639. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2022.e01639. PMID: 36388854; PMCID: PMC9664346.
Shaikh, H.; Weber, D.; Hamburger, J.; Vareechon, C. Candida lusitaniae Endophthalmitis: A Brief Literature Review with a Focus on Treatment Options. Priv. Pract. Infect. Dis., 2022, 2(4): 13; doi:10.55636/ppid2040013.
Boyle, E. Coppock D. Polymicrobial bacteremia and Strongyloides hyperinfection syndrome: Vigilance in patients on corticosteroids. IDCases. 2022 May 20;28:e01520. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2022.e01520.PMID: 35615701; PMCID: PMC9125627.
Tsang D, Haddad S, Sternlieb M. Laryngeal blastomycosis with subsequent heart failure from itraconazole therapy. IDCases. 2022 Mar 7;28e01463. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2022.e01463. PMID: 35308776; PMCID: PMC8928070.
Arya, A, Shaikh H, Weber D, Pettengill M, Moss S. Fever in a returning traveler: A case and literature review of melioidosis. IDCases. 2021 Nov 23;26:e01340. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr2021.e013040. PMID: 34934629; PMCID: PMC8660995.
Haddad S, Saade Y, Ramlawi B, Kreidieh B, Gilbert B, Rao S. Native valve endocarditis complicated by abscess formation caused by Rothia mucilaginosa. IDCases. 2021 Nov 18;36e01348. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2021.e01348. PMID: 34849341; PMCID: PMC8608870.
Belden KA, Mascarenhas R, Hendricks T, Merkow D, Chen A. “Does skin disease predispose to infection of the musculoskeletal system?” Accepted for presentation at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery 2018 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 6-10.

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