Infectious Diseases (ID) Fellowship Training is a 2-3 year program depending on the track the fellow chooses. The fellowship tracks are designed to meet all ACGME training requirements and 12 months of clinical experience and 24 months of continuity clinic experience for ABIM subspecialty board eligibility...
Suppose you lived in the mid-1800s in Cleveland, population 17,000. You likely wouldn't have ventured beyond the surrounding countryside, perhaps 10 to 20 miles at most, during your lifetime. Fast-forward to Cleveland today, population about 400,000. Air travel makes it possible to...
The international competition for postgraduate positions at University Hospitals Case Medical Center each year is a testament to the stature of our academic medical center among high-potential young physicians. This is especially true of more than 200 prestigious UH Case Medical Centerfellowships, which are globally recognized for preparing future leaders in medicine.
Welcome from the Division Chief
Welcome to the website for the Division of Infectious Diseases & HIV Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. We are incredibly proud of our tradition and accomplishments in contributing to the advancement of treatment of infectious diseases locally, nationally and worldwide.
Our core mission is to heal, to teach and to discover. Facing the challenges of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases at home and across the globe; we pride ourselves on delivering the highest quality of care for our patients, providing exceptional fellowship training to the next generation of Infectious Diseases physicians and continuing to make scientific breakthroughs through our world renowned research.
Pilot Research Support from the IDII
February 15, 2013 - The Infectious Diseases & Immunology Institute (IDII) at Case Western Reserve University will provide seed money to young faculty to foster interdisciplinary research in infectious diseases and immunology. Investigators in the basic science and clinical departments in the School of Medicine and Hospital System as well as in other departments throughout the University are eligible. Grants, not to exceed $10,000 direct costs each, will be awarded to young investigators who intend to gather preliminary data to be used in seeking future independently funded awards. Research activity and themes should be multidisciplinary and involve investigators across the IDII. In the first year of funding, up to four grants will be awarded. Read more...
AstraZeneca & CWRU Initiate New Tuberculosis Drug Trial
December 12, 2012 - Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced the first patient enrolled in a Phase 2a trial to assess the effectiveness of AZD5847, a new test drug for patients with tuberculosis (TB), including patients with HIV co-infection. Read more...
HIV Immune Failure Linked to Microbial Exposure
Even with effective antiretroviral therapy, many patients with HIV infection cannot restore adequate levels of CD4+ T-cells - important immune cells that are targeted and depleted by HIV. Dr. Michael Lederman has found in his study that in such instances of immune failure, T-cells remained activated and this was associated with inflammation and evidence of systemic exposure to microbial products from the damaged gut. The findings suggest that even with the proper use of antiretroviral therapies to control HIV, persistent inflammation is linked to a failure to normalize immune defenses, placing these patients at greater risk for complications. The article entitled "Immunologic Failure Despite Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy is Related to Activation and Turnover of Memory CD4 Cells" was published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Insights for providing TB therapies
One-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes most cases of TB. While most recover from TB infection, the bacteria can lie dormant, hiding in the body's immune cells for years before reactivating. Clifford V. Harding, MD, PhD, W. Henry Boom, MD, and colleagues recently discovered how the TB bacterium is able to survive within the immune system and inhibit the ability of macrophages to stimulate infection fighting responses. The discovery can provide insights for designing TB therapies.
Noteworthy
- Drs. Jump (Robin Jump, MD, PhD), Olds and Higgins, together with their colleagues Dr. Ken Schaemder from the VA in Durham, NC and Dr. Chris Crnich from the VA in Madison, WI, were awarded $247,000 from the VA Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC). Their proposal, "A Multi-Site Educational Intervention to Improve the Treatment of Infections Among Older Veterans," will implement two educational tracks, one for prescribers and one for nursing staff, across several VA facilities. Their long-term goal is to improve antimicrobial utilization for older adults.
- Robert A. Salata, MD, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, and Medical Director, Infection Control and Prevention at UH Case Medical Center, is principal investigator of a study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and appropriate dosing for aerosol and intravenous versions of an antibiotic called colistin. This drug was introduced in the 1960s, and was never subjected to the testing that modern regulatory review requires. Therefore, the best and safest ways to use it against most infections are largely unknown. The National Institutes of Health funded the study through a one-of-a-kind contract with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine specifically awarded for phase 1 clinical trials in infectious disease.
- Dr. Usha Stiefel's independent proposal entitled "Role of Microbial Eradication in Preventing Recurrent MRSA Infection" was selected for a 2012 ASPIRE Award. The ASPIRE Awards in Antibacterial Research are competitive, externally reviewed grant awards sponsored by Pfizer, Inc. The project will evaluate the hypothesis that antimicrobials displaying superior rates of microbial eradication and superior rates of intestinal pathogen eradication will be associated with decreased rates of recurrent infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in veteran patients.
- Roxana Rojas, M.D., Ph.D., received a one year CFAR supplement ($157,000 total costs), 'Host factors required for M. tuberculosis entry and intracellular survival'. This research will explore the mechanisms that control the survival of M. tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes of TB, in cells of the immune system. Also, this project will interrogate if these cellular mechanisms are modified by HIV infection. This may explain how HIV infection favors development of TB disease.
- Yong Gao, Ph.D., was awarded a one year U.S.-China Biomedical Collaborative Research Supplement from NIH, 'A highly efficient strategy screening for hybridoma expressing anti-HIV-1 bNAbs (broadly neutralizing antibodies)' ($154,802 total costs). The collaboration is with Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in China. Dr. Dongliang Yang, Director of the Infectious Diseases Division, will lead the project in China. This project will look at screening for anti-HIV-1 bNAbs in huCD4/CCR5 B cell transgenic mice immunized with multivalent vaccine containing various HIV-1 envelopes.