UCI/CHOC Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program
UC Irvine and CHOC partner to offer a three-year fully ACGME-accredited pediatric infectious diseases fellowship training program. Our program aims to prepare fellows for independent practice, and, at the successful completion of this program, candidates will be able to sit for the American Board of Pediatrics certification exam in pediatric infectious diseases.
Qualified applicants can apply through Electronic Resident Application System (ERAS).
Watch a virtual tour of CHOC Hospital
UCI/CHOC Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program
1201 W. La Veta Ave.
Orange, CA 92868
Karen Olson
Program Coordinator
Ph (714) 509-7411
Delma Nieves, MD
Program Director
Antonio Arrieta, MD
Division Chief, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, CHOC
Evelyn Martinez-Cruz
Fellowship Coordinator
About the Program
Our vision is to provide the highest quality care to children with complex infectious diseases while continuously improving and advancing the field of pediatric infectious diseases.
Our Mission: The UCI/CHOC Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellowship training program prepares individuals to excel in clinical infectious diseases as well as becoming the next leaders in academic pediatric infectious diseases research and education.
Fellows in Pediatric Infectious Diseases will participate in a 3-year program which will prepare them for successful careers in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and assure their qualification for the American Board of Pediatrics certifying examination in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. During each year of training, fellows will spend time on the Pediatric Infectious Diseases inpatient consult service (75% time in year 1, 25% time in year 2, 25% time in year 3) and also care for patients in an outpatient setting, evaluating new patients and managing established patients in a variety of infectious disease clinics The remainder of each year is devoted to scholarly activity (25% time in year 1, 75% time in year 2, 75% time in year 3), including a mentored research project and an interdisciplinary quality improvement project. These scholarly activities will be tailored to meet each fellow’s educational and career goals.
During the first year of training, fellows will experience one four-week rotation on the adult ID medicine team at UCI Medical Center, an invaluable experience exposing them to the differences, intricacies and overlap of infectious diseases in the adult vs pediatric setting.
ID Inpatient clinical rotations:
- Critical Care Units and Hematology/Oncology
- General pediatrics and surgical
- A 1-month adult infectious diseases experience at UCI Medical Center
- A 2-week rotation at the Orange County Health Care Agency to train in epidemiology of infectious diseases (i.e. tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, and other reportable diseases) and , obtain exposure to lab techniques and diagnostics tests available through the health department, and learn about outbreak investigation and mitigation.
ID Outpatient clinical experiences include:
- The pediatric infectious diseases clinic
- Primary immunodeficiency clinic – a multidisciplinary clinic with ID, hematology and immunology
- HIV/KIDS clinics
Call schedules:
Fellows are scheduled to be on call, including weekends, for eight weeks each of the three years.
PTO:
Fellows have 4 weeks of PTO scheduled per year.
Training in research and completion of a research project related to pediatric infections is an important component of the fellowship. Each pediatric infectious disease fellow must design and conduct a scholarly project in his or her subspecialty area with supervision provided by an assigned faculty mentor. Fellows will have 20 months of protected time for research that is divided among all three fellowship years but is more heavily weighted toward the second and third years of training as noted above. The project may be basic science or clinical in nature, depending on the fellow’s interests. Research mentors are available through both CHOC and UCI and opportunities for lab research are strengthened by the research excellence of the infectious diseases team from UCI. Fellows will have the opportunity to seek out research opportunities and mentors at both institutions.
The fellowship core curriculum will provide training in biostatistics, lab and clinical research methodology, study design, grant preparation, research ethics and Institutional Review Boards, evidence-based medicine and quality improvement.
- ID case discussions (weekly)
- ID fellows core teaching conference (2-3 per month
- Microbiology/pathology rounds (twice a month, once as a team, once just with fellow)
- Journal club (monthly)
- Fellows core curriculum (monthly)
- Infection prevention team meetings (monthly)
- Antibiotic stewardship program meetings (quarterly)
- Fellows will also participate in teaching pediatric residents and medical students through morning report, noon conferences, Grand Rounds and on the inpatient services.
University of California, Irvine
UCI provides extensive, high quality education and clinical training, with 560 full-time faculty members and more than 1,300 volunteer faculty members from 26 clinical departments. UCI sponsors a multitude of innovative and highly productive research programs. There are 61 ACGME-accredited training programs. In addition to its adult programs, UCI serves as the sponsor for residencies in Pediatrics, Child Neurology, Combined Pediatrics/Anesthesia, and Medical Genetics, as well as fellowships in Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine, Pediatric Pulmonology, Pediatric Critical Care, Pediatric Endocrinology, Pediatric Urology, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
CHOC Hospital in Orange
CHOC is an academic, community-based hospital that serves as the main site for training in the fellowship. It has 334 beds, including a 30-bed PICU, 12-bed cardiac ICU, 72-bed NICU and separate oncology and neuroscience units. In 2016-2017, there were 12,891 hospital discharges with 89,791 ED visits and 4,252 transports to CHOC. CHOC’s ED is a Level II pediatric trauma center. CHOC also operates primary care and specialty clinics throughout the county. The hospital serves about 2 million patients over four counties.
The training and education of medical students, residents and fellows has been a longstanding focus of CHOC. Each year, CHOC trains about 290 residents and fellows from 38 different training programs, along with 190 medical students.
Applications are accepted through the Electronic Resident Application System (ERAS) and we participate in the National Residency Match Program (NRMP).
UCI/CHOC Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program
1201 W. La Veta Ave.
Orange, CA 92868
Evelyn Martinez-Cruz
Program Coordinator
phone: 714-509-4976
Clinical Faculty
Delma J. Nieves, MD – fellowship program director, assistant clinical professor of pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine. Publications and research interests include pertussis, leptospirosis, invasive fungal infections, invasive pneumococcal diseases and infections of the neonate.
Antonio Arrieta, MD – clinical professor of pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine. He is division chief for pediatric infectious diseases at CHOC. Publications and research interests include PK/PD studies, invasive fungal infections and antifungal therapy, invasive pneumococcal diseases, empyema in children, and infections of the neonate.
Negar Ashouri, MD – assistant clinical professor of pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine. Director of antimicrobial stewardship at CHOC. Publications and research interests include Kawasaki disease and congenital CMV disease.
Michele Cheung, MD, MPH – volunteer assistant clinical professor of pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine. Medical Officer, Community & Nursing Services, Orange County Health Care Agency. Publications and research interests include MRSA infections, invasive pneumococcal disease, and public health emergency preparedness.
Jasjit Singh, MD – associate clinical professor of pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine. Director, CHOC infection prevention and epidemiology. Publications and research interests include vaccine preventable diseases, vaccine efficacy, tuberculosis, drug resistant organisms, and outbreak management.
E.R. Chulie Ulloa, MD, MSc – assistant professor, UC Irvine School of Medicine. Publications and research interests include novel therapies for drug-resistant or difficult to treat bacterial infections.
Matthew Zahn, MD – volunteer assistant clinical professor of pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine. Medical director, division of epidemiology and assessment, Orange County Health Care Agency. Publications and research interests include measles epidemiology, meningococcal disease outbreak, drug-resistant organisms, and vaccines.