NIAID Clinical Training Programs
H. Clifford Lane, M.D., Director, NIAID Office of Clinical Research
Linda M. Coe, R.N., M.S.N., Associate Clinical Director
John E. Bennett, M.D., Director, Infectious Diseases Training Program
Dean D. Metcalfe, M.D., Director, Allergy and Immunology Training Program
JoAnn M. Mican, M.D., Staff Physician
Jacqueline Webber, Program Assistant jwebber@niaid.nih.gov
NIAID offers 3-year fellowships in ACGME-approved training programs in infectious diseases and allergy/immunology. These programs aim to develop clinical and basic research skills in physicians who are already well grounded in clinical medicine. Qualified individuals may apply for student loan repayment, currently repaying up to $35,000 per year of eligible student debt.
The 3-year program comprises 1 year of clinical responsibilities and 2 years in research. All trainees spend 2 or 3 months of the first year caring for patients at NIH's Clinical Center, the nation's largest hospital devoted to clinical research. Patients enter the Clinical Center with any of a variety of diseases, including autoimmune diseases; genetic and acquired immunodeficiencies; disorders of neutrophil and monocyte function; severe, acute, and chronic viral infections; allergic diseases including asthma, anaphylaxis, and mast cell disorders; parasitic diseases; and mycoses. During the next 9 to 10 months of training, fellows join traditional consultation services and didactic rotations at the NIH and other medical institutions in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
After completing the first year of clinical training, most trainees spend 2 or more years conducting research within NIAID laboratories. Senior investigators in these labs study various aspects of allergy, clinical and basic immunology, and clinical and basic infectious diseases. Fellows work under direct supervision of a senior staff member. This arrangement allows for close daily contact, individual instruction, and continuity during the training period. This interaction between senior staff members and fellows also allows for the gradual maturation of fellows into independent investigators. Many fellows have left NIAID to establish their own laboratories at medical schools and other research institutions.
In addition to the training programs sponsored by NIAID labs, selected fellows may complete the research component of their training in a collaborative medical fellowship program with one of the extramural divisions of the Institute: the Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (DAIDS), the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation (DAIT); the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID); or by special arrangement, with other NIH institutes.
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