The University of Maryland School of Medicine

The UMSOM is a part of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States.

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The University of Maryland Medical Center

The UMMC is a part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and is the flagship academic medical center at the heart of UMMS and includes the 789-bed downtown Baltimore campus and the 177-bed Midtown campus one mile north.

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The following represents a proposed schedule of the fellow’s curriculum alongside the minimum amount of time to be spent in each section of the laboratory or in an external rotation specifically defined by the CPEP in The Essentials. More time may be designated for an area of training, but it will never be less than that defined by The Essentials.

*Current formal training is provided by the Maryland Department of Health as a two-week rotation. Further opportunities for Public Health training will be available to interested fellows upon request from the Maryland Department of Health.

Didactic lectures by the medical directors of the microbiology laboratory will also be taught to the fellow concurrently with their training within the laboratory.

Following technical training, the fellow will assume on-call and consultative responsibilities as well as providing didactic teaching of their technical knowledge to pathology residents, pharmacy residents, and infectious disease fellows. He/She will also act as a resource for other trainees in the medical center.

Fellows will participate in multiple training opportunities in order to learn laboratory management. These opportunities include weekly operations and management meetings, monthly laboratory QA meetings, and bi-monthly laboratory administration meetings. Fellows will assist in capital and minor equipment budgeting and justification, review quality control protocols, and participate in employee interviews and evaluations as available.

Other concepts of management will be learned through auditing laboratory management classes taught in the UMSOM Department of Medical and Research Technology. The fellow will also receive CAP inspection training, lead the microbiology laboratory self-inspection, and may accompany a CAP inspection team to an offsite inspection as able.

Fellows will be responsible for performing and writing at least one validation/verification and will also work with the laboratory staff as the director lead on at least one validation/verification.

Fellows will participate in clinical training throughout the duration of the fellowship. Fellows are expected to attend Infectious Disease Grand Rounds (adult and pediatric) and Infectious Disease teaching lectures. Didactic lectures presented to the pathology residents can also be attended.

Following their technical training (end of the first year, during the second year), fellows will rotate for one to one and a half months with the Adult and Pediatric ID services, functioning as a member of those teams and also be responsible for teaching principles of clinical microbiology to the ID fellows.

Research is an important part of the fellowship will be integrated alongside other clinical duties and rotations. Research opportunities in clinical, applied, and basic sciences applicable to the field of clinical microbiology are available throughout the UMSOM and at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Projects may be with the program faculty and/or could involve collaborative research across the university or with nearby institutions. It is expected that research will be presented at a national meeting and result in publication(s) in peer reviewed journals.

There will be three external rotations scheduled during the fellowship program.

A one-week rotation in Parasitology will be performed during the first year of training at the National Institutes of Health to train fellows in specimen processing methods, stain preparation, and parasite identification. Additional parasitology training materials will be provided at the UMMC microbiology laboratory.

A two-week rotation at the end of the first year or beginning of the second year will be performed at the Maryland Department of Health Laboratories.

Additional rotations in public health microbiology are available at the discretion of the program directors and fellow.

Finally, a four-week rotation during the second year of the fellowship will be performed at Johns Hopkins Hospital to train the fellow in Next Generation Sequencing technologies, including techniques, bioinformatics, and diagnostic development.

Paul M. Luethy, PhD, D(ABMM) (Program Director)
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Associate Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, University of Maryland Medical Center

J. Kristie Johnson, PhD, D(ABMM) (Program Co-Director)
Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, University of Maryland Medical Center

David Riedel, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine; Director, Infectious Disease Fellowship Program, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Kimberly Claeys, PharmD, BCPS
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy; Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist, University of Maryland Medical Center

Devang Patel, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Director, Infectious Diseases Telemedicine and Medical Education; Director, Pre-Clerkship Curriculum in the Office of Medical Education

Matthew B. Laurens, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Surbhi Leekha, MBBS, MPH
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology, University of Maryland Medical Center

Patricia J. Simner, MSc, PhD, D(ABMM)
Associate Professor of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Director, Medical Bacteriology and Parasitology Laboratories

Richard Zhao, PhD
Professor of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Director, Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, University of Maryland Medical Center

Robert Christenson, PhD, D(ABCC)
Professor of Pathology and Medical Research Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Medical Director, Clinical Chemistry and Core Laboratories, University of Maryland Medical Center

Kristin Mullins, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Associate Director, Clinical Chemistry and Core Laboratories, University of Maryland Medical Center

Robert Meyers, PhD
Director of Laboratories, Maryland Department of Health

Adrian Zelazny, PhD, D (ABMM)
Chief, Microbiology Service, NIH Clinical Center Microbiology Laboratory

Madhurima Koka, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Director, Pathology Residency Program, University of Maryland Medical Center

Lori Osowski, MS, CHS
Assistant Director, Laboratories of Pathology, University of Maryland Medical Center

Jeffrey W. Parker, BS, MT (ASCP)
Director, Laboratory Services, University of Maryland Pathology Associate