Message from the Program Director
Thank you for your interest in the Infectious Diseases Program!
Our mission is to train Infectious Diseases Fellows to become proficient in all aspects of clinical infectious diseases. We partner with Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH) on our campus, where we see most of our inpatients. This is a full-service, 650-bed Level 1 trauma center, which is the flagship hospital of the Sentara Health System. We have a broad referral base since our patients are sent to us from all over Hampton Roads, an area with a population of over 1.7 million. In addition, patients are referred from the northern counties of North Carolina, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Our fellows see a wide variety of patients with diverse pathologies. The diversity of cases seen by our fellows is quite broad, so the fellows are well prepared to sit for the Infectious Diseases board examination after their training.
Our curriculum has our fellows spend at least 6 months per year on the inpatient service, one month per year on the infectious diseases transplant service and one month at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in nearby Hampton. Each fellow will have their weekly continuity clinic supervised by an attending, where they will see patients with HIV at all stages, chronic hepatitis, travel medicine, and other infectious disease consultations referred from all over our community. Also, patients on outpatient IV antibiotic therapy for osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, endocarditis, and spinal infections, to name a few, will be seen and managed. Other experiences will include research, infection control, antibiotic stewardship, tuberculosis management, and quality improvement. Our young and energetic faculty will mentor you through each of these areas. Quality improvement and a research project are also incorporated into the curriculum.
Our fellows are actively involved in scholarly activities and have presented at national and regional meetings. Each fellow is assisted by a faculty mentor and energetic, interested medical students who help with data collection and assist with their research. Within our organization, we are fortunate to have the Research and Infrastructure Service Enterprise (RISE), which helps our fellows and faculty in research design, data collection, and statistical analysis. Our didactics include a weekly fellow’s lecture, a case conference, and monthly journal clubs in which our faculty actively participate.
Hampton Roads is a diverse community with people who have come here from all over the country and all over the world. Diversity and inclusion are very important to our infectious diseases fellowship program. It is a wonderful place to live, as there are numerous activities for singles and families alike. We have four seasons with a temperate climate, which promotes lots of outdoor activities from biking, jogging, tennis, and golf, and water sports such as kayaking and paddle boarding, to name a few.
Thanks again for your interest in our fellowship program!
Respectfully,
Jennifer Hanrahan, DO
Program Director, Infectious Diseases Fellowship
Division Chief, Infectious Diseases
Professor of Medicine
